What are Quick Answers?
Quick Answers are snippets generated by Google to provide easy-to-read responses for particular types of queries. The answers are drawn from well-regarded websites within the SERP for that question. Although Quick Answers do not appear for every query, Google is increasing the number of instances in which they are used. Generally, you are most likely to see a Google Quick Answer when you type in a query that is a question, such as those in a “How to” or “What is” type format.
Are Quick Answers beneficial for brands?
Although Quick Answers have impacted visitor click-through rates, we believe the answers boxes to be a generally positive addition for the sites that are referenced within the snippet. These are the general rules that seem to guide the impact of Quick Answers on sites:
- Some websites, such as Wikipedia, where many visitors would be looking for a rapid response anyway, may experience a drop in traffic
- Many other websites that receive the snippet, particularly those in position 2-5, experience an increase in traffic since they are now given more prominence in the center of the SERP
- There is often an increase in qualified traffic for websites. The visitors interested in just quick responses receive their answer on the SERP and do not bother clicking through. The visitors that do click through are more interested in engagement and are thus more likely to progress in the sales funnel.
How do I earn a Quick Answers slot?
While there are no definitive rules about the sites that are honored with a Quick Answer snippet, there have been a few trends identified that correlate with sites given the box.
-The sites are high ranking, generally between positions 1 and 5 for the query.
-The pages have less than 2,000 words and lend themselves easily to having the answer cut from the rest of the text, such as bullet points or numbered lists.
-The sites have high numbers of referring domains, generally more than 1,000 and often more than 10,000.
-The sites have positive engagement metrics, such as low bounce rates and high traffic.
These trends all indicate that the most important thing for sites to focus on is the creation of content that addresses the user’s question directly and succinctly while establishing itself as an authority in the eyes of Google.
How do I decide what terms to try and get a Quick Answer for?
As you begin to create your Quick Answers strategy, it is important that you think about the terms for which you want to optimize your content. Select ones that meet the following criteria:
- The terms lend themselves easily to Quick Answers, meaning that users and Google would see the value in having a snippet box at the top of the SERP
- The term either does not already have a Quick Answer box or you have the domain authority and knowledge needed to create a page that will out-perform the one that already has a box
- The term is highly applicable to your site and industry and you can produce content that addresses the user’s questions.
Quick Answers can be mutually beneficial for both search engine users and websites themselves. To ensure that you are not overshadowed by those who do have these snippets, optimize your pages and boost the performance of your site by following the above guidelines.
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