FAQ pages

What makes a good FAQ answer?

Start with the questions you hear most on the phone and at the door. For a plumber that is 'How much does a water heater cost to replace?', 'Do you charge to come out?', 'Can you come today?'. For a dentist it is insurance, new patient openings and what a cleaning costs.

Answer in the first sentence, then add a line or two of detail. 'Most tank water heater replacements run $1,400 to $2,200 installed. The price depends on size, fuel type and whether the venting needs changes.' That first sentence can stand on its own, which is what Google and AI assistants look for when they quote a page.

Give each question one answer. If the same question shows up on five pages with five slightly different answers, customers and search engines can't tell which is right. Put the full answer on the most relevant page, and link to it from the others.

Can you have too many FAQ pages?

Yes. Some sites generate hundreds of pages like 'How much does drain cleaning cost in [town]?' with the same answer and a different town name. Google's spam policies define scaled content abuse as many pages generated mainly to manipulate rankings rather than help people, however they were produced, and pages made to rank for many similar searches as doorway abuse. Hundreds of thin, near identical FAQ pages fit both.

One solid FAQ page, plus a few questions at the bottom of each service page that are specific to that service, covers what most local businesses need. Add a question when customers start asking it, not to target a search phrase. If a question really does have a different answer in each town, like travel fees, that belongs on the area page for that town.

Does FAQ markup still get you anything in Google?

FAQPage schema markup used to make questions drop down under your Google result. Google limited that to well-known government and health sites in 2023 and stopped showing FAQ rich results entirely starting May 7, 2026. Adding the markup to a real FAQ page does no harm, but the value now comes from the answers on the page itself, which can still appear in regular results, People Also Ask boxes and AI answers.

Keep the answers on the page as plain text. An answer inside an image or a PDF menu is harder for search engines and assistants to read and quote. Reread the page each quarter so prices, hours and policies stay current, because an old price quoted back to a customer costs you more than a missing answer.

Common mistakes

• Generating hundreds of near identical question pages with a town or service swapped, which Google's spam policies treat as scaled content abuse.
• Writing vague answers like 'it depends, give us a call' that give customers and assistants nothing to use.
• Answering the same question differently on different pages, so no one knows which answer is current.