Do you need FAQs or better content?

We’re calling it: Frequently asked questions (FAQs) are a waste of space. They’re repetitive, unwieldy and, most importantly, not audience-focused.

Should you write and answer a list of questions your audience might have?

✅ Yes.

Should they be presented in a long article answering every single permutation of a question your audience might ask?

❌ Absoloutely not.

Here’s 4 reasons why (and what you should do instead.

1. Your audience doesn’t read FAQs

Making good content requires a strong understanding of your audience, and how they read online. Research that tracks people’s eye movements shows that readers typically don’t read webpages at all.

They scan.

When someone lands on your website, they’re quickly searching for the words and phrases they need to assess whether your page will help them or not.

They look for visual cues – like headings or lists – and scan the first few words of each paragraph.

FAQs don’t capitalise on this behaviour, they:

bury the actual keywords people are looking for and waste prime scanning real estate on your page by starting with filler phrases like ‘What is…’ or ‘Why does my…’ or ‘How can I…’
repeat themselves. What could be expressed clearly in a single section ends up spread across multiple mini-answers. Add in all the ‘what, how, when’ padding, and your readers are working twice as hard to extract the information they need.

The result? Wordy pages that disrespect your audience’s time and fail to help them find answers.

2. FAQs are a sign your content architecture is broken

If people are frequently asking the same questions, it’s usually because your content hasn’t been structured properly in the first place.

Important information shouldn’t be hidden away in a ‘miscellaneous’ list – it should be front and centre, in the right place, at the right time.

A well-designed site answers questions naturally within the flow of your content. Done well, there’s no need for a separate FAQ page at all.

3. They’re a lazy way to cover gaps

Here’s the hard truth: FAQs often get used as a dumping ground.

Instead of putting in the effort to write clear, user-centred content, businesses tack on an FAQ page to cover the gaps (or to appease internal stakeholders).

This shortcut might feel easy, but it backfires. Over time, the list becomes a mix of sales talking points, internal jargon and ‘things we wish customers asked’ – rather than real answers to real problems.

We get it, you’re time poor. But doing it right will save you time and be more effective in the long run (cross our hearts).

4. Their upkeep is time intensive

Here’s another trap: FAQs usually repeat information that already exists somewhere else on your site (or even in the FAQs). And that’s a problem, because the moment you update information in one place and forget the other, you’ve got a conflict. Two different answers to the same question. Cue confusion, frustration and a quick exit.

It also doubles your workload. Every small change means checking and updating multiple places, instead of keeping the information clear and consistent in one spot.

If the answer matters, it deserves to live where people actually need it – not copied and pasted into a catch-all list at the bottom of your site.

4. Search engines don’t love FAQs

Search engines prefer focused, topic-driven content.

FAQ pages, with their fragmented answers and repeated phrases, rarely perform as well as well-structured pages. In fact, they can dilute your SEO by duplicating content across your site.

If you want to rank highly, build strong, authoritative content pages around your audience’s needs – not endless Q&As.

And, generative AI doesn’t take too kindly to FAQs either. Here’s why:

FAQs often duplicate content. For AI systems, conflicting answers across different parts of your site can muddy the waters — and risk the wrong answer being surfaced.
FAQs rarely go deep. Generative AI performs better with richer, well-structured content that provides context and nuance. A two-line FAQ answer might not give enough signal.
Search engines and AI both reward clarity, hierarchy, and semantic structure. A well-written, topic-driven page with clear headings gives stronger training signals than a jumbled list of FAQs.

FAQs might help a generative AI scrape a quick answer — but structured, audience-first content does the same job better. It serves your human readers and gives AI the context it needs to surface accurate, trustworthy answers.

What to do instead of writing FAQs

When someone has to wade through a long FAQ list, you’re putting the burden on them to dig for answers. Instead, flip it.

If your audience keeps asking you the same question:

Fix the page where that information should already be.
Prioritise giving the answer at the top of your content.
Highlight it with headings or even a visual feature, like a call-out box.
Create dedicated pages or sections that fully answer real audience questions.

That way, your content works harder – not your audience.

If you’re serious about meeting audience, SEO and AI needs:

Write clear, well-structured content that answers questions in context.
Build resource articles or help guides for deeper explanations.
Use clear headings and natural phrasing that match how people actually search or ask questions.
Keep your content consistent and centralised, so there’s only one authoritative answer to each question and it’s easy to find.
navigation to make key information easy to find.

And remember, great content isn’t built in a day.