How Will Direct Answers Effect Your SEO?

I love this feature on Google–being able to type most direct ended questions and receiving, at the top, a direct answer.

It’s pretty great.

But the question many in the search engine optimization community wonder is this:

When an answer is pulled from a website and displayed in the search results, doesn’t that mean poorly for my SEO?

After all, SEO relies heavily on click-through-rates, right?

To understand the answer to this question, we have to understand the nature of SEO.

Google’s SEO algorithm is designed to bring the cream of the crop up to the top of the results for the absolute best in what a consumer is searching. This means that those ranking high have proved themselves to be authoritative knowledgable folks within their realm or industry.

A screenshot of Google Direct Answers at work.

One way to determine if a website is deemed authoritative is based on it’s click-through-rate, or how many times consumers choose to go to that particular website.

Most algorithm factors are designed to weed out the spam or redundant and present the best articles on a given topic. Now, with direct answers, consumers are getting what they want instantly–without having to weed through websites.

With that being said, we’re back to the initial question: would direct answers negatively impact an SEO strategy?

The answer: no.

Because this is what SEO is designed to do–give exposure to a company based on authority–becoming a direct answer provider is the ultimate authority.

However, many times those looking for a quick and simple answer may not click through (and thus wouldn’t be tracked), it would prevent a higher bounce rate (from those who simply want the quick answer) and those who want more information would click through for your page and beyond.

Simply put, as a direct answer provider, you’re helping to better qualify the leads coming to your website.

All the while obtaining the coveted authoritative position.

How do you obtain a place as a direct answer provider?

By continually delivering awesome content for free consistently. Eventually your hard work will pay off as you prove yourself an expert.

What do you think of direct answers? Are you finding yourselves clicking through to the website or leaving Google with a satisfied answer?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.