The best FAQs on the corporate web – and what to learn from them
If you want to optimise your company’s website for visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity and other AI search tools, effective FAQs are a cornerstone
Why? Because they’re a simple and powerful way of feeding AI chatbots with clear, direct, authoritative answers to users’ real-world questions.
This maximises the chances that when customers, investors, jobseekers and others ask questions about your company, it’s your content, rather than unreliable sources outside your control, that feeds the AI answers.
How to get FAQs right?
Here’s six lessons from some of the best on the web:
Nestlé – answer difficult questions head-on
Nestlé’s global website has a Wikipedia-beating mega-FAQ, titled "Ask Nestlé".
It’s designed to directly answer a vast array of social, environmental and ethical questions.
Recent queries covered include “How are you tackling plastic waste in the Philippines?”, and “Is Nestlé paying coffee farmers in Mexico fair prices?”
A comprehensive answer to each question is provided on a dedicated page, often in the form of a mini-FAQ in its own right. Language is jargon-free, and the focus is tightly on facts and evidence.
The result? Extremely prominent visibility of Nestlé-owned content in AI answers – even on topics where Wikipedia and other non-corporate sources usually dominate.
HSBC – tackle hot topics
The Careers section of HSBC has an FAQ-style Application hints and tips page – nothing unusual about that.
But what is unusual is the inclusion of clear guidance on candidates’ use of generative AI – where they should and shouldn’t use it, and “why it matters” – in their application.
This is an excellent example of “reading the room” among external stakeholders – and using FAQs to provide what they really need right now.
United Health Group – provide credibility-boosting citations.
This US company has an FAQ on its website tackling the single most prickly question in its industry: “Why is health care so expensive in America?”
The page poses and answers specific related questions, with lots of fact and figures. Crucially, data sources are cited, alongside links to the relevant organisation, such as the US Federal Trade Commission.
This sends powerful trust signals to AI search bots as well as human visitors, helping to ensure that the company’s positions are feeding the conversation on AI platforms.
GSK – offer further links to useful content and tools
The answers on GSK’s Shareholder FAQs page are packed with phone numbers, email addresses, online forms and links to other resources for investors.
As well as being useful for investors who visit, and reducing the number of queries that GSK has to respond to manually, this page gives AI bots lots of bite-sized practical information to bake into AI search answers.
Unilever – coordinate FAQs with wider material
Consistency of content and messaging is a vital trust signal in AI search: if what your company says is joined up across channels, it’s more likely to be highly ranked by AI search bots as the source for answers.
Unilever taps into this on its Our position on page – an A to Z of the company’s stances on social, environmental and ethical issues.
For many topics, as well as providing direct information about the company’s position, there are also onward links to related material in the Sustainability and other sections of Unilever.com.
All this is useful to human visitors, while sending trust signals to the AI search beast.
Wikipedia – use normal language for normal people
In the age of AI search, companies are competing fiercely with Wikipedia, among other third parties, to be cited in answers.
One reason why Wikipedia is so potent an AI search source is that its information about companies is often free from corporate jargon and marketing speak.
The same is true for its own FAQ on what Wikipedia is for.
Quite simply, it’s gloriously clear, unambiguous and easy to understand.
If glorious clarity is the guiding principle for your company’s FAQs, you’ll be well on the road to cutting through in AI search.
Subscribers can find more on this topic, including practical tips on Harnessing FAQs for AI search optimisation and examples of FAQs in the Best practice library in the Bowen Craggs Hub (Login required)
Bowen Craggs advises on all aspects of corporate digital communications. If you would like to learn more, please reach out to Tom at tgolden@bowencraggs.com.