How to Create an FAQ Section for Your WordPress Website
An FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page is a collection of commonly asked and answered questions that helps users better understand your website, your products and services.
Similar to a board game rule book, the FAQ page helps new “players” understand how to order, purchase, use and maintain your products and services or how to navigate and behave around your blog or your online community. It also acts as a point of reference for those with more experience. Because of that, its content should be regularly updated with the relevant information that can help resolve common problems and concerns your audience may have.
In this article, we’ll talk about the importance of having an FAQ page and cover how to add FAQ for WordPress using several methods:
First up, let’s see how to add FAQ to WordPress using the most basic way of them all.
This method represents one of the easiest ways of adding an FAQ section to a website, but it also comes with certain limitations.
You should start by creating a separate page for your FAQs. Go to Pages > Add New, set up the title, and then add the questions (and answers) that bother your audience the most. Once you’re happy with how things look, publish your page. Then, head over to Appearance > Menus, select Pages and tick the FAQ page you’ve only just created to add it to your menu.
You can use the drag-and-drop method to rearrange the order of the pages in the menu.
And that’s pretty much all you can do at this point. If your FAQs are extensive, it would make sense to group them and organize them in a clear manner but to do that, you need a plugin that will help you streamline the entire process of creating FAQs.
Ultimate FAQs is, without a doubt, currently the best plugin of its kind on the market. You can use it to add an FAQ section to your website swiftly and without too much hassle. And you don’t have to spend a dime along the way. It’s a win-win situation for you. Several premium plans are available as well, starting from $34.47 for a single site.
Once you install the plugin, the first thing it will ask you is to enter the name for your FAQ category and add questions and answers. Then, you’ll have the option to create a separate page to put the FAQs on and adjust some key settings, such as deciding whether or not your FAQs should be grouped by category, and more.
If you’re unsure about how many questions you wish to create during this initial set up, don’t worry, as all settings and controls can be adjusted by selecting the FAQs menu item from your dashboard menu. Here you can not only add new FAQs and categories and edit the already-existing ones, but also add tags, include excerpts, allow comments on your FAQ content, and much more.
Don’t forget to go to Appearance > Menus to add the FAQ page you’ve created with Ultimate FAQs to your menu.
To explore all the elements that can be altered to your requirements, go to FAQs > FAQ Options. You can:
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add custom CSS styles for your FAQs
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turn on comment support
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include permalinks for texts and icons
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set access roles
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decide if you wish to display FAQs in toggle and accordion
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enable category toggle and accordion
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choose how to order FAQs
and heaps more.
In case you don’t know what any of these options is for, click on the “i” icon and a description will appear next to the selected element.
Premium users get some extra features that allow them to style FAQs the way they want, modify the default text on the FAQ submit page, integrate it with WooCommerce and WP Forms, etc. Furthermore, they can export FAQs as a spreadsheet or a PDF file, as well as import them from a spreadsheet, while the free plan includes just the import option.
To display FAQs, simply paste the following code to any page you like:
[ultimate-faqs]
You can add attributes to this shortcode and tell it how to behave. For example, if you’d like to display just a specific category of FAQs, you would add:
[ultimate-faqs include_category=’the_category_of_your_choice’]
To exclude a category from the list, enter:
[ultimate-faqs exclude_category=’the_category_of_your_choice’]
Other shortcodes you can use include:
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[popular-faqs] – use it if you wish to display the number of most viewed FAQs (5 by default)
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[recent-faqs] – it allows you to display recently added FAQs (5 by default)
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[select-faq] – this one lets you display only specific FAQs; to specify your selection, you can use these attributes: faq_name, faq_slug, and faq_id
- e.g. Say you have an FAQ titled Are Your Products Eco Friendly? And you wish to display just this question. In that case, your shortcode would look like this: [select-faq faq_name=’Are Your Products Eco Friendly?’]
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[ultimate-faq-search] – this shortcode is available to premium users only; it allows you to display a search bar that enables users to look for a specific FAQ via keyword
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[submit-question] – this is another premium feature; it provides users with a form and lets them submit FAQs on their own; the submitted questions are saved as drafts, and you can modify and approve them if you wish
In Gutenberg, there’s the Ultimate FAQs block that includes Display FAQs, Search FAQs (premium feature), Submit FAQs (premium feature), Recent FAQs, and Popular FAQs, so you don’t have to use shortcodes at all if you don’t want to.
