SEO Gem: Discover Which SEO Questions Your Site Ranks For Now!

This search engine optimization ( SEO ) gem regarding how to determine which questions a site ranks for was spotted on LinkedIn and comes compliments of Steve Toth of SEONotebook in Canada. Since this is both simple and useful I captured it in this article. In brief, we’ll need a regular expression and we’ll need to run this regular expression in the Google Search Console as a query filter under the performance option — we’ll walk you through each step in a moment but first, we need to take a look at the regular expression and in the next section we have two variants.

Finally, we’ll take a look at question keyword optimization and explore some ideas regarding how this can be used to boost SEO.

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What is Question Keyword Optimization as it pertains to SEO?

Question keyword optimization is the process of optimizing web content for specific search queries in the form of a question. With the rise of voice search and virtual assistants such as Apple Siri and Amazon Alexa, more and more users are turning to search engines with questions.

To optimize for question keywords, the content engineer needs to identify the specific questions that a given target audience is asking and then create content that answers those questions. This requires using natural language in tandem with long-tail keywords that reflect the way people actually speak and search — for example, instead of optimizing for a broad keyword such as “digital marketing,” the content engineer may choose to optimize for a specific question such as “what are the best digital marketing strategies for small businesses?” — this approach not only helps your webpage rank for more specific queries, but it also shows search engines that your content provides valuable information and can help improve your overall search engine rankings.

In the next section we’ll cover a very basic introduction to regular expressions and point you to some resources which can be used to learn more about this subject. Note that we don’t need to know much about these in order to be effective — a simple copy/paste using the text we’ve included later in this article should be adequate to get the job done in most cases.

Introduction to Regular Expressions (regex / regexes)

We won’t introduce you to Regular Expressions (regex or regexes) here but rather direct you to several articles which will help you cover this ground if you’re new to the subject. Regexes are used heavily in software development and are very powerful can be both tedious to write and test and can definitely be difficult to read as well.

The article in [1], from Google Webmasters, includes a link to a regex testing tool from regex101.com which can be used to run experiments. Keep in mind that if you’re new to regular expressions that there are different flavors and [1] makes it clear that the RE2 regular expression syntax is in use.

Below are just a few articles we found on the subject of regular expressions:

Finally, this page on PerlMonks.org contains a list of some complicated regular expressions and the following article on the CodingHorror.com website, entitled “Regex use vs. Regex abuse”, well, you probably see where this is going. Fortunately, the regexes covered in the following section are fairly simple.

Use A Google Search Console Regex (GSC regex) To Determine Which Questions A Site Ranks For

In this section, we’ll cover how to run the custom GSC query in three easy steps, including pictures — we start in the Google Search Console.

Step One: Select “+ New” in Google Search Console

Step Two: Select “Query” in Google Search Console

In the next step we need to choose “Query…” and then, on the right (below), we select the “Custom (regex)” choice.

Step Three: Select “Custom (regex)” in Google Search Console

In the next step, on the left (below), we need to choose “Query…” and then, on the right (below), we select the “Custom (regex)” choice.

Step Three: Apply the Custom Regular Expression (Custom Regex) in Google Search Console

In the final step, we need to enter the GSC regex and then apply it — the GSC regex for the custom query has already been provided and can be seen here:

The GSC regex for the custom query has already been provided to us and has been copied here:

				
					^(who|what|where|when|why|how)[" "]

And an expanded version is included below — if you have additional modifiers that could be valuable please feel free to add them in the comments.

				
					^(who|what|where|when|why|how|was|did|do|is|are|aren't|won't|does|if)[" "]

And that’s it! Once you’ve successfully executed this last step you’ll see which questions your site is ranking for.

Run The Google Search Console Regex (GSC regex) Example Output

The article entitled “Why is Technical SEO Important?” was designed to answer this exact question using long-tail keyword data sourced from the SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool. We can see the result of this SEO strategy below where the red pointer in the top query demonstrates that the exact title of the article is in the results, which is what we’d expect. Even more importantly we can see other questions that this article ranks for and what position they occupy. This can be valuable in that if we’re refreshing this content we may optimize for the same query, with the goal being to push the position into the top ten results; we may also choose to optimize for another question too, if it makes sense.

For example one of the top queries is “why technical seo is important” — this is a variation which has 368 impressions associated with it and the query appears, on average, in position 15.4. This query also appears in this article several times — if we were to refresh this page and modify the content in such a way that this query performs better, Google may push this into a better position and since this is not too far from being on the first page this could boost traffic nicely.

SEO Hidden Gem Conclusion

We can use what’s referred to as question keyword optimization to boost SEO targeted content that answers questions and I can see the results of this myself as two of the best-performing articles I’ve written both include “how to” in the title.

According to the Semrush article How To Boost SEO With Question Keywords Optimization, “…approximately 8% of search queries are phrased as questions” and as per Google, the search engine is processing over 3.5 billion searches per day as of April 3rd, 2021, which equates to ~280,000,000 question-focused queries. Exploiting question keyword optimization by targeting high-value and complex questions [10] with solid, well-researched, and well-written content could lead to a potentially significant boost in traffic to a website.

And that’s it for this article — if you found this information to be helpful, let me know in the comments!

A short quiz follows with homework assignments.

