DIRECT ANSWER
Capture real questions where they already arrive, in a question inventory. Normalize variant wordings into canonical questions, then group the questions customers resolve together into decision groups, one catalog entry per group. Structure the hub the way customers approach the subject, and give every entry an up link, sideways links and a next step. New questions join the inventory and the cycle continues.
Key terms
- Question inventory
- A running log of real customer questions, recorded in the customer's wording with private details removed, along with the source, date, customer type, decision stage, evidence of recurrence and answer status.
- Canonical question
- The single wording chosen to represent a set of variant questions that ask the same thing. The variants stay on record as evidence of customer language.
- Decision group
- A set of canonical questions a customer resolves together, at the same decision stage and from the same basis of facts. Each decision group becomes one catalog entry or one service page section.
- Link map
- The planned links for each catalog entry: an up link to the service or hub it supports, sideways links to entries at neighboring decision stages and a forward link to the next step.
- Catalog entry
- A Knowledge Catalog page that answers one customer question in depth and ends with a next step back toward a service. Full entry: What Belongs on a Service Page, and What Belongs in a Knowledge Catalog?
From questions to a catalog
A Knowledge Catalog built from real customer questions grows in five stages, in this order: capture, normalize, group, structure and connect. Choosing which questions deserve answers is the subject of which customer questions belong on a website, which also defines the six decision stages used below: recognizing the need, evaluating fit, comparing options, understanding cost, preparing and managing ownership. This entry covers what happens next, when a pile of questions becomes a connected set of catalog entries.
Capture questions where they already appear
Real questions already arrive through inquiry emails, phone calls, intake forms, sales conversations, chat transcripts and conversations at the counter. A question inventory records each one as it appears, with names and private details removed.
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Question | The customer's own wording, edited only to remove private details |
| Source and date | Where it came from and when |
| Customer type | Which kind of customer asked |
| Decision stage | Which of the six decision stages it serves |
| Evidence of recurrence | Counted from records, or the owner's observation, labeled as which |
| Status | Unanswered, answered on a service page, answered in an entry or set aside |
The inventory is a running log. Capturing continuously matters more than capturing everything at once, because new questions appear as services, prices and customers change.
Normalize the wording
The same question arrives in many forms. "Do you work in my neighborhood?", "What areas do you cover?" and "Is my zip code in your service area?" ask one thing. Normalizing chooses one canonical question to represent the variants and keeps the variants on record.
The variants are evidence worth keeping. They show the words customers actually use, and those words make the strongest headings and link labels. Visitors decide which link to follow by estimating how likely it is to answer their need, and familiar wording carries that estimate [2].
Group by decision
A decision group is a set of canonical questions that a customer resolves together, at the same decision stage, from the same basis of facts. Each group becomes one catalog entry, with the individual questions answered inside it as sections. Grouping prevents a catalog of thin pages that each answer a single sentence. Google's people-first content guidance asks whether content gives a substantial, complete description of its topic [3], and its spam policies treat producing many unoriginal pages mainly to manipulate rankings as scaled content abuse [4].
Grouping follows the customer's logic, which can differ from the business's internal categories. Card sorting, a standard research method in information architecture, asks people to group content in whatever way makes sense to them, and reveals how customers categorize information and what they call each group [1]. A lighter version works for a small business: group the canonical questions as a customer would, then check the groups against how customers actually phrase their questions.
Structure the catalog
The catalog's hub organizes entries in a way a visitor can scan: by decision stage, by service or by customer type, whichever matches how the business's customers approach the subject. Decision groups at the evaluate-fit stage often belong on service pages, with answer bridges to an entry where depth is needed. Questions from existing customers about logging in, paying or requesting support are utility questions; they belong on a support page or in the footer, outside the buying catalog.
| Decision stage | Usual home for the decision group |
|---|---|
| Recognizing the need | A catalog entry |
| Evaluating fit | The service page, with an answer bridge where depth is needed |
| Comparing options | A catalog entry with a comparison table |
| Understanding cost | The price basis on the service page; a catalog entry when the factors are complex |
| Preparing | A catalog entry linked from the booking or confirmation step |
| Managing ownership | A catalog entry or a support page for existing customers |
Connect every entry
A link map gives each entry three kinds of links. An up link leads to the service or hub the entry supports. Sideways links lead to entries at neighboring decision stages, such as from a cost entry to a comparison entry. A forward link offers the next step matched to the reader's readiness. Google's link guidance asks that every important page be linked from at least one other page on the site, with link text that describes the destination [5]. A link map makes that a planned property of the catalog.
