"Users also asked" How to Optimize (PAA)
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2024 6:47 am
By optimizing the “People also ask” section, you can answer many questions on the SERP and be more visible than your competitors. In this article, I will try to give you information about the People also ask (PAA) SERP feature.
“Users also asked” How to Optimize (PAA)
People also ask is a feature that displays questions and answers on the SERP by Google based on search queries on the search engine results screen without having to go to the sites.
On April 30, 2015, Google announced that this feature was available . Today, it is included in many results, as well as various tests. When the user clicks on a question, an accordion menu opens and a link to the site is shown with a short answer. When you click on a question, usually 2-3 additional related questions are added to the bottom of the list. You can see an example of People also ask below:
Google explains an example of a search result generated by overseas chinese in worldwide data standard search methods in its patent titled “ Generating related questions for search queries ” as follows. According to these results, the results of the generated question words are displayed in the SERP:
PAA can have the following types of results. You can also see the different types further down in the article:
Paragraph,
Lists,
Tables,
Videos.
Not only listings but also tabular results are shown if they fit the search result:
This part is also shown in the search bar:
Although the exact number of characters is not known, information around 311 characters or 45 words max can be displayed in this section. If there is more information, we see that Google cuts it off with three dots:
The same site can sometimes appear as the answer to more than one question:
PDF results can also be found here:
You may occasionally come across very current results:
You can also see very old results:
As you can see in the examples above, PAA can come after the 2nd place in the SERP, or after the 8th place. I can say that it is completely algorithmic.
If you are not satisfied with the search results, you can use the Feedback button to improve the search results:
Why is PAA Beneficial?
PAA helps maintain a long-term position on the SERP and helps sites that are not ranking well for difficult keywords gain more visibility. If your content is PAA compliant, it will allow you to appear in the PAA box even if your site does not rank organically in the results. Other key benefits:
It can increase marketing interaction,
It can be useful for your remarketing efforts,
It can help with brand awareness by providing more answers to branded queries,
It allows you to get ahead of your competitors,
It can drive more organic traffic to your site.
“Users also asked these” Optimization Analysis and Suggestions
In short, if you answer questions in your content with plain and simple language without any unnecessary words, you can be seen frequently in this area. Also, do not hesitate to use tables when necessary.
Identifying Popular Questions
You can start by analyzing PAA opportunities. With SEMrush, you can see data for both your site and People also ask results in the SERP. For example, you can see BBC's PAA results in the graph below:
You can also improve your content by finding out which queries your competitors appear as PAA for and identifying the appropriate ones. For example, you can make your content more comprehensive on topics related to “quarter gold”:
You can make your pages more comprehensive and answer all questions by answering the questions & words below with appropriate language:
You can also quickly identify just the questions with the keyword magic tool:
Even though Ahrefs does not provide PAA results directly at the moment, it can show which questions have the highest search volume with the Questions section:
“Users also asked” How to Optimize (PAA)
People also ask is a feature that displays questions and answers on the SERP by Google based on search queries on the search engine results screen without having to go to the sites.
On April 30, 2015, Google announced that this feature was available . Today, it is included in many results, as well as various tests. When the user clicks on a question, an accordion menu opens and a link to the site is shown with a short answer. When you click on a question, usually 2-3 additional related questions are added to the bottom of the list. You can see an example of People also ask below:
Google explains an example of a search result generated by overseas chinese in worldwide data standard search methods in its patent titled “ Generating related questions for search queries ” as follows. According to these results, the results of the generated question words are displayed in the SERP:
PAA can have the following types of results. You can also see the different types further down in the article:
Paragraph,
Lists,
Tables,
Videos.
Not only listings but also tabular results are shown if they fit the search result:
This part is also shown in the search bar:
Although the exact number of characters is not known, information around 311 characters or 45 words max can be displayed in this section. If there is more information, we see that Google cuts it off with three dots:
The same site can sometimes appear as the answer to more than one question:
PDF results can also be found here:
You may occasionally come across very current results:
You can also see very old results:
As you can see in the examples above, PAA can come after the 2nd place in the SERP, or after the 8th place. I can say that it is completely algorithmic.
If you are not satisfied with the search results, you can use the Feedback button to improve the search results:
Why is PAA Beneficial?
PAA helps maintain a long-term position on the SERP and helps sites that are not ranking well for difficult keywords gain more visibility. If your content is PAA compliant, it will allow you to appear in the PAA box even if your site does not rank organically in the results. Other key benefits:
It can increase marketing interaction,
It can be useful for your remarketing efforts,
It can help with brand awareness by providing more answers to branded queries,
It allows you to get ahead of your competitors,
It can drive more organic traffic to your site.
“Users also asked these” Optimization Analysis and Suggestions
In short, if you answer questions in your content with plain and simple language without any unnecessary words, you can be seen frequently in this area. Also, do not hesitate to use tables when necessary.
Identifying Popular Questions
You can start by analyzing PAA opportunities. With SEMrush, you can see data for both your site and People also ask results in the SERP. For example, you can see BBC's PAA results in the graph below:
You can also improve your content by finding out which queries your competitors appear as PAA for and identifying the appropriate ones. For example, you can make your content more comprehensive on topics related to “quarter gold”:
You can make your pages more comprehensive and answer all questions by answering the questions & words below with appropriate language:
You can also quickly identify just the questions with the keyword magic tool:
Even though Ahrefs does not provide PAA results directly at the moment, it can show which questions have the highest search volume with the Questions section: