Google’s People Also Ask search feature can take up valuable space on the search engine results pages, offering users a dynamic list of questions related to their original query. 

For marketers, this presents a golden opportunity: ranking in a PAA box can drive more traffic, boost authority, and increase brand visibility. But how can you get your content to appear in the SERP feature?

(An example of a People Also Ask box.)

In this post, you’ll learn:

Get ready to boost your content strategy — one question at a time. 

What is People Also Ask?

People Also Ask is an interactive Google search feature that supports a user’s search journey by presenting them with a list of contextually relevant questions related to their original search query. 

Information is presented in a drop-down menu and could be a paragraph, a bullet point list, an image, a table, or a video. Similar to a featured snippet, the information is presented with the URL it originates from. Unlike a featured snippet, the People Also Ask feature shows information from several sources since multiple answers are shown.

Related: Video Carousel SERP Feature: SEO Impact (Research Included)

Typically, the list will show four related queries, but more will populate as a user explores the options and expands or collapses the question. This is what makes the PAA box an interactive search feature — its presentation changes depending on how users engage with it. 

Here’s an example of a PAA box you might see if you searched Google for “how to tuft a rug”:

(The number of PAA questions grows as a user clicks through them)

This PAA started with four related queries, then six, then nine. The expansion of the menu is Google’s way of continuously offering users more information.

As a result, users can continue their search journey without having to enter another search query or aimlessly click search results. 

Related: Impact of the Discussions and Forums Feature By Industry

Why SEOs Should Care About the People Also Ask SERP Feature

Google continues to increase the presence of the People Also Ask (PAA) feature in search results (more on this below), making it a valuable opportunity for SEOs. Here’s why optimizing for PAA matters:

  1. Additional Traffic Opportunities: Each PAA dropdown includes a link to the source, meaning appearing in PAA can drive clicks to your site. However, like the Answer Box, users may get their answer directly from the SERP, so traffic gains may be modest. Still, securing a spot in PAA can improve visibility for key queries.
  2. Brand Visibility & Authority: Even if users don’t click through, ranking in PAA reinforces brand authority. Appearing in these results signals to searchers that Google trusts your content, which can be especially valuable for branded queries.
  3. A Content Strategy Goldmine: PAA questions provide direct insight into what questions customers care about, making them a powerful resource for keyword research and content strategy—especially in the age of AI-driven search. These insights can guide:

While browsing PAA questions SERP by SERP isn’t a scalable approach to keyword research, you can scale the process by leveraging an enterprise SEO platform like seoClarity that gives you a full dataset of PAA questions. 

Related: Popular Products SERP Feature: SEO Impact [+ Research]

The Impact of the PAA SERP Feature

Now that we’ve covered why the People Also Ask (PAA) feature matters for SEO, let’s explore its impact on the SERP.

PAA Visibility Increases 34.7% in the U.S. From Feb 2024 to Jan 2025

Based on our extensive database in Research Grid, the People Also Ask (PAA) feature has seen consistent growth on both mobile and desktop in the U.S. throughout 2024.

Prevalence has spiked 34.7% on mobile (from Feb 2024 to Jan 2025) and 37.5% increase on desktop.

This suggests that Google is prioritizing PAA as a key discovery tool, likely to enhance user engagement and keep users within search results longer.

PAA Prevalence in the U.K. More than Doubles YoY

Compared to the U.S., the UK has significantly fewer PAA appearances overall, but the trend lines remain similar.

The UK saw a 112% increase in mobile PAA prevalence from Feb 2024 to Jan 2025, with visibility peaking in November.

Who Should Optimize for the People Also Ask SERP Feature?

Any business or website that wants to capture top-of-funnel search traffic should optimize for PAA. 

SEO-focused content marketers, publishers, and businesses in high-research industries (e.g., healthcare, finance, tech, e-commerce, and B2B services) can benefit from appearing in PAA, as it provides additional visibility in organic search. 

How to Rank in People Also Ask?

Appearing in the People Also Ask feature involves two main steps: identifying where the PAA boxes appear, and optimizing your content to rank within it. 

To start, decide which page you want to appear in People Also Ask. Find that page’s ranking keywords — do any of those keywords trigger a PAA?

If they do, take the PAA questions you find and answer them in your content. This brings us to step two: optimizing your content. 

In this step, it’s important to not only directly answer the question, but also to pay attention to formatting. Remember that the information presented in a PAA box can be a paragraph, list, chart, image or video. If you see one content type being shown as the answer to a PAA question that you want to rank for, consider adding that content type to your blog post or web page. 

When formatting your content, use subheads to clearly identify the PAA question and answer it beneath. 

Because PAA answers can include images, image optimization comes into play here too. Optimize your images for search with alt tags and proper image sizing, and make sure the images are crawlable. 

It’s also beneficial to add FAQ schema to the page you want to rank within People Also Ask. This schema helps search engine crawlers understand that your page consists of questions with their respective answers. 

Be mindful to never sacrifice the end-user experience to force a question onto a page. Answer the question in the most clear and direct way with formatting that matches the substance of the answer. For example, don’t use a bullet point list if the answer is better suited as a single sentence.

Related: How to Optimize for “From Sources Across the Web”

How to Optimize for People Also Ask at Scale

Optimizing for People Also Ask is a manual process if you’re not using an enterprise SEO platform. Locating your ranking page’s keywords may not be difficult, but navigating hundreds of SERPs to see if PAA boxes appear is tedious. 

Enterprise SEOs can leverage Rank Intelligence within the seoClarity platform to track SERP feature visibility — including People Also Ask. This lets you find your ranking keywords that trigger a People Also Ask box with a few clicks.  

From here, you can identify the pages to optimize. This is a great low-hanging fruit opportunity. Your content is already ranking, you just need to make some quick optimizations to further enhance it in an effort to secure the PAA.

If you don’t rank or have content created around that topic, Topic Explorer’s 32+ billion keyword data set can be filtered down to queries that show a PAA.

The seoClarity platform can also reveal specific questions to answer within your content. Use Content Fusion, the AI-powered content writer and analysis tool, to generate a content brief for your keyword of choice. The brief will give you sample questions asked by searchers related to the topic. 

If it sounds easy it’s because with an enterprise platform like seoClarity, it is. Not an seoClarity client? Schedule a free customized demo today to learn more!

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People Also Ask Tracking: How to Report on Performance 

Once you’ve optimized your content to appear in PAA box, navigate to Rank Intelligence within the seoClarity platform to see how often a search feature appears for your managed keyword set and how often you appear in that search feature.

(Track your share of People Also Ask compared against your keywords.)

In addition to finding out how well your strategy to secure the PAA is working, you’ll uncover more opportunities. Change the view to see how you perform over time to gauge the effectiveness of your efforts. 

Or, see a trended view of when you gained or lost the search feature and for what keywords. 

(Monitor when you gained or lost a People Also Ask placement.)

Conclusion

Google’s People Also Ask is more than just an interactive search feature — it’s an opportunity for SEOs to conduct keyword research, build brand visibility, and drive traffic to a site. 

To truly unlock its potential, use an enterprise SEO platform to analyze PAA data at scale and report on your performance. 

By optimizing for PAA, you can strengthen your content’s visibility and integrate the SERP feature into your larger SEO strategy.