Definition

People Also Ask (PAA) is a Google Search results feature that groups questions related to the user's query into an expandable list, with each entry revealing a short answer sourced from a web page.

PAA boxes are dynamically generated and can grow as users expand questions, with new related questions appearing further down the list. The answers shown follow a similar format to featured snippets and link back to the source page. Google does not provide direct controls for entering or removing a page from PAA; visibility depends on how well the page's content matches a related question.

Examples

• Cooking query

  A user searches for 'how long to boil eggs'. Below the top results, a PAA group shows questions like 'How do you know when boiled eggs are done?' and 'Do you put eggs in cold or boiling water?', each expanding to reveal a short answer pulled from a recipe site.

• Search Console impression

  A blog post about mortgage rates ranks inside a PAA expansion for the query 'what is a fixed rate mortgage'. The impression and any clicks are recorded in the page's Search Console Performance report.

Sources

• Google Search Central — Visual element gallery (Related questions group)

Related terms

• Featured Snippet
  A search result that surfaces an answer extracted from a single web page in a highlighted box at or near the top of Google's results page.
• SERP
  The page a search engine returns in response to a query, including the list of results and any features such as ads, knowledge panels and rich snippets.
• Rich Results
  Search results enhanced with visual or interactive elements — review stars, prices, FAQs, recipe images — generated from a page's structured data.
• Search Intent
  The underlying goal a person has when entering a query into a search engine — what they actually want to find, do, or know.
• Impressions
  In Google Search Console, the number of times a link to a site appeared in Google Search results for a user, regardless of whether the user clicked it.

Where QueryCatch uses this

• Google Search Performance
• Keyword Research