The questions your customers ask on the phone are now being typed into ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode, often word for word. “How much does a switchboard upgrade cost?” “Do I need a referral to see a psychologist?” “Can you deliver to Evans Head?” If your website answers those questions clearly, there’s a decent chance the AI answer is built from your words. If it doesn’t, it’s built from someone else’s.
That’s why FAQs still earn their place, even though Google has stopped rewarding them in the way it used to.
What changed with Google
For years, adding FAQ structured data could make your search listing expand with clickable questions underneath. Google limited that to government and health sites in 2023, and according to its FAQPage documentation, FAQ rich results stopped appearing in Google Search altogether as of 7 May 2026.
Two things are worth knowing. First, Google says it still uses FAQ markup to understand pages, so there’s no need to rip out existing schema. Second, the rich result was always a side benefit. The real value of an FAQ is that it answers a question someone actually has, in a form that’s easy to lift out and quote. AI tools reward exactly that.
Where the questions come from
Most FAQ sections we’re asked to fix were written by guessing. They answer questions nobody asks (“Why choose us?”) and skip the ones people ring about.
Better sources:
- Your sent emails. Search for question marks in replies you’ve written to enquiries.
- Whoever answers the phone. Ask them for the five questions they’re sick of answering.
- Your Google Business Profile and Facebook messages.
- Quote requests you lost. What were people unsure about?
- People Also Ask boxes in Google for your main service plus your town.
Ten real questions beat thirty invented ones.
How to write an answer AI tools will quote
The rule is simple: answer in the first sentence, then add the detail. AI tools and busy humans both read the start of an answer and move on.
In practice it looks like this.
Before:
How much does a bathroom renovation cost?
Every bathroom is different and there are many factors that influence the final cost, such as size, materials and the condition of the existing space. We recommend booking a free consultation so we can provide an accurate quote tailored to your needs.
After:
How much does a bathroom renovation cost?
Most of the full bathroom renovations we do in the Ballina area land between $X and $Y, including demolition, waterproofing, tiling and fixtures. Small ensuites come in under that, and bigger jobs with layout changes or premium tiles go over it. We give a fixed written quote after a free site visit.
(Put your real range in. If you won’t publish a range, at least say what drives the price and what the quote includes.)
Before:
Do you service my area?
We service a wide range of areas across the region. Contact us to find out if we can help.
After:
Do you service my area?
Yes, if you’re between Evans Head and Brunswick Heads or inland to Lismore and Alstonville. We travel further for larger jobs, with a travel fee quoted upfront.
Before:
Do I need a referral?
Referrals can be helpful in some situations.
After:
Do I need a referral?
No, you can book directly. If you want a Medicare rebate under a Mental Health Treatment Plan, you’ll need a referral from your GP first, and it’s worth bringing it to your first session.
Notice the pattern. Each “after” version names places, gives numbers where they exist, and tells the reader what to do next. Each one also makes sense on its own if an AI tool quotes it without the rest of the page.
A few other habits help:
- Write the question the way a customer would say it, not the way you’d file it. “Can you fix it today?” beats “Emergency service availability”.
- Keep most answers to 2 to 4 sentences. If it needs more, it probably needs its own page.
- Don’t repeat your sales pitch in every answer.
- Check answers that involve rules, fees or rebates at least once a year. A confidently wrong FAQ is worse than none.
Where to put them
Not all on one page. A standalone FAQ page is fine for business-wide questions (payment options, booking, cancellations, service area), but most questions belong next to the thing they’re about.
Put pricing and process questions on the relevant service page. A plumber’s hot water page should answer hot water questions. A physio’s dry needling page should answer “does it hurt?”. This keeps each page focused, which is part of why one page per service beats one big list, and it means an AI tool reading that page gets the full picture.
On the page, put FAQs after the main content, before the final call to action. Accordions are fine: Google indexes content inside them, and they keep long pages tidy on a phone. If you’re on Elementor, the Accordion widget includes a toggle to output FAQ schema, so you don’t need a separate plugin.
Make sure they can be read
Two technical checks before you go to any of this effort.
First, your FAQs need to be in the page’s HTML, not loaded from a third-party widget or embedded as an image. Most AI crawlers don’t run complex scripts the way a browser does.
Second, make sure your robots.txt isn’t blocking the AI search crawlers. Our guide on whether to block AI crawlers explains which bots to leave alone.
A one-hour job worth doing this week
Pick your most important service page. Write down five questions customers ask about it, answer each in two to four sentences with the answer up front, and add them to the bottom of the page. Then hand the same list to whoever answers your phone and ask what’s missing. They’ll know.
If your service pages need rebuilding before FAQs will help, that’s the kind of work our web design team does every week, and our SEO service covers the ongoing content side.