That did the trick! Thank you Amani.
Leaving my code here in case anyone finds it useful. (example: at first I didn’t put the template under VerticalResults - so hopefully this steers people clear of my past mistakes)
"VerticalResults": {
"noResults": {
"displayAllResults": true, // Optional, whether to display all results in the vertical when no results are found.
"template": "<div class=\"Answers-noResultsBanner\">No results found in FAQs. <a href=\"url_here\">Submit your question here or view all FAQs below!</a></div>"
},
"hideResultsHeader": true