Question keywords
What are question keywords?
Question keywords are search queries phrased as questions, usually starting with who, what, when, where, why, how, can, does, is or should. Examples are "how do solar panels work", "can dogs eat grapes" and "is it worth getting a heat pump". They are mostly informational and tend to be specific, low-competition long-tail keywords.
Question keywords often trigger SERP features: featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes and AI Overviews. They also resemble the prompts people give AI assistants, so pages that answer them clearly are well placed to be cited in AI answers.
Why question keywords matter for SEO
Questions show you exactly what your audience wants to know, in their words. Answering them well brings targeted traffic, earns snippets and builds trust before people are ready to buy.
They are also easy to organise. Many questions about a topic can be answered on one strong page, with each important question as a heading.
How to find question keywords
- Use a keyword tool’s questions filter on your seed keywords.
- Search your seed and expand the People Also Ask box; each click reveals more questions.
- Type "how", "why" or "can" before your topic and read autocomplete.
- Check forums, Reddit, support tickets and sales calls for questions customers ask.
- Group questions with the same answer, and answer each in a direct 40-60 word paragraph under a heading that repeats the question.
Question keywords example
Seed: "heat pump". Questions found: "how much does a heat pump cost to run", "do heat pumps work in cold weather", "can a heat pump replace a boiler". Each could be a section of a heat pump guide, or its own page if the results show dedicated articles.
Question keywords FAQ
Should each question keyword get its own page?
Only if the results show dedicated pages for it. Many related questions are better answered together on one page, which avoids thin, overlapping content.
How do I get a featured snippet for a question keyword?
Put the question in a heading and answer it directly in the next paragraph in about 40-60 words, then expand. Google chooses snippets automatically, so there is no guarantee.
Related SEO terms
Informational intent is when a searcher wants to learn something, such as how to do a task or what a term means, rather than buy or visit a site.
People Also Ask is a Google results box of questions related to the search. Each one expands to show a short answer from a web page, with a link.
A featured snippet is a highlighted extract from a web page shown near the top of Google’s results to answer the query directly, with a link to the source.
Long-tail keywords are specific, lower-volume search terms. Each brings little traffic, but together they’re easier to rank for and often convert well.
An FAQ page lists common questions about a product, service or topic with short answers, to help users and answer search queries.
Answer engine optimization (AEO)
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is optimising content so search features and AI assistants use it to answer questions directly.