Many businesses are increasingly recognizing the many benefits that come with featuring content in the Google Answer Boxes.
Not only do they help you in gaining a competitive edge but they are also critical in ensuring that your content focuses directly on the user’s intent.
As much as there is no secret recipe for getting content to appear in Google answer boxes, there are a few SEO housekeeping strategies that you can employ along with a focused content strategy to win this coveted hot spot.
What Exactly is Google Answer Box?
The Google answer box basically appears at the top of Google search results for a query.
But not many people know how to get their content featured in the answer box.
Every marketer keen on driving organic traffic understands the importance of getting their content rank at the very top of search results.
In most cases, users are only interested with the top 3 search results hence it is critical to get your content to appear among the top 3 results on page one of Google search results. This will also significantly improve your click-through rate (CTR) allowing you to rank favorably above your competitors which also earns you more traffic to your website.
It is important to understand how to optimize your content for the answer box which is becoming a top target for SEOs.
More About Google Answer Box
The SERP continues to evolve with new elements added every now and then. The Google answer box was introduced in 2015 as a featured snippet to Google’s SERP results that is normally ranked as position “zero” in Google’s rankings.
The snippet tries to give users an immediate answer to an explicit or implicit question that they type into Google search. Answer boxes usually appear above the organic results and below search ads on both mobile and desktop.
Why the Google Answer Box Matters
As mentioned the Google answer box appears above all other results which increases the chances of your link being clicked on.
Any content featured in the Google answer box has a relatively high CTR more that any other content on the SERP. This will lead to a tremendous increase in traffic in just a few days.
Digital assistants such as Cortana, Siri and Alexa also get their voice search results from these answer boxes. This means that securing answer boxes is the most ideal way you can begin targeting for voice search.
Tips to Get You Started
How you optimize your content for Google answers depends on several factors but basically the format of your content will determine the format of the Google answer box.
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It is estimated that at least 82 percent of all answer boxes are made up of paragraphs that typically answer the who, what, where and when questions. Lists make up at least 10.8 percent answering have, how and best. Tables account for 7.2 percent responding to types, which and best. Here are some other important factors that you need to consider when optimizing your content for Google answers.
(1)Keywords
For your website to be featured in Google answers, you will need to understand your user intent or the type of questions that users type into Google.
This involves identifying the kind of search queries related to your niche that are either explicitly or implicitly asking questions. It is also important to target a keyword that already has answer boxes to ensure that the keyword can be answered directly and simply in the SERP.
Tools like SEMrush or Serpstat can be very useful when it comes to keyword research as you will be able to identify the particular explicit or implicit keyword questions your website is visible for.
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You can also use the Google Search Console to find out for which search questions your site is found. While it is common for a new answer box to regularly appear in search results, it is better to target a keyword that already has an answer box on its results page.
(2)Optimize Questions as Keywords:
The answer box is meant to provide answers to various queries that users are searching for.
It is therefore necessary to evaluate the kind of questions that your business can be able to answer and find out if these questions have answer boxes on their respective SERP’s.
A good idea would be to feature these questions in your content either as H1 or H2 tags with corresponding short and direct answers just beneath them.
This way, Google is able to know that your content answers the question which increases the chances of your content landing in the Google answer box. It is also important to answer the target questions accurately and directly in your content preferably within the first one hundred words.
(3)Pay Attention to Content Format And Language
For you to achieve the top spot in answer boxes, you must ensure that your content language and format are up to standard.
This involves making sure that your content which includes paragraph text, lists, images and tables directly and accurately answer the target question.
Pay great attention to captions, titles, section headers and labels so that they are explicitly answering or asking your target question.
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It is also a good idea to dedicate a FAQ page on your website that answers your target questions as this will ensure that the question in H2 headings as well as the answer appear in your content which also improves the chances of being picked up as an answer box by Google.
(4)Create Numbered Lists, Tables, Graphs And Images
Use of numbered lists is an effective way of ensuring that your content lands at the top of search results.
Restructure your content to include a numbered list as this will significantly improve your SEO.
Tables and graphs also help to provide detailed information to a user especially for the informational queries.
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It is however important to establish whether your question warrants a graph or table in your answer as in most cases, keywords regarding numerical information such as research, salaries or data often feature tables and graphs in their answer boxes. Images are also an awesome way of winning an answer box but they should be optimized properly to relate with keywords.
Winning an answer box is by no means the holy grail of SEO but it is more a science than it is an art since you will be required to add certain elements to your content as well as being cautious of where you place your answer.