New questions keep arriving after launch. Each one is logged, matched against existing canonical questions and either added to an existing entry as a section or held until it forms a new decision group.
Applications
A home inspection company
Illustrative example. A home inspection company logged forty questions from buyers and real estate agents over a season. Normalizing reduced them to fourteen canonical questions. Grouping produced five decision groups.
| Decision group | Canonical questions in the group | Home |
|---|---|---|
| What the inspection covers | What do you inspect? Do you test for radon or mold? What is outside the inspection? | Service page, with add-on services listed |
| Inspection day | How long does it take? Should I attend? Does the seller need to be home? | Catalog entry |
| The report | What does the report include? How soon will I get it? Can my agent see it? | Catalog entry |
| What it costs | What affects the price? Is the fee different for older homes? | Price basis on the service page |
| After the report | What do I do with the findings? Can you re-inspect repairs? | Catalog entry linking to re-inspection |
Fourteen canonical questions became three catalog entries and two service page sections, each linked to the others and to a request to schedule an inspection.
A property management company
Illustrative example. A property management company's inventory mixed questions from property owners considering its services with questions from tenants about rent payment and maintenance requests. Separating them showed that the tenant questions were utility questions, served best by a tenant support page linked from the footer. The owner questions formed four decision groups, which became the buying catalog, organized by the decisions an owner makes before signing a management agreement.
Limits and edge cases
- Questions without reliable answers. A question the business cannot answer accurately stays in the inventory as unanswered until the facts are confirmed. It is not published as a guess.
- Professional review. Answers about legal, financial, medical or safety matters are reviewed by a qualified professional before publication.
- Privacy. The inventory records questions only. Names, contact details and case specifics are removed at capture.
- Over-merging. A group that answers questions from different decision stages becomes an entry that serves no one well. A group stays at one stage.
- Brainstormed questions. Questions generated by brainstorming or AI suggestions are ideas to verify against the inventory. They are not evidence of what customers ask.
Group your questions
Paste up to thirty customer questions, one per line. Mark each one's decision stage and any question it duplicates. The tool merges the variants, groups the questions by stage and suggests where each group belongs.
Group your questions
List your customer questions. Mark duplicates and keep one canonical wording for each. Sort the rest by decision stage: recognizing the need, evaluating fit, comparing options, understanding cost, preparing, managing ownership, or support. Group questions customers resolve together, and give each group one entry or service page section.
Grouping within a stage still needs judgment. The tool sorts by stage and merges the variants you mark; deciding which canonical questions form one decision group is the step it leaves to you.
How So It Sticks applies this
We build Knowledge Catalogs from a question inventory gathered with the business, then normalize, group and map the links before writing any entry. Each entry answers a decision group and links up, sideways and forward. Start a Project Brief and send the questions your customers ask most.
Sources and method
The five-stage method, the inventory fields, the stage-to-home table, the examples and the tool are So It Sticks editorial frameworks. The decision stages are defined in KC-SOITSTICKS-011. The examples are illustrative and describe no real business. Each linked source supports only the statements numbered beside it. Sources verified October 15, 2026.
- Nielsen Norman Group: Card Sorting: Uncover Users' Mental Models for Better Information Architecture
- Nielsen Norman Group: Information Scent: How Users Decide Where to Go Next
- Google Search Central: Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content
- Google Search Central: Spam policies for Google web search
- Google Search Central: Link best practices