Do you feel like your questions go unanswered on a website? If yes, do you like that?
Chances are that your answer is a resounding “no”.
Have you ever had a question for an eCommerce store and the answer was buried in some technical information that wasn't easy to find?
That's how most eCommerce store visitors feel when they browse most eCommerce sites.
Imagine how it feels like if you walked into a store, wanted to ask a few questions, and there's no one there to talk to you?
Thankfully, it’s a relatively easier thing to fix.
How do you solve this problem?
A simple, FAQ section on your eCommerce store is the way to go. Create an SEO-optimized eCommerce store and get this:
● Among more than 3.5 billion searches conducted per day (as of 2019, according to Google), more than 8% of these searches were "question-based" in 2017 [https://moz.com/blog/state-of-searcher-behavior-revealed].
● Rank well for long-tail keywords.
● Multiply your chances to show upon search snippets and other search features.
● Match voice-related search queries. More than 48% of consumers use voice search and/or voice assistants for general web search, according to SearchEngine Land.
Creating an SEO-optimized FAQ section is the low-hanging fruit you should certainly implement now.
This is on top of our onlinestore launch checklist.
Convinced? Let's learn how to create SEO-optimized FAQs for an e-commerce store.
We will discuss what questions need to be answered, how often they need to be updated, and more.
TL;DR: More Search queries are framed as questions today than ever before. Your product solves a problem. Your customers are asking questions (discovery, research, and maybe even in a buying phase).
Your FAQ section or page helps as a bridge between the "search and buy" process.
Further, your FAQ page helps build trust signals. As Ann Smarty points out, your FAQ page can help clear all sorts of questions on refund policies, shipping information, and more.
An FAQ page is a list of questions and answers that you might get asked when someone visits your site.
It's important to create an SEO-optimized FAQ for your eCommerce store because it gives people the information they're looking for without them having to leave your website or call customer service.
If there's no one around (which is usually the case), then, this section becomes their default starting point.
Every eCommerce store (Read: every singlewebsite) should have an SEO-optimized FAQ page (or pages) to answer common questions or issues their customers might have.
This will not only help you rank higher on long-tail keywords, but it'll also show up in search snippets, related queries,“people also ask” and other search features too.
SEO-optimized FAQ pages or sections can help decrease the number of calls and email messages your customer service team receives.
You might not have thought about it as such, but your FAQ page or section needs a content strategy.
Your FAQs are the first place your customers go to when they want more information about a product or service.
You might have seen some websites with"frequently asked questions" and other similar phrases on their homepage, but this doesn't answer all of the customer's needs. Most FAQ pages are an "afterthought".
You don't need an "afterthought"; you need traffic, leads, and sales.
An SEO-optimized FAQ page has a dual purpose to it:
● Predict the usual questions your potential customers might have and answer as many questions in the simplest words possible while being clear.
● Bring in traffic as long as user intent matches the questions your potential audience usually has and provides the answers they are looking for.
You are already well aware of the song-and-dance around keyword research. There are free and paid tools to help.You can choose to spend enough time with tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, andSimilarWeb.
Or you could also do it for free (and just in a few minutes) by using some smart features that Google provides (along with a few other tools).
Let's take an example of an eCommerce store that sells 3D printing filaments (you can also go specific such as ABS filaments or PLA filaments).
The best places to find out the usual string of questions people ask about your products themselves or the niche that your products relate to are as follows:
Google's Auto Suggestions
Google's People Also Ask Feature
Below every search, Google also presents a set of related keywords people use while searching for the relevant term that was originally used in a search.
Google Related Search Box
Somewhere in the middle of the page (if available and relevant), Google also displays a box with “People Also Ask”
Answerthe Public
If you need more, you can use a tool like AnswerThePublic to zoom in on various types of questions asked around a product, a keyword, or a niche that relates to your product or service.
You can also use public forums and social hangouts such as Quora, Reddit, and others.
Think simple.
Write directly to your customer (this is where customer persona plays a key role).
Being clear, concise, factual, and direct is the way to go (add a dash of personality and you'll also be able to help keep the draw bridge open for "likeability".
● Make sure that your SEO-optimized FAQs are easy to find on search engines by making use of the keywords and phrases. Most searches are anywhere from 2-4 keywords in length
● Create a title for every question in the form of "What is this? What does it do?" or “How To…?”
● Aim for answers which are concise but thorough, ideally between 150 and 400 words each.
● Add helpful links within relevant answers (this helps you use FAQ schema and maximize the love Google has for Schema-ready FAQ pages and sections). Shopify already does a good job of matching various user intents via internal linking.