Overall, even the free version of Ultimate FAQs provides you with the tools you need to create a professional FAQ section on your site. There are some more FAQ plugins you could try, such as Quick and Easy FAQs, HTML5 Responsive FAQ, Easy Accordion, etc., but we liked the Ultimate FAQs the most because of its versatility and the features it comes with.
To add FAQs in Elementor, you can either use a plugin or install an FAQ element from a third-party developer, because sadly, Elementor doesn’t include it by default. You could get it from, for instance, Power Pack Elements, but beware that this one comes with a price tag. The cheapest of their plans costs $69, but you’ll have access to more than 70 Elementor widgets. Their FAQ widget lets you insert as many questions and answers as you need, and style them to your liking.
Alternatively, you could install the Helpie FAQ plugin and save some money, since you can get it free of charge. Most importantly, Helpie FAQ packs an FAQ widget for Elementor.
Once you activate the plugin, open the page where you wish to display FAQ content and look for the Helpie FAQ element.
Next, drag the widget to the page and start creating your FAQs. Helpie comes with numerous options that enable you to:
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add FAQ categories
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choose display mode (simple accordion, simple accordion by category, and accordion by category)
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enable / disable toggle
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choose how to sort and order FAQs
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enable the search option for FAQs
and more.
Furthermore, Helpie FAQ integrates with WooCommerce so you can place an FAQ tab on all of your WooCommerce products. For a free plugin, Helpie FAQ surely packs a vast set of practical options any FAQ page might need.
To create an FAQ section in WPBakery Page Builder you would have to install FAQ Manager, which is a premium plugin that currently costs $22.
What you get with this plugin is both a shortcode and a widget, and there is also a WooCommerce tab. Aside from allowing users to create and style their FAQ content, this plugin also packs a pretty neat feature that allows users to submit questions by using a contact form. Their questions are saved as drafts you need to moderate and, potentially, approve.
The best way of creating an FAQ page in Gutenberg is by using the Ultimate Blocks plugin.
Once you activate it, add the Content Toggle block to your page.
This block comes with extensive customization options for an FAQ section on your site. You can find them all on the right side of the screen. For instance, you can choose a color scheme, enable FAQ Schema (more on FAQ Schemas in the following section of this article), select heading tag, choose the position of the toggle status icon, and more.
A little over a year ago, Google announced its decision to feature FAQs in search results. This is possible thanks to FAQ Schema, which is a code that basically tells search engines that a specific content comes in a questions and answers format.
If your FAQ page is marked up properly, Google may treat it as rich content (if you need help in that regard, Google’s guidelines provide tons of useful info). That means that your FAQs could appear as rich snippets in search results and Google Assistant, which should increase your click-through rates and traffic.
This is what FAQ rich snippets look like in Google.
Now, let’s see why you should consider using FAQ Schema in the first place.
What Are the Benefits of FAQ Schema?
Probably the most obvious advantage of using FAQ Schema is that it helps you take up more space in search results. Your brand occupies a larger web-estate than others, which increases its visibility and provides a positive off-site experience for your users. Speaking of the latter, for example, people could be familiar with your services, but in case they need to find an answer to a common question regarding your brand, this is an excellent way of providing them with it fast.
As we’ve mentioned in one of the paragraphs above, an FAQ schema is also important for the Google Assistant, especially for those who rely on the voice search option. By marking up your page, you’ll provide users with some additional ways of accessing your FAQ content.
To add an FAQ Schema in WordPress, you can use Rank Math or the Yoast plugin.
First up, let’s see how to do it via Rank Math.
How to Add an FAQ Schema in WordPress with Rank Math
Rank Math is currently one of the most popular SEO plugins that packs a myriad of practical features. This time around, we’ll use it to add schema-ready FAQs to our WordPress website.
In Gutenberg, go to the page where you wish to create FAQs and add the FAQ by Rank Math block.
Then you’ll have the option to enter questions, answers, and images to your FAQ section. This block comes with a set of customizable options placed at the right side of the screen, where you can modify the list style, title size, image size, and add CSS classes for the title, content, and the FAQ list.
