We often get asked why we do not want FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) on the University’s websites.

There are lots of reasons: all to do with making our websites work well for the people who use them.

But, why do we reserve such hatred for such a simple page? Read on and I’ll explain.

Old school

Back in the day, you would always see FAQs on websites. They were used as a catch-all section for content that didn’t quite fit elsewhere.

Now websites have evolved, so has our understanding of how people use them.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Good websites base their structures, sections and content on their audience’s needs. They focus on what we call top tasks.

Content should be in the most logical section. It should be labelled clearly so people can find it and complete their task with ease.

FAQ pages are bad.  They dump a jumble of content together in one page. They are often a long list of questions in a random order. Worse, they may not even answer the question that your reader has in mind.

Another nail in the coffin for FAQs, is the very nature of them. Being a question they have useless, repetitive intros like “How do I?” or “Where can I?”

This is ugly, lazy content! Hard to read, understand and scan.

Why ask your audience questions, when they are visiting your website for answers?

They cause duplication

We’ve had examples of sites that had perfectly good sections reflecting their top tasks.

Instead of just adding content to these existing sections, a new FAQ page appears. It duplicates content in other sections.

They are patronising

FAQs talk to you in a really irritating way.

My personal favourite is the “How do I contact you?” FAQ when there is already a contact us section.

They create more work (and mistakes)

When the contact us section is updated, will the Web Editor remember to track down and update the FAQ too? Often not.

They cause confusion

Out of the two contact us sections, which one is correct? The phone number is different…

Messing with Google

Duplicated content problems show up in Google search results.

FAQ content will fight your other content for attention. Google doesn’t know which contact us content is the right one. It might show both, it might show the out of date FAQ, either way, your user isn’t going to be happy.

We’re not alone…

I hope you can start to see why we are not so keen on FAQs. And it’s not just us…

Gov.uk is stripping away all the FAQs it comes across for the same reasons I’ve just highlighted.

One of our favourite authors about all things web, Gerry McGovern writes about FAQs and really makes you question their worth.

How to avoid using FAQs

If people are repeatedly asking you the same questions:

• make sure your web content is up to date and signposted well
• add new content if you are missing information
• review your top tasks, you may need a new one

Take a look

Next time you see a FAQ page on a website – take a real hard look, with my points in mind. Bet you start to cringe now too…