faq-research

FAQ Research, PAA + Schema + GEO

Purpose

Identify, organize, and optimize frequently asked questions for the client's website. Combines People Also Ask (PAA) extraction, competitor FAQ analysis, and meeting-derived questions into a structured FAQ strategy with JSON-LD schema markup and GEO optimization for AI citation.

When to Use

• Step 6 of FWS Discovery workflow
• When building an FAQ page for a new or existing site
• When optimizing for Featured Snippets and AI Overviews
• When creating FAQ schema for rich results

Inputs Required

1. Target keywords, from Step 4 (discovery-context.md)
2. Buyer personas, from Step 3 (what questions do they ask?)
3. Competitor FAQ analysis, from Step 2 (gaps and opportunities)
4. Meeting transcription, questions the client commonly receives
5. Industry, from discovery context

Workflow

Step 1: Collect Questions from All Sources

A. Client Meeting Extraction

Parse the meeting transcription for:

• "Customers always ask..."
• "The most common question is..."
• "People want to know..."
• "Before they buy, they need to understand..."
• Any question phrased directly

B. People Also Ask (PAA) Mining

For each of the top 10-15 target keywords:

1. Search the keyword in Google
2. Capture all PAA questions shown
3. Click on PAA questions to expand (triggers more questions)
4. Record up to 3 levels deep of PAA chains
5. Note the current answer format (paragraph, list, table)

PAA Recording Format:

Question	Source Keyword	Answer Format	Featured Snippet?	Priority
		paragraph/list/table	yes/no	High/Med/Low

C. Competitor FAQ Analysis

For each competitor (from Step 2):

1. Find their FAQ page (if exists)
2. Record all questions and categorize by topic
3. Assess answer quality (1-10)
4. Check for FAQ schema markup (view source)
5. Identify questions only competitors answer (our gap)

D. Persona-Driven Questions

For each buyer persona (from Step 3):

• Awareness stage: What do they Google before they know about this service?
• Consideration stage: What questions do they ask while evaluating options?
• Decision stage: What objections need answering to close the deal?
• Post-purchase: What do they need help with after buying?

Step 2: Deduplicate and Categorize

1. Merge all questions from all sources
2. Remove exact duplicates
3. Merge semantically similar questions (keep the most searched phrasing)
4. Group by topic (typically 4-8 topic groups)

Topic Group Structure:

Group	Example Topics
Service/Product	What is [service]? How does it work?
Pricing/Cost	How much does [service] cost?
Process/Timeline	How long does it take? What's the process?
Qualifications	Why should I choose you? What certifications?
Comparison	How is this different from [alternative]?
Technical	What technology/methods do you use?
Results	What results can I expect?
Getting Started	How do I get started? What's the first step?

Step 3: Prioritize Questions

Score each question:

Factor	Weight	Scoring
Search visibility	30%	Appears in PAA? Has search volume?
Conversion impact	30%	Does answering this help close deals?
Content gap	20%	Do competitors answer this but client doesn't?
Client frequency	20%	Does the client hear this often?

Priority tiers:

• Must Have (score 7+): Include on main FAQ page, add schema
• Should Have (score 5-7): Include on relevant service pages
• Nice to Have (score 3-5): Blog post or resource content
• Skip (score <3): Too niche or irrelevant

Step 4: Write Answer Guidelines

For each Must Have and Should Have question, specify:

Answer Structure:

• First sentence: Direct answer (for AI citation and Featured Snippets)
• Paragraph 2: Supporting detail or context
• Paragraph 3: Call-to-action or next step
• Total length: 50-200 words (concise, scannable)

GEO Optimization Rules (from CORE-EEAT):

• Direct answer in first 150 words
• Include specific data points for quotability
• Use structured format (FAQ schema wraps individual Q&A)
• Make answers standalone (don't require reading other answers)
• Include internal links within answers to relevant pages

Step 5: Generate JSON-LD Schema

Create FAQPage schema for all Must Have questions:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "[Question text]",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "[Concise answer text with key information]"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Schema Rules:

• Include all Must Have questions (max 10-15 per page)
• Answer text should be the concise version (not full page content)
• No HTML in schema answer text (plain text only)
• Match the visible page content exactly
• One FAQPage schema per URL (don't duplicate across pages)

Step 6: FAQ Page Architecture

Recommend how to structure FAQ content across the site:

Option A: Centralized FAQ Page

• One /faq page with all questions grouped by topic
• Accordion/expandable format
• Highest-traffic questions at top of each group
• Internal links within answers to service pages

Option B: Distributed FAQ Sections

• FAQ section at bottom of each service page
• Service-specific questions only
• Schema markup on each page
• Link to central FAQ for general questions

Option C: Hybrid (Recommended)

• Central FAQ page for general and cross-cutting questions
• Service-page FAQ sections for service-specific questions
• Schema on both
• Cross-linking between central FAQ and service pages

Step 7: Update Discovery Context

Append to discovery-context.md:

• Total FAQs identified (by source and priority)
• Top 10 highest-priority questions
• FAQ topic groups
• Schema markup recommendation
• Content gaps from FAQ analysis
• GEO optimization opportunities

Output

Write findings to 07-FAQ-Research.md using the template.

Quality Checklist

• Questions collected from all 4 sources (meeting, PAA, competitors, personas)
• Deduplicated and categorized into topic groups
• Priority scoring applied to all questions
• Answer guidelines written for Must Have questions
• JSON-LD schema generated
• FAQ page architecture recommended
• Discovery context updated with FAQ findings

Anti-Patterns

• Don't: Write FAQ questions nobody actually asks (test against PAA)
• Don't: Create 50+ question FAQ pages (10-15 per page max)
• Don't: Copy competitor answers (write original, better answers)
• Don't: Use FAQ schema for non-question content (Google penalizes misuse)
• Don't: Forget internal links within answers (missed SEO opportunity)