AI search · Glossary
What is People Also Ask (PAA)?
People Also Ask is a Google search feature that shows a group of questions related to the original query, each of which expands to show a featured snippet answering it with a link to the source page. Google's documentation calls it a related questions group.
Written by Noor KhanWhy People Also Ask matters
PAA shows the follow-up questions Google connects to a topic, which makes it one of the most useful free inputs for headings and FAQs. Each expanded answer is a featured snippet, so every question in the box is another chance to be shown as the source.
How People Also Ask works
- Google lists questions it considers related to what the user searched for.
- Expanding a question shows a featured snippet from a page that answers it.
- The questions mirror how people phrase follow-ups, revealing sub-intents that keyword tools lump together.
How to apply it
- Collect PAA questions for each target query when writing a brief.
- Use the ones that match the page's intent as H2 or H3 headings.
- Answer each in the first one or two sentences, then expand.
- Move questions with a different intent to the page that owns that intent.
Example
A search for 'partial hospitalization program' can surface questions such as 'How long does a PHP last?' and 'Is PHP covered by insurance?', which become headings on a treatment center's PHP service page.
Common mistake
Pasting every PAA question into one FAQ block regardless of intent, which bloats the page and blurs what it is about.
put this into practice