The advent of Google’s Answer Box aims to provide users with an immediate full answer to their search query. This coveted spot on top of Google’s Search Engine Results Page can, according to Advance Web Ranking, cause the top-ranking result to drop to a CTR (click through rate) somewhere between a 15% and 20% CTR, compared to a CTR of 25% – 30% on a Search Engine Results Page without an Answer Box.
So, how do you get your WordPress blog or website to appear in a Google Answer Box?
We take a look at the various strategies which can be implemented to optimise your WordPress website content to appear in a Google Answer box.
Use short, keyword-rich, comprehensive question and answer format
The Answer Box favours content which is short but comprehensive so that they readily answer the searcher’s questions without necessitating the searcher to click through to the web page. This should appear as close to the top of your WordPress post as possible. Aside from aiming for the Answer Box, this is a valuable SEO practice, making it easier for Google to discover your answer to the search query loaded with keywords.
Add to this impact by using your targeted keyword(s) in the format of a question as a title to this short paragraph. So, for example, if you want to make the Answer Box for “Where can I find Beginners WordPress Video Tutorials?”, you would use this question as the title of the first paragraph of your post. The trick here is to then use the technique more than likely learned in your school days: crafting your ‘answer in a full sentence’. In this case, it would be “Beginners WordPress Video Tutorials can be found at ….”
After this paragraph, you can include keywords and further details in the content that follows, expanding on the topic to ensure that your content is relevant and valuable, essential qualities for any Google ranking.
Focus on the question
It is a good idea to keep the question that you are targeting at the forefront of your mind when creating your content. Bear in mind that your content must still be of an excellent standard, providing relevant and valuable information. However, by focusing on the question, you can build the content as an answer around it.
Providing that you are providing content that is informative and in line with your target market’s needs and challenges, you can craft an answer specifically for the Answer Box without sacrificing quality in terms of your content.
Keep up your SEO best practices
While it is a good idea to keep your post under 2 000 words, Google will always weight authoritative, valuable content first. For best WordPress SEO practices, include the following strategies:
- Target keywords which can be used in a search phrase and use this in the title of your post, along with its description and meta tags. The meta description appears in search results matching keywords used by the searcher, making it essential to optimise your meta description found in the <head> section of your WordPress site’s HTML.
- Use keyword rich headlines, content and sub-headings Focus keyword should be included in content, headlines and sub-headings in the article.
- With over half of all webpages accessed globally via mobile, having a responsive website is essential. Additionally, Google penalises your site if it is not optimised for mobile.
- Optimise internal links where relevant to facilitate search bots indexing other pages of your site
- Use titles and alt tags for all the images to support your content message as well as increase accessibility of the website
Outdo the competition
You can also take a peak into where (and how) your competition is appearing in the Answer Box. By analyzing this competition content, you can assess the strength of their position and the possibility of replacing their answer with a better one from you.
Keyword Explorer facilitates helps you understand which keywords people are using to search content relevant to your brand (and in this case the Answer Box). Additionally, this SEO tool enables you to discover which keywords you are already ranking form the demand for certain searches and the strength of other sites in relation to yours which are competing for your target keywords. This will enable you to assess the Answer Box owned by your competition and make the necessary adjustments to provide a higher-ranking answer.
Play nice with Google
If Google is not currently showing an answer box for a particular keyword search, there’s a good chance that no one has created content that is relevant and purposeful enough for Google to rank in position 0. By playing nice with Google, using SEO best practices, you can increase the chance of your keyword enriched content appearing in the Answer Box.
Additionally, if you look at the format of content of an Answer Box, you will often see various content formats of paragraph, lists and tables. This is no coincidence. As people find content structured in this way easy to digest and Google’s main aim is to provide accessible, relevant content for the user. As such Google tends to favour high quality, informative content formatted in a way that is easy to consume and share.
Wrapping it up
Google Answer Box provides a key opportunity to showcase your WordPress blog content and your site. By employing strategies which combine SEO, formatting, keyword research and informative content, you increase your eligibility of ranking in position 0 as the WordPress website in the Answer Box.
