Question headings with the answer in the first sentence.
Most of answer engine optimization is one habit. Write the question a guest asks as a heading, then answer it in the first sentence under it, then give the detail. Search engines and assistants are built to find exactly that pattern.
IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Search engines and voice assistants look for a heading that matches the question and a short passage right after it that answers it. Pages that put the fact three paragraphs down, after the welcome and the history, do not get extracted. The habit: a heading phrased as the guest's question, a first sentence that answers it completely on its own, then supporting detail. Forty to sixty words for the answer sentence or two. It works on every page, and it makes the page easier for a guest on a phone too.
The pattern
Heading: the question, in the words a guest uses. First sentence: the complete answer, with the specific fact. Following sentences: the detail, the exceptions, the how. Then the next question. A page built this way reads like a good camphost answering the phone, which is the point. It is also the format that gets lifted into the box at the top.
Before and after
Before, from a typical park sites page at a 20-site park: "Welcome to our sites! We have been serving RVers since 1998 and pride ourselves on clean, spacious sites for every kind of rig. Whether you are in a van or a big fifth wheel, we have room for you. Our pull-throughs are some of the longest in the area."
After:
How long are the pull-through sites at Cedar Bend?
Cedar Bend RV Park has six pull-through sites, 60 feet long, that take a 40-foot fifth wheel with the truck attached. The other fourteen sites are back-ins from 35 to 45 feet. Every site has 30-amp service; sites 1 through 6 also have 50 amp. All sites are gravel.
The after version answers the question in the first sentence, gives the number, and can be lifted whole into a snippet or read aloud. The before version says nothing an assistant can use.
Which questions get headings
The ones guests ask, in their words. Not "Our Amenities" but "Is there a dump station?" Not "Rates" but "What does a site cost in July?" Not "Location" but "How far is the park from the lake?" Pull the list from the office: the questions they answer every day are the headings the pages need.
Length and shape of the answer
Forty to sixty words for the answer passage is what snippets tend to lift. One sentence that stands alone, then one or two more. Numbers where there are numbers. If the answer is a list, make it a list: the steps to check in, the things included in the monthly rate. If it is a comparison, make it a table. Search engines lift lists and tables as readily as paragraphs.
What it looks like when it is missing
The fact is on the page, somewhere in paragraph four, after the story about the park's founding. The heading above it says "About Our Sites." A guest asking their phone "does Snowy Peaks have 50 amp" gets a competitor's answer, because the competitor's page had a heading that asked the question and a sentence that answered it.
How to check your own
- Open your sites page. Read the headings. Are any of them questions?
- For each fact a guest asks about, find where it is on the page and how far down.
- Rewrite one section in the pattern and search the question a week later.
What we do about it
Every page we build is written in this pattern from the first draft, with the question list taken from the park on the setup call. In the Marketing band we add headings as new questions show up in Search Console and the profile's Q&A. How snippets choose, next.
Questions about this.
How long should a featured snippet answer be?
Forty to sixty words: one sentence that answers the question completely on its own, followed by one or two of detail. Lists and short tables also get lifted.
Should headings on a park website be questions?
For the facts guests ask about, yes. "Is there a dump station?" as a heading with the answer under it is what search engines and voice assistants extract.
Does this make pages read badly?
No. It reads like a good camphost answering the phone: the answer first, then the detail. Guests on a phone prefer it too.
Where should the answer go under the heading?
In the first sentence, complete on its own. If a reader or a machine stops after one sentence, they should have the fact.
Want your pages written to be the answer?
Every site we build is written this way. Tell us about your park and we will show you which questions you could own. SEO and AEO with us start at $250 a month.
Part of the RV park AEO guide. Previous: What AEO is, and how it differs from ranking a link. Next: Featured snippets: the box above the results. See also the SEO guide and the GEO guide.