Google’s mission is “to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.” To fulfill this mission, the company is continually looking for ways to provide searchers with the most relevant and helpful information, and to present that information in the most efficient ways on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
One search feature that you’re probably familiar with is the People Also Ask (PAA) box. This feature is often found at the top of page 1 of search results, and provides quick answers to commonly asked questions, along with links to the source.
As you can imagine, this is a highly desirable spot of your website to rank. It’s at or near the very top of the SERPs, and it provides a quick answer to a searcher's question. But how does Google choose which sites to rank here? Is there anything you can do to get your site to rank here? How difficult is it and are the SEO benefits worth it?
Let’s explore the People Also Ask box more:
What is the People Also Ask Box?
The People Also Ask box (a.k.a., Answers Box, Featured Questions, Featured Snippets) typically displays as the first or second organic search result, also it can appear in any position depending on the query. Initially, this search feature contains three or four of the top questions related to the search query.
Clicking on a question expands the area to reveal a short answer with a link to the full source. Clicking any question also causes more questions to populate below, and this seems to go on for infinity. (I’m willing to be proven wrong here though. Please do let me know if you’ve spent hours clicking and finally reached the end!)
The answers to these questions are curated from sources that Google considers to be the most trustworthy, relevant and useful. They could be paragraphs of text, bulleted lists, or even videos (most often for “how to” questions).
How does ranking in the People Also Ask box benefit my website?
As one of the first (if not the very first) organic results, your website will receive improved brand awareness, increase organic traffic and a fierce competitive advantage.
How do I rank in the People Also Ask box?
Appearing in the Google People Also Ask box is not easy. There’s not an exact ranking formula or process; however, there are some steps you can take to increase your chances of ranking in this search feature.
1. Focus on attainable, longer tail keywords
Shorter “head terms” (i.e., search queries with just one or two words) are extremely competitive and may not be attainable for your website. Instead, choose “long-tail” keywords, those search queries that contain a handful of terms or a complete phrase.
Use the existing People Also Ask box, as well as Google autocomplete and “Related searches” to find popular search queries. Answer the Public is another great source for finding questions based on head terms.
2. Make your content in easy to consume
Searchers want information fast, and have little patience to slog through loads of lead in content or fluff. Answer their questions concisely, and leverage the following formatting techniques to improve scannability and user experience:
Paragraphs
Lists
Tables
Infographics and images
If you ask a question in the body of your content, the response should come right after it and be as brief as possible.
3. Create content that is credible and authoritative
Include statistics and references from authoritative sources. Focus on improving your website’s EAT components--Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness.
4. Create FAQ content and use FAQ schema
You can increase the likelihood of being selected as the top answer to a frequently asked question if you structure your content in an FAQ format. This can be through a dedicated FAQ section or page, as well as individual blog posts. Define your top questions and provide answer statements using the five Ws (and maybe even an H and C every once in a while!). Make sure to also add FAQ schema or structured data to your FAQ content.
Are you ready to begin?
Interstellar has years of expertise in building SEO strategies. You can depend on our team of professionals to provide an SEO strategy that improves your search result rankings and optimizes your content. Contact us to get things started.