Results before positioning

The client in question runs an online store where he sells sockets, switches, cables, wires, extension cords, installation boxes, insulating tapes and other products used in electrical works. He signed a SEO contract with us in June 2019, opting for a budget of $ 1,400 per month. When we started SEO activities, the client’s website appeared in 18 phrases in TOP3 and 145 phrases in TOP10, while in TOP50 there were less than 1000 phrases. So it cannot be said that we started from scratch – the website was visible in the search engine and also had organic traffic. However, the audit showed us that the website has the potential to generate even more search engine hits and gain better places for industry phrases.

The first year of cooperation

During the audit, we noticed that the client’s website is available at two addresses, which would be a significant difficulty in positioning, among others due to duplicate content. At the beginning of the cooperation, permanent redirects to one of the addresses were introduced, thanks to which the problem was quickly removed and opened the way to new activities.

In the next stage, we focused on the most urgent issue, i.e. optimizing the pages of the most important product categories by adding comprehensive descriptions. We chose the best key phrases for each of them and placed them in the texts to increase the probability that the page will be high in the search results for these keywords. We have also determined the optimal H1 headings and meta titles, and we took care of the appropriate length of the text for each subpage. This brought the first signs of increased visibility, which showed that the chosen positioning strategy was working. The website appeared on 38 phrases in TOP3, 387 phrases in TOP10 and 1795 phrases in TOP50.

Second year of cooperation

After a year of cooperation, the client decided to extend the SEO contract and additionally increase the budget to $ 1,800 a month. As the most urgent changes have already been implemented, we focused on increasing website traffic with blog articles. We focused on extensive, valuable texts containing phrases loosely related to the client’s activity, which we could not implement in the category descriptions. This resulted in a significant increase in the number of phrases in top positions, and thus an increase in the visibility of the customer’s website, which translated into greater brand recognition. The client also agreed to expand the website with detailed categories that were optimized for long tail phrases. Thanks to this, we were able to fight the competition for even more keywords relevant in the industry.

The strategy based on extending the website with high-quality texts brought particularly noticeable effects in May this year, when the Google algorithm was updated. Our observations show that as a result, pages with a large amount of unique content recorded increases, and sites with little text or duplicate content fell in the ranking (e.g. product descriptions taken from manufacturers’ websites). This change confirmed our predictions about the future of positioning, and although it did not echo widely in the industry, it had a significant impact on a large number of websites, especially online stores. This is shown by the results achieved by our client:
– TOP3 – 218 phrases,
– TOP10 – 1099 phrases,
– TOP50 – 4656 phrases.

What is the conclusion of this? Positioning requires not only knowledge and experience, but also tracking trends so that updating algorithms, instead of destroying the effects of work, help to climb higher and higher positions.

Why is it worth putting an FAQ on the website?

– Provides the customer with immediate help – the user can quickly find an answer to his question, which shortens the shopping path. You can read more about customer path mapping in e-commerce in the article on our website.
– It saves time – both for you and the client. Regardless of whether the questions are answered exclusively by you or the company is handled by an extensive customer service and technical support department, each interaction takes time and involves an employee. The FAQ allows you to skip direct contact for the most common questions, but do not leave them unanswered.
 – It proves that you care about consumers – the FAQ in a clear, friendly form presents various procedures on the company-client line. Transparent presentation of opportunities in future cooperation (whatever form it may take) is a great value for the user, as well as a great way to show your experience, customer-friendly approach and build trust.
– It has a positive effect on SEO – the FAQ is a full-fledged subpage that, like others, affects the positioning of the entire website. This creates a great potential for improving SEO, including thanks to internal linking. In addition, it is a subpage with a lot of content, willingly “clicked”, with opportunities for systematic expansion of the content – web robots like it!
– Allows Google Featured Snippets to appear – a properly constructed question-answer scheme may be considered by Google as valuable enough to appear as a highlighted fragment above the search results.
– Provides data – thanks to analytical modules, you can check which issues (and how) are most often checked by users, which allows you to refine procedures and implement the necessary changes. The FAQ is a great source of knowledge about customer needs.

In many places – from large online stores to small service business sites – the FAQ, despite being published by poor execution, is on the verge of uselessness. A poorly made list of frequently asked questions is not only of little value to the user, but can even irritate him and lead him to redirect his internet steps elsewhere.

FAQ – selection of questions

The first step, of course, will be to refer to your and customer service experience. You perfectly know the needs of customers and the topics that are most often discussed in communication. It is also worth taking a look at the websites of the closest competitors operating in the same industry – many issues will probably be similar. In the case of online stores, must-have is, for example, a clear presentation of payment mechanisms, returns policy or warranty procedures.

FAQ – structure

A typical FAQ list has a rolling question-answer structure. It is very important to properly group the questions into specific categories – asking about the features of a product or a selected service package is a slightly different matter than a loyalty program, login data or the account deletion process. Categorizing topics greatly facilitates navigation and accelerates the user reaching the issue of interest.

The questions should be presented in first-person form – just as the client would type them. You should also use friendly language and avoid industry jargon.

The answers in the FAQ are usually short and as specific as possible – the user came to the page in order to obtain a concise, factual answer. This is no place for grass-talk. If the explanation requires more than a few paragraphs of text to be accurate, it is probably worth considering creating a separate subpage, and providing basic information in the FAQ, followed by a link to a more comprehensive article. If you decide to publish an extensive answer in the FAQ, be sure to take care of the appropriate structure of the text – take care of the right headings, legible text and division into paragraphs.

It is worth paying attention to the right choice of keywords – the question must be easy to find. An appropriate structure based on structured data also means that in the search results the elements of a given FAQ will be presented in an extended form, the so-called rich snippets.

At the end of the list, it is worth placing a contact form or at least a link to it in case the user does not find an answer to his question or needs clarification of some issues with the consultant.

Video and FAQ

Sometimes short films appear as part of the FAQ, most often simple animations (so-called explaining). This may be a good solution in some situations (e.g. when an issue requires specific steps that are easier to present graphically than text), but it has many disadvantages. First of all, a large part of people “scans” the text with their eyes faster, ergo assimilates the necessary information more efficiently than it would be in the case of even a few dozen seconds long film. The video itself will not affect SEO as much as the traditional text form, and it will also slightly extend the loading time of the subpage.

The answer in the form of a video makes sense especially in the case of typical technical support issues, e.g. assembly instructions for a given product or presentation of its specific function. Of course, you can always use a mixed form – text and video, which will complement each other.

FAQ – update

First of all, the FAQ cannot be treated as a complete whole. It is an important element of the website and should be a constantly evolving organism – in most companies, new questions arise every day, some of which perhaps should be on your website.