While writing your SEO-optimized pages or sections, you also have a way to meaningful and valid internal linking. Link back to your products, product collections, and point to policy pages (privacy policy, GDPR, and others).
Then, you have another opportunity: mentionand point to your FAQ page or section on social media as well (this helps you further with social signals). It also helps you get social proof, social links, and some real people-based action such as reviews, testimonials, and more.
Reviews on Facebook Page, Product or brand mentions on Twitter, user-generated content (discussions, reviews, and testimonials) on forms, tagging, and mentions on Instagram -- they all count.
Not withstanding Google’s upcoming major update on Core Web Vitals, technical SEO basics will all matter when you are trying to optimize your FAQ page or section for Google search results.
Look out for:
● The hierarchy, structure, and layout of your site. Pay attention to Content Layout Shifts (CLS) [In simplewords, be careful with the use of large images and don’t use too many fonts]
● Page load speeds. Are your pages too slow? Here’s how you fix slow loading pages on your eCommerce store.
● How useful is the content on your website?
● Reorganize your FAQ content by using multiple pages, links within the answers to the questions, organize questions by topics, and more.
● If you can, create an entire knowledge base around your questions (which acts as a website within a website with SEO-optimized content around questions and answers).
Most businesses (and eCommerce stores are especially guilty of this) use just text and links as the primary content type for FAQ pages. This is your opportunity to do more:
● Add talking head videos to answer each question, with a real person doing the talking.
● Keep the videos short and optimize each video for search as well. Tools such as Wistia also allow for SEO-optimized videos for all videos you create.
● Use GIFs and images inside your answers (again, optimized with proper ALT tags) which also double up your exposure on Image search as well as add personality and likeability to your brand.
There’s a lot to think about when it comes to creating an SEO-optimized FAQ page.
None of this is “do and forget” though.
It’s an ongoing process where you create, tweak, iterate, wait, and then repeat.
Need help optimizing your FAQ pages or sections with Shopify? Are you looking to turn your Shopify eCommerce store into a raging success story?
At LaHutte, we help push your eCommerce store from the state of “exists” to“profitable”. Take advantage of our eCommercegrowth strategies.
Your products are awesome. What if we could sell more of them?
I'm sharing here a proven tactic that drive results to get back at least 25% of your lost checkouts, while the e-commerce average is around 8%.
Launching an ecommerce store? You have everything ready, your products, your website, your design - even your analytics? Yupee !But how about your CRM ? In this article, we'll review a simple go-to plan you can start with today to extend your CRM capabilities. Let's dive in!
This calculator will let you know which budget you'll need on Facebook - and if your ads are profitable.
This email A/B test significance test will let you know which version of your email A/B test is the most performant - and on which metrics. Plus, we'll display which recommandations you can take.
The perennial, ever-so-sticky question: How much does an e-commerce website cost? The answers will vary. Also, the answer you don’t like: It depends.
Personalizing your eCommerce site is a great way to improve conversion rates.
Learn how to create FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for eCommerce and you’d not only do a service for your potential customers but also save time answering questions (on live chat, email, phone, or otherwise).
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is key to getting your website found and for you to take advantage of the phenomenal use of search engines as the starting point for most users’ journey on the web -- to find answers, to look for information, to compare product A with product B, to look for solutions, to find local stores or merchants, and also to buy.
As far as proven eCommerce marketing strategies go, while we use the word “try” in the title, what we really mean is that you “should”. By the end of 2022, global eCommerce will be worth a whopping $5.55 Trillion. By 2023, eCommerce is going to be worth $6.17 Trillion. If anything, eCommerce is only going to get bigger and is a viable opportunity for any eCommerce brand.
Landing pages -- unlike regular pages -- help convert better. Use them generously for all campaigns. eCommerce conversions -- along with sign ups with tracking pixels happen on landing pages. Sales happen on eCommerce product pages. All of this is tracked.
One way to challenge big brands is to leverage data. Which data? Yours
To help boost your Shopify store conversion rates, you’ll need a holistic approach.
What do customers want to see? Truth is, it really depends on what you offer and how you want to brand your business. Overall, here are the things that we highly suggest you consider when writing your newsletter.
How to increase click rate on emails? This is a very tricky question because it always depends on a lot of stuff and by a lot we mean — A LOT. So, we suggest to actually follow this checklist that we have formulated to help you get a bigger picture of what should be done.
Discover your intelligence & benchmark ecommerce platform, panoramata.co!
