Google Answer Box For Old Forum Discussions

[94501]

Thinking about taking some pages that are one question discussion form pages and attempting to gain an answer box in Google SERPs.

Just like here on Moz, each page has one questions and often many, many, answers. This would mean making an unordered list with the question and the components of the answer in a box, maybe with a jpg. The info in the box would be kind of a summary of key points in answering the question.

I'm looking for suggestions on:

a) Is this a good idea?

b) What might help achieve the intended search result?

c) Does it matter that the box answers are summarized from a variety of folks forum posts, so not just one author?

d) Might it drive up bounce rate on the actual page?

e) Other considerations?

These are pages that have been around for awhile and aren't currently active discussions.

Thanks!

[Everett]

Hello 94501,

First of all, congratulations for being on top of this right now. It's unfortunate that most businesses are just trying to keep their heads above water on the basics. You are a very forward-thinking marketer.

a) Is this a good idea?
Yes, I do think this is a good idea. I've been experimenting with it myself.

b) What might help achieve the intended search result?
1. Domain Authority overall, as well as the Page Authority of these pages.
2. Being on the first page of Google, the higher the better (though they do use content from results lower on the page too)
3. Formatting on the page using easy-to-understand markup like header tags and lists, which it sounds like you're aware of already.
4. Formatting of the question and the answer to make that Q&A relationship obvious.

c) Does it matter that the box answers are summarized from a variety of folks forum posts, so not just one author?
1. I don't think the author, or mixture of authors, matters. However, it may be difficult to format it in such a way as to give multiple answers. Maybe choose the best one, or write your own based on an amalgamation of them all.

d) Might it drive up bounce rate on the actual page?
1. Not if it answers the question.
2. You risk someone not even coming to the page because they have their answer already, but I think this is what Google wants to happen so that wouldn't be a negative ranking signal. And if you're in spot #8 with a #1 Answer Box that's definitely a net gain for traffic.

e) Other considerations?
1. Have you looked into SEMRush yet? They have a feature in Beta right now that lets you see all of the enhanced search results (including Answer Box, Knowledge Graph and others) for which a site ranks.

[Dr-Pete]

I'm pretty much 100% on board with Everett, but just adding a couple of things. I do think it's worth experimenting, and a good time to do that. That said, there's a lot we still don't know.

You do have to rank on page 1 for the queries in question. So, if you're not clearing that hurdle, this won't be time well spent. If you are clearing it for a solid % of pages, then excellent. Move forward.

We have a pretty good sense of how to change a "Featured Snippet" (Google's term for attributed-link answer boxes) and how to take one from someone else, but not how to get Google to show one when they don't currently. So, if you make your page more answer-like, it will increase your odds of getting an existing Featured Snippet, but we're not clear if it increases your odds of the query being interpreted as a question. In other words, can well-organize content get you from no Featured Snippet at all to Google showing one? Initial experiments suggest "no", or at least, that it's not easy. That said, the percentage of Featured Snippets has been increasing steadily.

I think, done right, this could have user value and actually drive down bounce rates. Try to make the result something that site visitors would find useful as well. I think these kinds of answers can be win-win for both SEO and CRO.

If you want to see if your page would be eligible for a Featured Snippet (and what text Google is seeing), use "site:yoursite.com query". If you have pages eligible for a Featured Snippet for that term, you'll see which page Google is choosing and which text on the page they're selecting. That can be a big help, since this is otherwise a black box.

[94501]

Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate the comprehensive answers.

Best... Mike

[KaneJamison]

Just to add a note to what Everett & Dr. Pete have said:

1 - Take a look at Quora's "Answer Wiki". It's a combination of other answers on the page and summarizes the best answers. You could use a similar format and even a similar title, eg "Best Answer", and could take the time to word it properly in a way that is likely to look like a clear answer.  EG if you're trying to generate a snippet on a page titled "What is the capital of New York?", then you'd have an answer clearly written as "The capital of New York is Albany." followed by the rest of the answers. That's an oversimplified example of course. Dr. Pete has other good ones in his Searchfest presentation.

2 - Use OL, UL, and Table formatting in the answer whenever you can. These elements are frequently cited within featured snippets and fairly easy to implement.

[94501]

Here's an update fellows. After a couple of months of data it seems pretty clear that the unordered list content has really refreshed the majority of these old forum discussions. By including other resources in the unordered list, they also convert better. Thanks!