When Google rolled out BERT towards the end of 2019 and the latest SMITH algorithm at the start of 2021, the writing was on the wall, they had moved past indexing keywords, and expanded optimizing for entities – with long-tail and conversational queries being the focus. With BERT able to understand the context and nuances of words strung together in a sentence and the SMITH algorithm taking it to the next level with its understanding of passages and sentences strung together, it’s safe to say that the search engine is well equipped to pick out relevant content in a conversational tone that suits online queries. This is where FAQs come into the picture and are an integral part of a business’s strategy to reach its potential customers on the web as well as through voice search.
The format or nature of FAQs match ‘long-tail’ and ‘conversational’ voice search queries. In addition, it syncs with the informational intent of searchers – which drives 80% of the queries online. Due to the synergies, voice search and FAQs share, FAQs are often picked up as preferred voice answers. In addition, submitting FAQs as a voice action to voice assistant improves the chances of your business being the most relevant answer. That said, the perqs of having FAQs don’t stop at voice search visibility alone.
Why getting FAQs right matter for businesses?
While having FAQs that suit voice search queries and the question-answer format of search queries is of prime importance, they address many other facets of a business that are note-worthy:
- FAQs help improve your website’s visibility on search through SERP saturation – in the rich snippet, People Also Ask (PAA), images, Local 3-Pack, or as FAQs on search
- FAQs when managed well across channels create a consistent brand identity and instill trust in potential customers and the search engine as well – improving your E-A-T (Expertise-Authority-Trust) as per Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines
- Imagine the frustration of customers when they search for information about a business and do not get it. Businesses can pre-empt that by proactively publishing answers to commonly asked queries as FAQs and thereby deliver a superior customer experience
- Having FAQs answering the common questions will reduce the load of sales and support teams of businesses who would have otherwise spent hours responding to the same repetitive question to different customers
Milestone Research found that businesses managing FAQs efficiently will result in:
- 42% better CTR on Mobile devices
- 70% more likely to show up in People Also Ask
- FAQs with FAQ schemas achieve an average of 5.5 position better rank
- 11.5% increase in impressions
Challenges of managing FAQs that businesses face
It’s true that the advantages as stated above will solve a multitude of problems for your business but it does come with certain challenges that could be overwhelming and we’ll tell you why:
- Getting your content picked as that coveted single answer in voice search requires implementing a complex voice strategy that leans on a robust and relevant set of FAQs. Most websites aren’t set up to answer user queries
- Brands evolve over time and so do their answers. Ensuring accuracy and fresh content in the form of FAQs over time across all channels could be a significant challenge
- How do you know what your customers are asking across all touchpoints?
- Customers can’t wait. If you’re a multi-location business, getting real-time answers to customer queries out there is not scalable if done manually especially on crucial platforms such as Google My Business
Encapsulating the benefits of FAQs and the challenges, what you need is an end-to-end FAQ Management solution and that’s what Milestone’s FAQ Manager is all about – an answer to your business’s need to be the right and relevant answer.
What’s Milestone FAQ Manager?
Milestone FAQ Manager is an end-to-end FAQ management solution that lets businesses curate customer questions across locations & digital channels and create/update & publish verified answers or Q&As to multiple locations, channels, and voice assistants.
Key features of Milestone FAQ Manager
Let’s skim through the key features of FAQ Manager and why this makes it a one-of-a-kind platform:
- x Multi-channel support
Milestone FAQ Manager offers multi-channel integration with Website (any CMS), Google My Business, Google Assistant, etc.
- Multi-channel content curation
Your business can curate questions from local channels, such as GMB Q&A, website, search listening tools, unanswered chatbot queries, and industry-specific questions library, giving your business the key questions it needs to address
- Monitor, edit, and publish content
Using Milestone FAQ Manager, you can monitor questions from your customers across multiple locations and properties, respond and publish the answers to multiple locations and channels
- Scalability: Bulk upload to add or publish FAQs and URLs
Bulk upload and bulk publish curated content to multiple channels and multiple business locations. If you need to upload multiple URLs to publish FAQs, you can use the bulk upload functionality
- Fully leverage voice assistants
You can automate intent creation of your Q&As and publish verified content directly to voice assistants, giving your content a serious advantage of getting picked by voice devices
- Entity optimized FAQs
With auto-tagging of structured data or schemas for the FAQs published to your website, you’re telling the search engine what exactly your content is about. This will improve the chances of your content being picked as a relevant result and displayed as rich results on SERPs
- Customize FAQs across different channels
Even if you’re publishing multiple FAQs, you can customize each FAQ published to multiple channels, ensuring that the content suits the channels and platforms you’re publishing them to
- Impact reporting
When done consistently, FAQ Manager can help your content get picked for preferred voice answers, improve your local rankings, and can help your business build a consistent brand image. Using key insights, your business can track its voice search performance and rich result growth
FAQs have no doubt gained traction over the last couple of years not only because they help answer the key concerns of a business, but now they are the gateway to being picked as voice answers. In addition, considering that Google now delivers answers or results in a conversational format, the benefits of FAQs are multi-fold. Milestone FAQ Manager ensures that your business overcomes any challenge in managing FAQs. Reach out to us to get your business an efficient and end-to-end FAQ management solution. Call us on +1 408 200 2211 or write to us at [email protected].
