How to build FAQs that power AI-driven local search

There’s no such thing as “too much information” in AI search. The more detail you provide, the less likely your business is to be replaced by third-party sources — or left out entirely.

With the rise of AI search, we know users want answers, and they want them fast. Google Maps has Know before you go and Ask Maps about this place (not to be confused with Ask Maps, the new conversational “AI Mode” in Google Maps), both AI features that let users easily find information about a place without visiting their website or social media.

Merchant Center added a new feature, Business Agent, that allows shoppers to chat with brands. Business Agent pulls from the business’s product information and website to answer users’ questions.

The best way sites can prepare for the continued rollout of features like this is to ensure FAQ content based on customer research (not just standard SEO research) is top of mind. 

Why FAQs power answers in Google’s AI features

Ask Maps about this place offers preloaded questions and lets users ask their own. If it can’t answer, it responds, “There’s not enough information about this place to answer your question, but you can try asking another question.”

It’s a basic Q&A feature right now, but we can reasonably expect this to become more conversational in the future. With the Q&A feature being deprecated on GBPs, this is the replacement. If there isn’t information available for the AI to pull from, you’re leaving users in the dark.

This doesn’t mean you should have Q&As on every page or grab every People Also Ask question from an SEO tool and use it as-is. It’s not very strategic, and those questions likely just reflect search volume.

So what about the questions that don’t have national search volume? Or the questions that are highly specific to a region or location and their considerations? Think Victorian homes or specific city insurance laws.

To craft an FAQ strategy that can provide helpful information to both AI features and people, you’ll need two things:

• Think outside the box of regular FAQs you’ll see across all businesses and SEO tools.
• Be consistent in how you answer these questions across platforms (website, social media, and third-party review sites like Yelp).

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Research the right questions 

Most businesses write FAQs based on whatever a tool tells them customers want to know (which is usually based on national, not local, data). The best way to get started is by re-evaluating your FAQ content. 

Where does it live? How many places are FAQs answered? Consider all the places your audience is and where they’re likely to ask questions or engage with your content. 

Look through:

• Dedicated FAQ pages.
• Service/Product pages.
• About Us pages.
• GBP Q&As.
• Ask the community on Yelp.
• Other third-party review sites.
• Social media content.
• Social media comments.
• Customer service call logs.
• Reviews.  

You should also open up Google Maps and check whether there’s an Ask Maps about this place feature on your own or your competitors’ GBPs. Take note of the questions Ask Maps about this place recommends, and write down any that remain unanswered. 

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Social media

You can work with the client’s social media team to ask which questions they receive most frequently. Social media managers will have the most insight into the types of questions they’ve answered in comments or DMs. If you can work with them and get this information, do it.

You can also just visit the client’s social media accounts and review their content. You’ll want to look for direct questions people are asking in the comments, and also think about the types of questions people might ask based on the content being posted.

NakedMD is a medspa chain across the U.S. that regularly posts content on TikTok. They posted a before-and-after video for lip injections.

One of the comments is someone asking if they also offer dissolving services, and if you visit their site and search for “dissolver,” nothing pops up. They also didn’t respond to the comment, but based on watching other people’s TikToks about their experiences at NakedMD, they can dissolve filler.

Unfortunately, I only found out they dissolve filler from a negative TikTok review of their services. This is an opportunity to make sure they create content about this on the website and social media. It will allow NakedMD to control the narrative about dissolving filler vs. letting potential customers know they’ve only done it when clients were unhappy with the results.

Another example of FAQ content from social media is posts that could leave users confused or make them want to know more. This TikTok asked staff to choose Xeomin or Dysport — that’s it. All the staff members chose Xeomin, but there wasn’t any follow-up on why. Content like this provides another opportunity to ensure these follow-up questions are answered.

Start with the client’s social media accounts to find FAQ opportunities. Also, check out competitor social media accounts and general Reddit posts about your client’s products or services. 

Dig deeper: How to apply ‘They Ask, You Answer’ to SEO and AI visibility

Customer service call transcripts and reviews

Call transcripts and reviews are your direct line into how customers feel about a client:

• With transcripts, you’ll be able to read and hear the questions customers are asking.
• With reviews, you get to read exactly what the people who feel strongly about your clients’ services or products think.

Both of these datasets offer insights into customers’ pain points and priorities. Use both the strengths and weaknesses identified from the transcripts and reviews to create FAQ content.

Let’s say you’ve noticed reviewers mention the words “emergency,” “middle of the night,” and “Sunday” often. Customers are happy that a home service provider is available for their emergencies, no matter the day or time. Make sure the site’s content aligns with what users are saying. Maybe it’s including “24/7 emergency service, 7 days a week” as an H2 on the homepage, and using it as a selling point on service pages. If there was ever any question about your client’s service hours, having it mentioned on pages is an implicit way of answering that.

While that’s a simple example, it’s still an easy way to think about how you can use this data to answer potential questions without having to write in literal FAQ format.

Google is pulling from your on-site content to feed AI-driven answers. While the FAQ format may be best for some questions, it isn’t the only format that will work.

Consistency across platforms

While reviewing existing FAQs, ensure consistency across platforms. If a client is answering a question one way on the website and another way on Yelp, how can someone tell what the real answer is? Inconsistent answers confuse people and LLMs.

As Jason Barnard recently wrote, AI platforms generate responses by sampling from a probability distribution that is influenced by the model’s knowledge, its confidence in that knowledge, and the information retrieved at the time of the query. 

When an AI system encounters the same information across multiple trusted sources, it becomes more confident in it. On the flip side, if it finds conflicting information or only discovers the answer in one location, its confidence diminishes.

Make sure to include an FAQ review process in your workflow. Regularly audit and flag information related to hours, pricing ranges, availability, and service offerings for frequent review. These areas tend to change the most rapidly, and having outdated information can significantly harm customer trust.

Dig deeper: The proximity paradox: Beating local SEO’s distance bias

Just one piece of the AI readiness puzzle

While having an FAQ strategy in place isn’t anything new, the importance of it and the approach have shifted. With the rise of AI features like Ask Maps about this place, it has placed a stronger emphasis on structured, consistent, and explicit service or product and pricing information.

Review FAQs wherever they may exist and audit for consistency across all digital touchpoints. This will help you prepare for the changes coming to Google Maps and Google Business Profile overall.