How to Create a Custom FAQ Post Type with Structured Data in WordPress

In this comprehensive WordPress tutorial, we’ll guide you through the process of creating a custom post type for FAQs enriched with structured data. This will significantly improve your website’s SEO and user experience, making FAQs more accessible and organized.

Structured data, implemented here using the JSON-LD schema, plays a pivotal role in ensuring that search engines understand your content thoroughly. It enhances the visibility of your FAQs in search results, benefiting both you and your users.

Before proceeding with any customizations in WordPress, it’s essential to set up a child theme. A child theme acts as a safe and efficient way to make modifications without affecting the parent theme. If you haven’t set up a child theme yet, follow this tutorial on How to Create a Child Theme for Customization. It will guide you through the process and ensure that your customizations remain intact even after theme updates.

Create a Custom Post Type for FAQs

Let’s dive right into creating a custom post type tailored for FAQs, providing you with a dedicated space to efficiently manage and display them.

Access functions.php and Insert Code

Begin by opening your child-theme’s functions.php file. You can access this file via your WordPress dashboard under “Appearance” > “Theme Editor” or via you favorite FTP client. Now, paste the following code snippet into your functions.php file:

function create_faq_post_type() {
	$args = array(
		'labels'      => array(
			'name'          => 'FAQs',
			'singular_name' => 'FAQ',
		),
		'public'      => true,
		'has_archive' => true,
		'supports'    => array( 'title', 'editor' ),
	);
	register_post_type( 'faq', $args );
}
add_action( 'init', 'create_faq_post_type' );
Code language: PHP (php)

Explanation:

• We’re defining a custom post type named ‘FAQs’ with a singular label ‘FAQ.’
• This custom post type is set to be public, allowing it to be accessed by users.
• It has an archive page, making FAQs easily accessible.
• We specify that it should support titles and content (the ‘editor’) for each FAQ.

Create a Template for FAQs

With the custom post type set up, let’s create a dedicated template for individual FAQs. This template will not only display each FAQ item but also include structured data using JSON-LD for better SEO.

Create Template File and Add Code

In your child-theme folder, create a new file and name it single-faq.php. insert the following code snippet to structure the FAQ data and render it using JSON-LD:

<?php
/**
 * Template for displaying a single FAQ post.
 *
 * @package Your_Theme_Name
 */

defined( 'ABSPATH' ) || die( "Can't access directly" );
get_header(); // Add website logo and navigation.

$faq_data = array(
	'@context'   => 'http://schema.org',
	'@type'      => 'FAQPage',
	'mainEntity' => array(
		'@type'          => 'Question',
		'name'           => get_the_title(),
		'acceptedAnswer' => array(
			'@type' => 'Answer',
			'text'  => get_the_content(),
		),
	),
);
?>
<script type="application/ld+json">
	<?php echo wp_json_encode( $faq_data, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT ); ?>
</script>
<article>
	<h1><?php the_title(); ?></h1>
	<?php the_content(); ?>
</article>

<?php get_footer(); // Add website footer. ?>
Code language: PHP (php)

Explanation:

• We’ve added the line defined( 'ABSPATH' ) || die( "Can't access directly" ); to ensure that the file can’t be accessed directly.
• get_header(); adds your website’s logo and navigation to the FAQ page.
• We structure the FAQ data as JSON-LD, adhering to the schema.org FAQPage schema.
• We output the JSON-LD data within a <script> tag in the template.
• The FAQ’s title and content are directly fetched and displayed using WordPress functions.
• Finally, get_footer(); adds your website’s footer to the FAQ page.

Test Structured Data

After creating your custom template, proceed to create or edit an FAQ post from your WordPress dashboard. The structured data will be automatically added to the FAQ page when you view it.

To test the structured data, you can use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool or the Rich Results Test to ensure that your data is valid and correctly recognized by search engines.

That’s it! You’ve successfully orchestrated the creation of a custom FAQ post type replete with structured data in WordPress. This dual enhancement strategy elevates your website’s SEO and optimizes the user experience, rendering your FAQs more accessible and captivating in search results.