There is a well-known argument in content design circles that FAQ pages are a bad idea. I hear it often enough that it is worth taking seriously. But it does not tell the whole story for small local businesses.
Where the argument comes from
The case against FAQ pages came mainly from large organisations and government services. The GOV.UK content team made it popular, and they had good reason to.
The thinking goes like this: FAQ pages exist for the organisation’s benefit, not the user’s. Questions pile up over time with no clear logic. Content gets repeated across the site. And people do not actually browse in question-and-answer mode. They want to find something or get something done. A well-organised site puts the right content in the right place, so an FAQ page becomes unnecessary.
That is a sound argument. But it was built for a different kind of website.
Why it is different for a local business
You are not running a government portal. Your site probably has five or six pages. Your prospective clients often have very practical questions before they pick up the phone.
Things like: what does this cost, how long does it take, will I be able to update it myself, what happens after the work is done?
A focused FAQ page can do real work here. It cuts down the number of back-and-forth emails before someone gets in touch. It also tends to do well in search, because question-based content often matches the way people phrase things to Google.
What makes an FAQ page worth having
The content design argument is not a reason to remove your FAQ page. It is a reason to keep it honest.
In practice, that looks like this:
- Every question should be one a real client has actually asked you
- Keep answers short – one or two sentences where you can
- Do not repeat content that already has its own page
- Aim for five to eight questions, no more
If your FAQ page starts to grow beyond that, the extra content probably belongs somewhere else. Pricing detail sits better on a services page. How you work sits better on an about page.
A quick test
If you are not sure whether your FAQ page is earning its place, ask yourself: is every question here something a real client actually said to me?
If the answer is no, that is where to start. Cut the ones you wrote to cover yourself, and keep the ones that came from actual conversations. That is the version that helps people.