SEO Hidden Gem Quiz and Homework Assignment

What other custom regular expressions can we use to yield valuable SEO insights?

The following ideas are taken from the article entitled How to Use Regex in Google Search Console — refer to the article for the regex format:

Branded Search Filters — your company name, for example.
Filter Product Model Names — ABC123, for example.
Filter URLs by File Extension — PDF files, for example.

What is Question Keyword Optimization and why is it important?

Developing content to answer specific and targeted questions so as to interact with that 8% of search traffic in Google and hopefully boost traffic and improve SEO.

If questions amount to ~ 8% of Google search queries, what constitute the other ~92% ?

According to the WebFX article entitled “3 Types of Search Queries and How to Target Them“, Google segments queries into three types:

Navigational — for example, the user needs to visit specific website
Transactional — including brand-focused searches, generic searches, and vertical searches
Informational — for example, the user needs to answer a question

Navigational queries cannot be optimized however transactional queries and informational queries can be optimized.

Can we run custom queries in Google Analytics?

Yes: One example is under Behavior -> Site Content -> All Pages -> Right-hand side search box select Advanced and choose “Matching Regexp“.

An example of regex usage in Google Analytics under Behavior -> Site Content -> All Pages -> Advanced Filter

In this example we have an exact text matching expression which will show us question optimized pages that contains “how” in the URL.

Another example can be found under Acquisition -> All Traffic -> Channels -> Advanced Filter.

Can you use LinkedIn Groups, Quora, and StackOverflow to conduct research on what might be a good topic for an article that answers a specific, complex question? If you're not in technology strike StackOverflow and use another site.

Yes:

What other tools can we use when researching keyword-optimized question ideas?

In the previous question we listed several websites that can be used to interact with a large audience for the purposes of engineering the development of a question keyword optimized article.

The idea is to infer how important a question may be to a larger audience such that you’re not guessing when developing content. StackOverflow, for instance, is important to software developers so if you were, for example, selling antique car parts, StackOverflow is likely going to be of no value when conducting research.

A simple starting point could be finding which part is most frequently changed on a specific automobile and then building a question around that subject — something like “How to replace the carburetor on a 57 Chevy Bel Air” — for this you would need your own set of reference websites and other sources by which to engineer your content.

What is Question Keyword Optimization and why is it important?

Question-optimized keywords can increase organic traffic and boost SEO by targeting that ~8% of Google search traffic that is simply looking to have a question answered. Keep in mind that while ~8% may sound like a low number, on a per-day basis this equates to something in the neighborhood of ~ 280,000,000 search queries.

The content engineer should aim to deliver high quality and targeted content that answers a very specific question in detail.

How many question keyword optimized queries are Bing and YouTube getting per day?

Requires further research.

Find an example of a complex question keyword-optimized query in your industry.

This requires that you research this answer for yourself.

For example, an article which I intend to write at some point will be entitled something very close to:

“How to install the StackPath Content Delivery Network (CDN) in WordPress using the W3 Total Cache plugin.“

Are list posts (listicles) helpful when answering long answer questions (LAQ)? See [11], specifically the section entitled "Ranking Pages For Long Answer Questions".

List posts, or “listicles”, are an ideal format for question optimized keyword posts because they are easy to skim and help the reader find the information they need quickly.

Do any questions that start with a specific word by default perform better than others?

Requires further research.

What tools can be used to conduct research regarding what may be a good article that addresses a question optimized query?

You use LinkedIn Groups, Facebook Groups, Quora, and StackOverflow to conduct research on what might be a good topic for an article that answers a specific, complex question. If you’re not in technology strike StackOverflow and use other sites which are appropriate for your industry.

What other tools can we use when researching keyword-optimized question ideas?

See also: Google Keyword Planner as well as [11] — specifically the section entitled “3- Long Answer Questions (LAQ)”.

Can long-tail keywords assist when researching question-optimized query ideas?

We should make use of all tools available so yes, we can and should use long-tail keywords (LTKs) too as question optimized query articles should perform well if they’re very specific and we can achieve this specificity in a number of ways but one which stands out is to use LTK’s.

Reading assignment

Read [8, 9, 10, and 11]

How many queries does Google process per day and per year?

The following information was acquired via help from ChatGPT.

The exact number of queries that Google processes per day and per year is not publicly disclosed by the company. However, in 2020, Google reported that it processes over 5.6 billion searches per day worldwide, which translates to over 2 trillion searches per year. It’s important to note that this figure may not include other types of queries or searches that Google processes, such as voice searches or queries made through other Google products or services.

What percent of queries processed by Google per day are question-based queries?

The following information was acquired via help from ChatGPT.

There is no official information available on the exact percentage of question-based queries that Google processes per day. However, according to a study conducted by Moz in 2018, question-based queries accounted for approximately 27% of all searches on Google. This figure may have changed over time, as Google’s algorithms and search features continue to evolve and adapt to user behavior and preferences. It’s worth noting that Google is constantly working to improve its ability to understand and respond to question-based queries, particularly through the use of natural language processing and other AI technologies.

According to a study by Ahrefs in 2020, approximately 69% of search queries on Google contain three or more words, which suggests that many users are likely asking questions or searching for specific information rather than simply entering keywords. It’s possible that the percentage of question-based queries has increased or decreased since then, but without access to current data from Google, it’s difficult to say for certain.