What Are "People Also Ask" Boxes and Why Do They Matter for SEO?
If you‘ve searched for anything on Google recently, you‘ve likely noticed the "People Also Ask" (PAA) boxes that appear among the top results. These expandable question-and-answer boxes contain related queries that searchers often make in addition to the original search.
For example, if you search something like "what is AI", the PAA box might display questions like "What are the types of AI?" "What are the applications of AI?" and "How will AI change the future?"
Google dynamically generates these questions based on search data, and clicking on a question expands it to display a brief answer extracted from a relevant top-ranking webpage. The PAA box is meant to help searchers find the information they need more quickly and easily.
But PAA boxes aren‘t just useful for searchers – they‘re incredibly valuable for SEO and content strategy. By analyzing what questions appear for searches related to your business or industry, you can:
- Identify common questions and topics your target audience is interested in
- Get ideas for new content that addresses those needs
- Optimize your existing content to directly answer high-value PAA questions
- Identify opportunities to rank your site in more featured PAA snippets
In short, paying attention to PAA data can help make your SEO and content more relevant and effective. But finding all the potential questions can be time-consuming, especially since PAA results can vary based on location and are constantly changing. That‘s where People Also Ask tools come in.
The Best Tools for Scraping and Analyzing People Also Ask Data
A number of helpful tools have emerged to help digital marketers and SEOs scrape and derive insights from PAA boxes at scale. Here are 10 of the best ones available:
- AlsoAsked
AlsoAsked is one of the most popular and powerful PAA tools available. It allows you to input a search query and get back visualizations and raw data on all the related questions searchers are asking.
The tool scrapes PAA data and builds interactive, expandable mind maps that show how questions are related to each other. You can view the questions in list form as well. AlsoAsked pulls questions from different countries and in different languages.
Pricing starts at $29/month for the Starter plan, which includes 60 searches per day. Higher volume plans are available as well. AlsoAsked offers a limited free plan that allows a few searches per day.
- AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is a freemium keyword research tool that returns PAA questions scraped from Google and Bing. It generates visualizations of question data, breaking results down into "who", "what", "where", "when", "why", and "how" categories.
While the tool returns some useful question data, results are limited to the specific country you select, and you only get a few free searches per day. The Pro version starts at $99/month for unlimited searches.
- Frase
Frase is an AI-powered SEO research and content optimization platform that includes a PAA research tool. You can enter a topic and get a list of questions extracted from Google along with search volume data for each one.
Frase‘s PAA tool is included with its full platform, which starts at $44.99/month. But you can access the PAA feature for free with limitations of 3 searches per week.
- BuzzSumo Question Analyzer
BuzzSumo is best known for its influencer research and social media analytics capabilities, but it also offers a handy Question Analyzer tool. It searches sites like Reddit, Quora, and Q&A sites to surface common questions people are asking about any topic.
While it doesn‘t scrape PAA data directly, it‘s a great complementary tool for finding relevant questions your audience is asking across the web. BuzzSumo‘s paid plans with the Question Analyzer start at $99/month, but you can try it for free with limited searches.
- Ahrefs Questions
Ahrefs, one of the most popular SEO tools, also has a built-in feature for surfacing relevant questions from search data. Within the Keywords Explorer tool, you can enter a topic and navigate to the "Questions" section.
You‘ll get a filterable list of questions along with keyword metrics like search volume and keyword difficulty. This data is derived from the tool‘s huge database of search results.
Of course, to access this you need an Ahrefs paid plan, which starts at $99/month for a Single user Lite plan. Ahrefs doesn‘t currently offer a free trial.
- SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool
SEMrush, another leading SEO platform, has a "Questions" feature as part of its Keyword Magic tool. You can input a topic and filter specifically for questions related to it.
The tool returns the questions along with SEMrush‘s proprietary keyword metrics like search volume, trend data, keyword difficulty, CPC, and competitive density. All very useful for prioritizing PAA opportunities.
You need a paid SEMrush plan to access the Keyword Magic tool, which starts at $119/month for the Pro tier. Free trials are sometimes available.
