How to improve SEO through problem keyword optimization
Searches related to issues are an important part of the overall searches Google receives on a daily basis. In 2018, there were 3.5 billion searches per day, and about 8% of search queries were presented as problems.
Based on the above statistics, we can confidently conclude that optimizing your website for problem keywords can have a huge impact on your SEO strategy. Just grab your share of featured clips and you can generate a lot of organic traffic, get links, or convert traffic into sales.
In this article, I'll explain how Google retrieves answers to question-based phrases, and how to get your site to rank under featured snippets or as a rich result in a search.
The relationship of the problem keyword to the semantic search
Keyword suggestions listed under 'Related Search' or 'Auto Suggest' are supported by semantic search technology. There is an important relationship between semantic search and question keywords. Google can use semantic search to identify entities that exist in the keyword in question.
Google Hummingbird's algorithm provides support for semantic search.
What is Semantic Search?
Semantic search is "meaningful search".
"Semantics" is the study of words and their logical and semantic searches, essentially a data search technique that understands the meaning of words and determines the user's intent before presenting search results.
Semantic search takes into account the following factors:
- natural language understanding.
- User context.
- Query the stream context.
- Entity recognition.
Semantic search factor
So, Google is actually applying semantic search technology while processing search queries. Whenever you enter any search query, Google understands natural language and picks objects from the query. It then analyzes a set of documents and presents the answers to the user in a curated snippet. This is where semantic search comes into play.
Google Hummingbird Update
Launched in 2013, the Google Hummingbird Update makes Google a faster and more accurate search engine.
Hummingbird is a new algorithm that is much superior to the old one that focused primarily on keywords. With the introduction of Hummingbird, Google moved from "strings" to "things."
Today, Google can pick identities from search strings, find out the relationships between identities and provide the best search results or provide accurate answers directly to searchers.
What is a phrase Q&A?
Whenever someone searches on Google using a question phrase, Google tries to provide an answer to that question. The answer is usually returned in the answer panel, as shown in the following figure:
Phrase Q&A
Google is always trying to get the most appropriate answer to the questions asked. The answers provided by Google can be obtained from knowledge graphs or extracted from websites.
Featured clips
Whenever a searcher asks a question, Google displays the answer in the form of a curated snippet that includes a summary of the answer extracted from the page and the title of the page and its URL. Here's what the featured clips look like:
Now, let's take a look at the types of questions Google answers; this will help you identify the best keywords and plan your content to directly boost your overall SEO strategy.
Types of questions Google can answer (question keywords)
With the introduction of semantic search technology, Google has made a huge leap from a search engine to an answer engine. Since then, there have been several developments in areas such as semantic search, artificial intelligence, voice search, pattern data, query processing, and more. These developments have helped Google become a smart search assistant that can provide links to websites that can answer users' questions directly.
The concept is fairly simple; Google focuses on voice search and tries to provide users with instant answers. So, websites that use the rightly structured data have every chance of ranking under featured snippets in Google results.
Google answers many types of questions. The most prominent descriptions are as follows:
Direct Answer question (DAQ)
These question keywords begin with "what", "which", "where", "who", "when", "why", and so on.
When searchers ask for something like "What is the name of our galaxy?" The aim is to get a straightforward answer, which in this case would be "MilkyWay."
Google leverages the Hummingbird feature powered by semantic search technology to accurately predict the user's intentions and return accurate answers to the searcher, as shown in the screenshot below:
Similarly, Google directly answers several other types of questions provided in the following examples:
For "What is the largest river in the world?" Google went straight back to "Amazon" after accurately predicting the answers from Q&A sites like Quora.
For things like "Where is the Great Sphinx?" Google returned a direct answer taken directly from the knowledge graph "GizaPlateau."
For "Who is the father of medicine?" Google will return the direct answer "Hippocrates" obtained from the website.
For "When is Halloween?" Google returned a straightforward answer, in which case it would be the date of this year's Halloween drop, which was taken from the site again.
Short Answer Questions (SAQ)
These questions begin with "why", "yes", etc.
When a searcher asks "Why is the ocean blue?" ", the returned answer snippet accurately explains the question raised, as shown in the following screenshot:
For "Can humans drink seawater?" ", returns an answer snippet that provides the best explanation for the question asked, as shown in the following screenshot:
Long Answer Question (LAQ)
When a searcher asks "How to cook pasta?" ", where the process is described, a step-by-step answer is returned. Here, the purpose of the searcher is to learn the program in the best possible way. Google accurately predicts the user's intent and returns search results, explaining the multi-step process shown in the following screenshot:
These are the top 3 question keywords that Google answered.
How do I rank pages that answer questions directly (DAQs)?
To rank pages that answer questions directly, you need to optimize for the following factors:
- Answer questions as early as possible. (Hint: in the first sentence of the first paragraph).
- Mention the question before answering it, so that Google can more easily mark your page as the best answer given. For example: For "What is the complete form of NASA?" Try answering like "NASA's full name is NASA."
