How to create intent-led content using Google’s People Also Ask feature

29 Mar 2022|5 MIN READ

As a search marketer, there’s no doubt you are already pretty au fait with the SERPs many features. But as the landscape continues to shift and adapt to its user's changing needs, it’s important to keep up to speed and ensure your content is aligned with your audience’s intent.

What is the People Also Ask feature in Google?

A dynamic SERP feature, the People Also Ask (PAA) box displays a set of questions that relate to the searcher’s original query.

People Also Ask questions are not queries users type into Google. They are in fact questions associated with a search term. Essentially, they’re the questions Google believes your audience has on their mind when they begin their original search.

The PAA feature usually appears in second place on page one of the SERP, occasionally you may see more than one PAA feature on the same page.

Google’s People Also Ask feature

We’re normally presented with four questions in the PAA box. Each question is expandable and displays more detail relating to the question. Within each PAA question there is a website link.

At the bottom of the SERP you might have a Related Searches box. Unlike People Also Ask, Related Searches actually are the questions that users have put into the search query box often by way of refining their search criteria.

Google’s Related Searches feature

Why is the People Also Ask feature so important for content marketers?

Understanding the intent of your audience will allow you to create and optimise content that aligns with your customer and their needs, and ultimately improve revenue.

The search landscape is a reflection of intent. And one of the strongest indicators of a searcher’s intent can be discovered using Google’s People Also Ask feature.

By having a good grasp on the PAA questions for your key search terms and optimising your content to answer these questions, your content will be a better match, more likely to appear on page one and increase the likelihood of being featured in an answer card. This means more traffic and a higher ROI.

An Answer Card in Google

How can you integrate PAA data into your content strategy?

Utilising People Also Ask data to create an intent-led content strategy will enhance your visibility, conversion rate and ROI.

That’s why we’ve released a brand new product feature in Pi Labs: People Also Ask Explorer tool.

Our Chief Product Evangelist, Jon Earnshaw, recently hosted a webinar to run through the new feature, while exploring the benefits of People Also Ask and how best to utilise the data.

Demo our People Also Ask Explorer tool

Pi’s new People Also Ask Explorer tool presents the ‘top question starting phrases’ and the ‘top question URL domains’ for your search term group.

The tool also displays the presence of People Also Ask in the SERP for a particular search term group. In the example below you can see that PAA is present 96.6% of the time for this particular search term group – way above average.

Pi’s People Also Ask Explorer Tool

Next, the tool presents a list of PAA questions that Google returns for this particular search term group, alongside the question URL, individual search terms and the total number of question views.

Pi’s People Also Ask Explorer Tool

In People Also Ask Explorer you will also be able to drill down into the different top question starting phrases and see the top question URL domains for that phrase, as well as the questions themselves.

Pi’s People Also Ask Explorer Tool

If you’d like to explore this new feature in more detail and learn how Pi can help you optimise your content strategy to improve conversion rate and ROI, book your demo below.