Answer
May 14, 2024 - 09:26 AM
Answerbase helps ensure that all of your valuable Q&A content is published, distributed, and your customers can effectively engage with that content to give them the best experience regardless of where they are on your site or where they come in through. SEO is not only about content, but it is also about functionality of your site.....and Google is focused on sending searchers to pages that give the most "satisfying experience".
When Google looks at the helpfulness of content, primarily they are looking at the helpfulness of the specific page the visitor is on. See what they said in their Helpful Content System documentation:
Do Google's core ranking systems assess the helpfulness of content on a page-level or site-wide basis? Our core ranking systems are primarily designed to work on the page level, using a variety of signals and systems to understand the helpfulness of individual pages. We do have some site-wide signals that are also considered.
So, Google is primarily focused on when the visitor gets to the page....is that page helpful from both a content and functional standpoint.
Follow Up Questions within Context of a Page
When somebody is looking at a page on your website about a product, service, or even reading an article....many times the are just starting to digest the details of what they're actually looking for. So, your content on the page is very important but if they can't easily find the content they're looking for or they just figure out that they want more specifics about something they've read within your page...it's important that your Q&A engagement options and content can satisfy these needs within the page. Answerbase satisfies this through a Q&A widget that lives right within your page....so after they've digested your "main content" on the page...the Q&A engagement and content can act as supplementary content on the page in order to effectively fill in any other information gaps that the visitor needs or wants.
In Google's Search Raters Guidelines, they communicate this clearly that it's not just about the content...but functionality as well:
“Remember that MC (“Main Content”) also includes page features and functionality, so test the page out.” - Google’s Search Quality Ratings Guidelines
The Answerbase Q&A widget will allow the visitor to engage with their own question and if you've already provided the answer through content on the page or through questions that you've previously answered....Answerbase will autosuggest that answer as shown here:
The Q&A widget will also show a dynamic list of "Popular Questions" which is actually based on user engagement and search volume. See example here of how that can show up before a visitor starts asking their question:
Site owners can choose how many Q&A's display by default for their site through their widget parameters and settings.
Servicing Customer through Indexed Q&A Landing Pages
As mentioned above, Google is looking to bring searchers to the content that will give them the most satisfying experience So, if searchers are asking questions through Google with the specific question that has been addressed in your Q&A content....then that content all the sudden is considered the "Main Content" (MC) that the customer is looking for and Google will surface the pages where the Main Content is focused on satisfying the intent of the search. For that purpose, Answerbase spawns Q&A landing pages for questions that have enough search demand that Google chooses to index. Answerbase has a sitemap specific to the Q&A content and communicates directly with Google in order to know whether there is enough demand in order to justify it's own landing page on that topic. When searchers are asking their questions in Google, that provides Google an easy target of a page that satisfies that demand for information and will surface those landing pages as shown here:
Those landing pages can sit on either a subdirectory or a subdomain of your site, and Google Search Console accepts the Q&A sitemap for either that you choose....so that will ensure that your Q&A content and landing pages can be sent over to Google for indexing consideration and will be indexed and managed as appropriate.
When Google looks at the helpfulness of content, primarily they are looking at the helpfulness of the specific page the visitor is on. See what they said in their Helpful Content System documentation:
Do Google's core ranking systems assess the helpfulness of content on a page-level or site-wide basis? Our core ranking systems are primarily designed to work on the page level, using a variety of signals and systems to understand the helpfulness of individual pages. We do have some site-wide signals that are also considered.
So, Google is primarily focused on when the visitor gets to the page....is that page helpful from both a content and functional standpoint.
Follow Up Questions within Context of a Page
When somebody is looking at a page on your website about a product, service, or even reading an article....many times the are just starting to digest the details of what they're actually looking for. So, your content on the page is very important but if they can't easily find the content they're looking for or they just figure out that they want more specifics about something they've read within your page...it's important that your Q&A engagement options and content can satisfy these needs within the page. Answerbase satisfies this through a Q&A widget that lives right within your page....so after they've digested your "main content" on the page...the Q&A engagement and content can act as supplementary content on the page in order to effectively fill in any other information gaps that the visitor needs or wants.
In Google's Search Raters Guidelines, they communicate this clearly that it's not just about the content...but functionality as well:
“Remember that MC (“Main Content”) also includes page features and functionality, so test the page out.” - Google’s Search Quality Ratings Guidelines
The Answerbase Q&A widget will allow the visitor to engage with their own question and if you've already provided the answer through content on the page or through questions that you've previously answered....Answerbase will autosuggest that answer as shown here:
The Q&A widget will also show a dynamic list of "Popular Questions" which is actually based on user engagement and search volume. See example here of how that can show up before a visitor starts asking their question:
Site owners can choose how many Q&A's display by default for their site through their widget parameters and settings.
Servicing Customer through Indexed Q&A Landing Pages
As mentioned above, Google is looking to bring searchers to the content that will give them the most satisfying experience So, if searchers are asking questions through Google with the specific question that has been addressed in your Q&A content....then that content all the sudden is considered the "Main Content" (MC) that the customer is looking for and Google will surface the pages where the Main Content is focused on satisfying the intent of the search. For that purpose, Answerbase spawns Q&A landing pages for questions that have enough search demand that Google chooses to index. Answerbase has a sitemap specific to the Q&A content and communicates directly with Google in order to know whether there is enough demand in order to justify it's own landing page on that topic. When searchers are asking their questions in Google, that provides Google an easy target of a page that satisfies that demand for information and will surface those landing pages as shown here:
Those landing pages can sit on either a subdirectory or a subdomain of your site, and Google Search Console accepts the Q&A sitemap for either that you choose....so that will ensure that your Q&A content and landing pages can be sent over to Google for indexing consideration and will be indexed and managed as appropriate.
