Organic growth · Content

How to Find the Questions Your Customers Ask Before They Buy

By Shaheen Arif, Founder, GetServices.ai · November 1, 2026 · 12 min read

A customer holding a potted plant asks a garden center worker a question before buying

Photo: Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Quick answer To find the questions your customers ask before they buy, start with the questions they already ask you: sales calls, emails, contact forms, reviews and your site's search box. Then add what people type into search: Google Search Console queries, autocomplete and "People also ask". Group the questions by buying stage, rank them by how often they come up and how close they are to a sale, and answer the top ones on your own pages.

Key takeaways

Your best content ideas are questions real customers already ask your team. Write them down word for word.
Search Console shows the exact queries that already bring you impressions, including questions you have never answered on purpose.
Google says autocomplete predictions reflect real searches, which makes them a free, honest source of wording.
Sort questions by buying stage and score them, so you write the pages closest to a sale first.
Answer each question directly near the top of a page. Clear answers help human readers and give AI assistants something to quote.

Every customer arrives with questions. How much does it cost? Will it work for me? How long does it take? What happens if it goes wrong? People ask them out loud to your staff, type them into Google, and more and more often ask an AI assistant. If your website answers those questions clearly, you are part of the decision. If it doesn't, someone else's page is. This guide shows you how to find the questions your customers ask before they buy, using sources you already have and free tools, and how to turn them into a short list of pages worth writing.

Why do pre-purchase questions matter more than keywords?

Keyword lists tell you what people search for. Questions tell you what they are trying to decide. That difference matters, because a page written to answer a real question is easier to make genuinely useful than a page written around a phrase.

Buyers also do much of their deciding before they ever talk to you. In a Gartner survey of 750 business buyers making complex purchases, about two-thirds of their buying time went to independent work such as online research and talking to peers, and only 17% went to meeting potential suppliers. When three suppliers were in the running, that came to roughly 5% of the buyer's time with any one of them. Consumer purchases are different, but the pattern of researching first is familiar to anyone who has read reviews before booking a contractor.

So the questions buyers ask during that research are where you win or lose them. Google's own guidance points the same way. Its advice on creating helpful, people-first content asks whether your site has an existing or intended audience that would find the content useful if they came to you directly. Pages built from your customers' real questions pass that test almost by default.

There is one more reason. AI assistants answer questions, not keywords. When someone asks ChatGPT or Google's AI Overviews "what should I ask before hiring a landscaper?", the answer is assembled from pages that address that question plainly. A clear answer on your site gives those systems something to work with.

What kinds of questions do customers ask before they buy?

Most pre-purchase questions fall into a handful of types. Knowing them helps you spot gaps, because many businesses answer "what do you do?" in detail and leave the money and risk questions unanswered.

Six types of pre-purchase questions (examples use a fictional garden center)
Question type	Example question	Page that answers it
Fit	"Which fruit trees grow well in a small, shady yard?"	Guide or buying advice page
Cost	"How much does it cost to plant a hedge along a fence?"	Pricing page with real ranges
Comparison	"Is it better to buy bare-root or potted roses?"	Comparison article
Process	"Do you deliver and plant, or just deliver?"	Service page with steps
Risk	"What if the tree dies in the first year?"	Guarantee or returns page
Logistics	"Are you open on Sundays, and is there parking for a trailer?"	Contact or visit page, plus FAQ

Fit and comparison questions come early, when someone is still exploring. Cost, process, risk and logistics questions come late, when they are close to buying. Both matter, but late-stage questions usually turn into sales faster, and they are the ones small businesses most often leave unanswered.

Where are customers already asking you questions?

Start inside your own business. These questions come from real people who were interested enough to contact you, in their own words, and nobody else has your list.

Sales and phone calls. Ask whoever answers the phone to note every question for two weeks. A shared document or a notes app is enough. Write the question the way the customer said it, not the way you would.
Email and contact forms. Search your inbox for question marks, or for phrases like "do you", "can you", "how much" and "how long". Your contact form submissions are a ready-made archive.
Quotes that didn't close. When a quote goes cold, the reason is often an unanswered question about price, timing or risk. Look at the last few lost deals and write down what was asked.
Reviews. Read your own reviews and your competitors'. Lines such as "I wasn't sure whether…" or "I wish I had known…" are questions in disguise.
Your site's search box. If your site has search, people are typing questions into it. Google Analytics 4 records these automatically when enhanced measurement is on: a site search fires a view_search_results event and stores the words in the search_term parameter. Google says it detects searches from common URL parameters such as q, s and search, and you can add your own.
Chat and support logs. If you run a chat widget or a help desk, export the first message of each conversation. The first message is usually the question.

