What Is “People Also Ask”?
On the Google search engine results page, you see a portion where certain questions are given related to your query, it is a feature called "People Also Ask". This feature provides the related questions that people frequently ask related to the specific query you entered.
This feature is meant to provide you with additional information that is related to your search query.
Upon clicking on one of these questions, you will have a brief answer to that question that is typically collected from a relevant web page.
Why is it important?
This feature enhances the user experience by providing what a user looks for. It works well for the websites to increase their visibility and establish their reputation.
The "People Also Ask" feature is important for users and website owners alike.
For Users
The related questions make users know more about a query and explore the topic in detail. This way, the users can have a better understanding of a topic and can make informed decisions about what they are interested in.
This feature is also helpful in providing answers to the related questions and additional information regarding them. This prevents users from exploring much on a certain topic.
For Website Owners/SEO Professionals
For website owners or SEO professionals, this feature is significant because if a website's answer is selected for this feature, it can increase its visibility. This way, it results in an increase in the number of clicks and traffic to the website.
Observing what the "People Also Ask" feature has can make the website owner estimate what questions people frequently search for. This can result in having a competitive edge by creating better content for the users who search for a particular query related to the content the website owner creates.
This feature also gives insights into long-tail keywords users search for making the website owners optimize their content for these keywords.
How to optimize for it?
If you want your content to appear in the "People Also Ask" section, you can optimize it in the following ways:
Offer Concise Initial Answers
Make your answer specific to any given query and precisely cover it in two to three sentences. Make sure that you provide an immediate and to-the-point response.
This type of to-the-point and concise answer is very likely to appear in either the People Also Ask (PAA) box or a featured snippet.
Leverage Lists Over Tables When Appropriate
Google might not always display tables in PAA boxes which is why creating bullets or numbered lists can work well if you want to be selected in PAA boxes.
However, use bullets or numbers only when it is appropriate and it is the requirement of your content.
If it's unnecessary, do not include bullets because images and paragraph formats also appear in these boxes.
Incorporate Questions into Subheadings
The subheadings in your content should also contain questions so that users and search engines understand what you provide them.
It also makes the search engines notice that your content answers a question properly and must appear in PAA boxes.
Focus on Image Optimization
You may have noticed that PAA boxes feature images which is why optimising images is important for you.
You must focus on file names and alt texts alongside the cations to best describe images and enhance their chances of appearing in PAA.
This strategy can work well for your content to be visible in PAA thereby increasing the number of clicks and traffic to your website.
Takeaway
The "People Also Ask" (PAA) feature makes it easy for the users to understand a concept and know more about related topics surrounding a certain search query.
PAA boxes not only improve user experience by providing them with more than what they search for but also give webmasters to improve visibility and more traffic.