Google is now linking to publisher sites for their Google Answer box! What would this mean to searches in Google? Let's take a closer look at what it is.
What is the Google Answer Box?
The answer box is a SERP (search engine results page) feature. When you search for specific terms, a light gray box will appear in the Google Search Results. The box is often displayed under the Google Ads and above all your organic results. Conveniently, Google will display the answer without having to click on a link. For example, when I searched the term "psychology," it would give me a short answer of what it is.
So, What's New About It?
Well, before this recent update, Google would link their own Google help documentation, but not to outside sites.
Now, they are directly linking to third party sites in that answer box.
What Could This Mean to SEO?
It seems that the results are computer generated, but its hard to say how deep into the algorithm it goes. One thing we are certain is that these results will continue to increase. Personally, I think these are automated results made by Google from the keywords being searched. However, it's important to note how this might affect SEO in the future for local searches. Could there be a possibility that pages with higher rankings can be the answer for the Google Answer box?
For example, if we searched Internet Marketing Agency Help in Google, would it be possible that TechWyse would appear in the Google Answer box?
How could this change SEO and rankings for your pages? What do you think about this new change?