- Don't end the answer abruptly. Instead, continue to elaborate on the answer after answering the question directly; this will give sufficient weight to your answer and overall content.
- Increase trust in your website. Provide reliable information, answer questions, and don't steal content.
- When creating educational works on topics, go beyond yourself. Let Google see that you are a trusted resource for its users.
How do I rank a page for a Short Answer Question (SAQ)?
To rank pages for short answer questions, you need to optimize for the following factors:
- Write the content in the form of a question and answer, first mentioning the question to be answered, and then appropriately stating the answer to the question. The pattern should look similar to the screenshot given below:
- Even for 5th graders, language should be easy to read and understand. To do this, you need to keep the Dale-Chall score between 5.0-5.9 or the Flesch-Kincaid score between 65-70.
How do I rank a page for a Long Answer Question (LAQ)?
To rank pages with long answer questions, you need to optimize for the following factors:
- Answers that are too long are usually best answered via video, but if you go down this path, you need to delve deeper into the topic and keep it relevant and helpful. In the near future, a LAQ query will most likely return a video as an answer. Videos can often be used for searches where searchers are looking for processes that create something. For example, for a query like "how to paint a room," Google returns a YouTube video that provides the process of painting a room. It's also important to remember that YouTube videos have priority in search results, so you can build your brand, but there will be fewer visits to websites that use videos.
- You can also try answering LAQ searches with text-based step-by-step tutorials that let people learn the technique by following multiple steps. Tutorials like this are useful for getting a large share of organic traffic because searchers click on websites from search results. For example, for "How do I create a YouTube channel?" ", the answer box shows the tutorial from Google.
- You can use the list format to answer some questions. This resource from Shopify is a great example of a list-based article that provides a comprehensive and exhaustive list of low-investment business ideas.
- Make sure the language is easy to read (remember the Dale-Chall score and the Flesch-Kincaid score?). ), fully outline the main points and place the main topic under the title tag.
- Use images when describing each step, as your tutorial will look incomplete without the associated screenshots/images.
- Remember to make the main title of the page similar to the questions asked by the searcher; this is one of the key factors that can improve the relevance score.
Add relevant structured data to SAQ and LAQ keywords (most important)
For SAQ and LAQ keywords, the most important step you need to follow is to add relevant structured data. The following types of structured data are essential for problem keywords. You can choose the one that best suits you when answering the question.
Video
If you're adding a video to your content, carefully read all the instructions listed under Video data types. Make sure to add information such as the date your video was uploaded, thumbnail, video description, and duration.
After you add the details, test them with the help of a structured data testing tool.
products
This flag comes in handy when people ask questions about a particular product. Follow the instructions listed under the product markup page.
Before you start promoting your page, be sure to test it with a structured data testing tool.
In addition, it is crucial to maintain the accuracy and freshness of the product items, as this information can play a decisive role in making your website content featured in the answer box.
recipe
If you have a recipe website, make sure to add recipe schema tags on all pages where you share a specific recipe. Here's a complete guide to adding recipe structured data to a page.
Similarly, test and validate your data with structured data testing tools.
Speakable (still in beta)
In the coming months, the speakable data type will undoubtedly be a game-changer for voice SEO.
If you're promoting a news site, make sure you start using the readable mode, which will fully identify parts of your article and return answers to users in speech format.
First, visit the Type of Speechable Data Resources page provided by Google.
Q&A page
A web page that contains information about the Q&A format is called a Q&A page. These pages contain only one question, followed by zero, one, or more answers to that question.
A good example of a Q&A page is this. This StackExchange webpage from Apple answers a question with four answers. The best solution is voted by two people.
In a constant effort to answer question-based phrases as accurately as possible, Google has now introduced rich results for Q&A phrases, which will extract the best answers from a set of replies posted on forums and support message boards and display them in search results.
Richresult is a new result type created specifically for Q&A phrases that will provide the best answers to the user's questions.
To list your page as a rich result, you'll need to tag your data with schema.org. This Google tutorial provides all the details, guidelines, and examples that help your content appear in search results.
After creating a page by following all the guidelines google suggested, the final step is to test the page using the rich result testing tool.
What question keywords should you avoid answering?
For some search queries, Google returns direct answers from the knowledge graph. There's no website link below the answer; therefore, there's no point in focusing on SEO for keywords like this. This answer box is not a featured snippet because the curated snippet has a link to the website where the answer was extracted; in most cases where the answer is extracted from the knowledge graph, feature fragments are not returned.
For example, for the search query "What is the height of Mount Everest?" Google replied directly (see below). This answer is taken directly from the knowledge graph, so Google wouldn't prefer to list your site in curated snippets.
Use performance report optimizations
The performance report shows all the important metrics related to your site's performance in Google search results. You can use this report to identify pages that are considered rich result results and find suggestions for improving their performance.
Final thoughts
Problem keyword optimization can definitely transform your SEO strategy from good to better. If you can get featured clips to share, you can gain the upper hand over your competitors. Showing content from your website in the answer box means you'll get more traffic and enough organic links. Problem keyword optimization will be my preferred SEO strategy. What about yours?