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Question Words (W Questions).
W questions are questions that begin with a question word such as who, what, when, where, how, why, how much or which. In German they are called 'W-Fragen' because nearly all of these words start with a W. In search engine optimisation they are used to find the actual questions customers ask and to structure content so that Google, AI systems and readers immediately find a clear answer.
Question Words (W Questions) — Explained in Detail
W questions are an old tool from journalism: who did what, when, where, how and why? A report that answers these questions is complete. The same principle applies to websites: a service page that explains what is offered, for whom, where, what the process is, what it costs and why you should choose this provider leaves hardly any questions open.
In search, W questions play a double role. First, people type them in directly: 'What does a website cost?', 'How long does end-of-tenancy cleaning take?', 'Who pays for the handover inspection when moving out?'. Such queries are often informational but frequently lead to an order. Second, W questions form the basis of many search features: for many queries Google shows the 'People also ask' box, answers questions directly in featured snippets or in AI Overviews.
For AI assistants, W questions are the norm. Anyone using ChatGPT or Perplexity almost always asks a complete question. Content that takes up a question as a heading and answers it directly below in one to three sentences can easily be extracted as a passage and cited by these systems. This pattern is a core building block of AEO and GEO.
W questions are not a substitute for keyword research, but a good complement. They show the follow-up questions that come after the main term and help make content complete. It is important to include only questions that fit the offer and that you can answer honestly.
How to find W questions
The best sources are your own customers: which questions do they ask on the phone, by email, in the first meeting? Google's 'People also ask' box, autocomplete (typing 'how long does …', for example), forums and reviews, and tools that collect questions on a term also help. In Search Console, queries can be filtered by question words to see which questions already lead to impressions.
The collected questions are then sorted: which belong on the main page as a section, which in an FAQ, and which are big enough to deserve their own page or article?
Example: an end-of-tenancy cleaning page
A cleaning company adds the questions customers ask most often to its page on end-of-tenancy cleaning: What is included in the handover guarantee? How long does cleaning a 3.5-room flat take? Who attends the handover inspection? What happens if the property management raises a complaint? Roughly how much does the cleaning cost, and what does the price depend on? (In Switzerland, flat sizes are counted in rooms including the living room, with half rooms for smaller spaces.)
Each question is included as a subheading or FAQ entry and answered directly. This not only makes the page more complete for Google but also saves the team phone calls. How we prepare such content for AI answers is described on the page GEO Agency Switzerland; the matching content work is described by our content marketing agency.
Related Page
AEO – Answer Engine OptimisationFrequently Asked Questions About Question Words (W Questions)
The classic ones are who, what, when, where, how and why. In practice, how much, how long, which, what for and with what are added. For service pages, what, how much, how long and how does it work are particularly important.
For questions customers actually ask in that form, yes. A question as an H2 with a direct answer in the first sentence below it is easy to understand for readers, Google and AI systems. Not every heading has to be a question, though.
No. Most questions belong as a section or FAQ on an existing page. A separate page is only worthwhile if a question has a lot of demand of its own and needs a detailed answer.
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