- Serpstat Search Questions
Serpstat is an all-in-one SEO platform that includes a Search Questions tool. It scrapes PAA data along with question-focused keywords from Google, Bing, and more.
You can get questions for a search query by navigating to the Keyword Research feature and switching to the Search Questions tab. The tool returns a list of relevant questions along with search volumes and a "Parent Keyword" the question seems to match.
Serpstat‘s plans start at $69/month for the Lite tier. A free limited account is available as well.
- KeywordTool.io
KeywordTool.io is a freemium keyword research tool that generates question-focused keywords for a search query based on Google Autocomplete data. While it doesn‘t technically scrape PAA boxes, the questions it produces are often very similar.
The free version of the tool generates a small handful of question ideas. For $49/month, the Pro Basic plan provides many more results along with search volume, trend, CPC, and competition data for each question.
- StoryBase
StoryBase is a content research tool that includes a Question Miner feature. Input a topic and it will pull thousands of relevant questions extracted from Reddit, Quora, forums, and social media posts.
The tool‘s real power comes from its filters, which let you slice and dice the data by source, engagement metrics, question type, and more to find the most relevant, valuable questions to target.
StoryBase starts at $49 per month for the Growth plan, with a 7-day free trial available.
- QuestionDB
QuestionDB is a more specialized PAA tool that simply returns dumps of PAA questions and answers for a given search query. Its database is updated daily and all questions are pulled directly from Google PAA boxes.
The tool is quite easy to use – just enter a topic or keyword and select a country and language to get plain text lists of all the relevant questions and answers. It‘s a no-frills tool for bulk PAA scraping.
QuestionDB starts at $10 per month for the Starter plan, which includes 500 daily credits (questions). Larger plans are available for large-scale scraping.
Tips for Using PAA Tools Effectively
People Also Ask tools can provide a treasure trove of useful data for SEO and content strategy. But to get the most value out of them, keep these tips and best practices in mind:
Focus on relevance, not just volume. It can be tempting to go after the PAA questions with the highest search volumes, but relevance to your business should be the priority. Questions that indicate high purchase intent or specific issues your product/content solves are often more valuable than broad, generic ones.
Group and prioritize the data. Use features like AlsoAsked‘s mind mapping to identify groups of similar high-value questions to build content around. SEMrush‘s Keyword Manager and similar tools make it easy to sort promising PAA questions into themed lists.
Look for content gaps and opportunities. Are there recurring questions you don‘t have content addressing? High-volume queries where you‘re not showing up in PAAs? Identify where you‘re missing out and make these a priority.
Incorporate questions into your content strategy. The best way to rank in PAA boxes is to directly answer the questions in your content, using the question as the H1/title and then concisely answering it, preferably at the top of the page. Also use PAA data to inspire overall blog post or page topics to fill out your editorial calendar.
Track your results. Many PAA tools will show you which boxes you or your competitors are ranking in. Keep an eye on this to identify your best-performing question content and find more opportunities. Also keep tracking your target PAA questions to see how volatility in the SERPs.
Test and iterate. Once you have content live, test different meta descriptions, H1s, and page copy to optimize your chances of ranking in the coveted PAA box. Even small tweaks can make a difference.
Remember that Google doesn‘t display a PAA box for every search, in fact they only show up ~30-50% of the time. So while targeting these questions and optimizing for them is important, it shouldn‘t be the only pillar of your SEO strategy.
The Takeaway
If you‘re not paying attention to People Also Ask data, your SEO and content strategy has a major blind spot. These question boxes provide invaluable insights into your audience‘s needs, pain points, desires, and curiosities.
While you can manually scrape PAAs for your target searches, tools like AlsoAsked, Frase, and SEMrush make it infinitely easier to identify trends and extract valuable question data at scale. They‘re well worth the investment for any brand that‘s serious about search.
Use the tips and best practices above to leverage this data and start weaving it into your content roadmap. With some focused effort, you can make PAA boxes a key source of organic traffic and conversions.