Keep the customer's words: resist tidying questions into marketing language. "Will this kill my lawn?" is a better heading than "Lawn safety information", and it matches how people search and how they ask AI assistants.

How do you find the questions people type into search?

Your inbox shows the questions of people who reached you. Search data shows the questions of people who haven't yet. Four free sources cover most of what you need.

1. Google Search Console queries

Search Console's Performance report has a Queries view that lists the search terms people typed when your site appeared in Google results, with clicks, impressions and average position for each. A query can show up there even if you don't see your site when you search it yourself, because results vary by location, device and history.

To pull out questions, add a query filter and choose the custom regular expression option, which Google added to the Performance report in 2021. A filter like the one below keeps only queries that start with a question word:

^(who|what|when|where|why|how|which|can|does|is|are|should)\b

Sort by impressions. Questions with many impressions and few clicks are pages you nearly rank for, and a better answer can move them.

Google also says traffic from its AI features, AI Overviews and AI Mode, is included in this report under the Web search type. It isn't broken out separately, but those visits are counted.

2. Google autocomplete

Type the start of a question into Google, such as "how much does a hedge", and look at the suggestions. Google's help page says autocomplete predictions reflect real searches that have been done on Google, shaped by language, location, trending interest and your own past searches. Use a private window so your history doesn't steer the results, and try the main question words: how, what, why, can, does, is.

3. "People also ask" and related searches

For many searches, Google shows a box of related questions, and expanding one often reveals more. At the bottom of the page, related searches show other ways people phrase the same need. Copy these into your list. They tell you which follow-up questions Google already links together, which is a good hint about what one page should cover.

4. Google Trends

Trends won't give you new questions, but it tells you when they matter. Compare two phrasings to see which people actually use, check seasonality, and look at rising related queries for your topic. A garden center, for example, would expect planting questions to peak in spring and want those pages ready before then.

Figure 1. Collect questions from three kinds of sources into one list, keep the customer's wording, then score them before you write anything.

Where else do buyers ask questions out loud?

Some questions never reach your inbox or show up clearly in search data, because people ask them in public places instead.

Forums and Reddit. Search for your product category plus words like "advice", "worth it" or "regret". Threads where people ask strangers for help are full of honest pre-purchase questions, and the replies show what answers people found convincing.
Local and industry groups. Community groups and trade forums are where people ask for recommendations by name. Note the questions, not just the recommendations.
Competitors' FAQ pages. Read them to see which questions your market expects to be answered. Don't copy their answers. Look for the questions they handle badly or skip.
AI assistants. Ask ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity: "I'm thinking about buying [your product or service]. What questions should I ask first?" The list is a useful prompt for your own thinking, but treat it as a draft, not data. It reflects what the model learned, not what your customers asked. To see whether these assistants mention your business at all, use the method in our guide on how to check if ChatGPT mentions your business.

Check whether your answers can be read

Once you know the questions, the pages that answer them need to be readable by search engines and AI assistants. The free ATLAS AEO scan checks 22 signals across AI crawler access, page structure, answer readiness and trust.

Run a free AEO scan

How do you organize and prioritize the questions?

After a couple of weeks of collecting, most small businesses have between 50 and 200 questions. That's too many to write about at once, so put them in order.

Put every question in one spreadsheet. Columns: the question in the customer's words, where it came from, the date, and how many times you've heard it.
Merge duplicates. "How much is delivery?" and "do you charge to deliver?" are one question. Keep the most common wording as the main version and list the others beside it.
Tag the buying stage. Use three simple stages: exploring (fit and comparison), deciding (cost, process and risk) and ready (logistics and booking).
Check what you already answer. For each question, note the page on your site that answers it, if any. Be strict: an answer buried in paragraph six of the About page doesn't count.
Score each question. Give each one a score from 1 to 3 on three things, then multiply.