In case you’re still using the Classic Editor, things will be slightly more complicated for you. The thing is, one of Google’s webmasters, John Mueller, has stated that, when it comes to structured data, Google’s preferred coding method is JSON-LD. This means you should use JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) to markup your FAQ content.
To generate the markup, you can use Merkle’s SEO Tools Schema Markup Generator. From the dropdown menu, select the FAQ Page, add your questions and answers, and then copy the FAQ Schema. We’ve entered a random question and an answer just to show you what this code should look like. You can add as many questions and answers as you like.
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "FAQPage",
"mainEntity": {
"@type": "Question",
"name": "What Payment Gateways You Support?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "PayPal and Stripe."
}
}
}
</script>
Before you copy the code, make sure to validate your schema by using Google’s Rich Results Test and Structured Data Testing Tool. You can also do that by clicking on the Google icon on the Schema Markup Generator website. If you don’t want to do it now, you can wait until you add the code to your WordPress site and complete the process of creating an FAQ page.
Now, let’s copy the code and go back to our WordPress dashboard. On a page where we wish to add the FAQ schema, we should now switch from Visual to Text editor.
The downside of doing this with the Classic Editor is that you can add the FAQ section only once, whereas in Gutenberg there are no similar limitations. Moreover, you also need to add the same questions and answers in the visual editor.
If everything works well and no issues have been reported during the process of validating your schema, you should also notify Google to crawl your FAQ page. To do that, go to Google Search Console, enter your URL in the designated field, and press the Request Indexing button. Even if your page is already indexed, this will alert Google that you’ve made changes to your site and that the newly added page should be indexed as well.
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How to Add an FAQ Schema in WordPress with Yoast
To add FAQs to your site using Yoast, go to the page where you wish to create FAQs.
N.B. This method only works with Gutenberg.
You should start by adding the FAQ block to the page of your choice.
Then, insert your questions and answers. If you like, you can also add images to your FAQs. Yoast automatically ensures your structured data is valid, but if you wish, you can check it by yourself, again by using Google’s Rich Results Test and Structured Data Testing Tool.
How to Add an FAQ Schema in WordPress with the Structured Content Plugin
Another way of adding schema-ready FAQs to your website is by using Structured Content, a plugin that can be downloaded for free from the official WordPress plugin directory. In case you’re not using Rank Math nor Yoast, this plugin is a good choice.
Once you install and activate it, go to the page where you wish to add the FAQ content. In Gutenberg, select the Structured Content block and select FAQ.
Click on it and insert as many questions, answers, and images you like. As for styling options, this plugin allows you to alter the Title tag, but if you know how to use CSS, you can add some additional CSS classes to your page.
In the Classic Editor, go to the FAQ page, select the visual editor and look for the Structured Plugin icon.
Since you’re probably going to want to add several FAQs, select Multi FAQ and adjust the settings to your liking. You can modify the same options as in Gutenberg.
Of course, as with Rank Math and Yoast, don’t forget to validate the page with Google and request from Google to index it.
How to Add an FAQ Schema in WordPress Without Plugins
Adding an FAQ Schema in WordPress without a plugin is fairly simple. In case you’re using the Classic Editor, once you get your JSON-LD code, paste it to your page in the text editor. In Gutenberg, first add the Custom HTML block and then insert the FAQ Schema.
Wrapping Up
FAQ pages matter big time. Having an FAQ page on your website is indispensable for great user experience. People don’t want to spend their time browsing a website in search of answers. If they can’t immediately find what they want, they’ll leave. That’s why it’s important to have all FAQs in one place. Furthermore, as we’ve mentioned a couple of times throughout the article, if marked well and validated, FAQ pages will occupy more web-space in search results. That will attract the users’ attention and increase your click-through rates.
We wanted to introduce you to several ways of adding FAQs in WordPress, so you can take your pick and go with the one you think you’ll feel the most comfortable with. Some methods require the use of plugins, while others don’t, but what matters is that they all allow you to create an FAQ section your website and customers deserve. Just make sure not to forget about FAQ Schema, since it’s highly beneficial for your site, and always validate it with Google’s Rich Results Test and Structured Data Testing Tool.