Priority = how often it's asked (1–3) × closeness to purchase (1–3) × how poorly it's answered now (1–3)

The highest possible score is 27: a question you hear constantly, that comes right before a sale, with no answer on your site. Write those pages first. A question that scores 1 or 2 can wait, or can become one line in an FAQ.

Figure 2. An illustrative example, not real data. Frequent, late-stage questions earn their own pages first. Rare, late-stage questions often fit in an FAQ.

How do you turn questions into pages that get found?

A good question list is only useful if the answers end up on your site in a form people and search systems can use. A few habits make the difference.

One main question per page. Group closely related follow-ups on the same page, but give each distinct decision its own page. "How much does hedge planting cost?" deserves a page. "Do you take card payments?" belongs in an FAQ.
Answer first. Put a two-to-four-sentence direct answer right under the heading, then the detail. People skim, and a short answer near the top is also the part a search engine or AI assistant is most likely to quote.
Use the question as the heading. If customers ask "what if the tree dies in the first year?", use those words, or something very close, as the heading.
Be specific. Give price ranges, timeframes, service areas and conditions where you can. Vague answers don't settle anything, so the reader keeps searching.
Link related questions together. A pricing page should link to the guarantee page, and the guarantee page to the booking page. That mirrors the order in which customers ask.
Add a visible FAQ for the small questions. Short logistics questions fit well in an FAQ section on the relevant service page.

If writing is the bottleneck, an AI workspace can help with first drafts that you then check against what you actually offer. GetServices AI Studio is ours: its page describes ROMEO building apps, running ATLAS AEO, writing content and automating daily work. Whatever you use, a person who knows the business should check every price, promise and policy before a page goes live.

Finally, revisit the list. New questions appear when you launch something, change prices or enter a new season. A quick review every quarter, plus a fresh look at Search Console's question queries each month, keeps the list honest.

Can a tool find these questions for you?

Partly. Tools are good at the search-data part: collecting queries, spotting rising topics and comparing your coverage with competitors. They can't sit in on your sales calls, so the questions only your customers ask you will always need a person to write down.

ATLAS AEO, the app we build at GetServices.ai, automates the search side. Its DISCOVERY agent finds the questions a site should own, using Claude or a rules-based fallback, and includes a keyword lab for your own ideas. Its V7 agent tracks Google Trends for your topics, and when you connect Search Console, LOGAN brings in your query data. The Opportunity Tower then merges these findings with competitor topic gaps from WATCHTOWER into one ranked list that you adopt, dismiss or complete. Approved topics can go to MAYA, which writes answer-first articles that are proofread and checked before anything is published. None of this guarantees rankings or AI citations. It saves the hours spent collecting and sorting, so you can spend them on the answers.

If you'd rather have a team do the research and writing with you, GetServices.ai offers AEO and SEO services.

Frequently asked questions

How many customer questions do I need before I start writing?

Fewer than you think. Ten strong, late-stage questions are enough to plan your first month of pages. Keep collecting while you write.

What's the fastest free way to find customer questions?

Ask whoever answers your phone and email to write down every question for two weeks, and filter your Search Console queries for question words. Together, those two sources usually produce more ideas than you can write about in a month.

Should every question get its own page?

No. Give separate pages to questions that are asked often and come right before a purchase, such as cost, guarantees and process. Group small logistics questions into an FAQ on the most relevant page.

Are AI-generated question lists reliable?

They are useful for brainstorming but they aren't data. An AI assistant suggests questions based on what it learned, not on what your customers asked. Check its suggestions against your own channels and search data before you write.

How do I find questions if my site is new and Search Console has little data?

Lean on your own channels, autocomplete, "People also ask", forums and competitors' FAQ pages. Search Console becomes more useful once your pages start appearing in results.

Will answering customer questions guarantee more traffic?

No. Nothing guarantees rankings, AI citations or traffic. Clear answers to real questions are a sound foundation, and they help the visitors you do get decide faster.

Make sure your answers can be found

Run the free ATLAS AEO scan to see whether AI crawlers can reach your pages and whether those pages are structured to answer questions. The fix kit generates the code to close the gaps it finds. No result is guaranteed, but you'll know what to fix first.

Run my free AEO scan