What Is Quora & Why Should You Care?

Quora isn't just a highly ranked question and answer site, it's one of the top online destinations as well. It is the ideal place to start making a site popular and improving ranking and traffic.

Quora: What Is It?

 The Quora community is an online forum for asking questions and receiving answers.

What is the Quora Process?

 Visitors from around the world visit Quora to ask questions of a community of people who answer them. The business of Google is to answer questions with its search results. The fact that Quora answers questions may be one of the reasons why Google ranks Quora so highly. Both fit together naturally and symbiotically.

According to the web metrics company Alexa, Quora is ranked #345 in traffic out of all U.S. sites. It is ranked #357 on Google's list of the world's most popular websites.

Google Trends data shows that Quora has experienced an upward trend over the past five years. In other words, Quora is getting more popular.

It is not just the United States that is experiencing that upward trend. Similarly, France, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia reflect this trend.

Quora is a popular website that continues to grow in popularity.

Is It OK to Link to Your Site on Quora?

 

As long as you link to your site in a way that enhances the answers you provide, it's acceptable to do so. Linking to one's own site should be done as part of a citation and to support an answer to a question. The post that does not answer a question or has a low quality answer might be viewed as spam. Provide a knowledgeable answer by focusing on what you know.

The Role of Quora in Marketing

 

Quora: What is the best way for marketers to use it for SEO?

Quora is often thought of by some marketers as a one-and-done deal because of the transactional nature of search marketing consultants, where clients pay for rankings, and agencies deliver spreadsheets with the results. Although the links are nofollowed, Google could still use them as part of its ranking process.

There is also a belief that they could boost a website's “authority.” First, Google does not really rely on “authority” metrics other than links. There are indirect ways to establish the kind of authority that causes users to become familiar with a site and begin searching for it by name. It can also result in better ranking and direct visits, as well as links and word-of-mouth popularity.

Get the Word Out

Getting the word out about a business online is the most crucial part of marketing it online. A friend recommending a site to another friend is one of the strongest recommendations a business can receive. If you can get people so excited about your business that your friend tells another friend, “Go to this business, they'll take great care of you,” you've practically got a license to make money.

That simply isn't competitive for competitors. However, to reach that point, a business must get the word out. Friends often recommend each other's products or services, which is one of the reasons most success stories become popular.

If the sole focus is on search engine rankings, that part of online marketing gets missed. Web pages that are expected to be displayed by users are ranked higher on Google. Google will want to show a site for a particular product or service if it is suddenly successful and consumers are sending signals.

Due to its mission to display users the most authoritative site for any given search query, Google has always emphasized this as the most important factor. It is impossible to become popular if no one knows you exist.

Building a reputation like that on Quora is the first step.

 

Former Google spam-fighting head Matt Cutts is a Quora member and is answering questions regarding his new job as a United States government employee.


Matt Cutts also answers questions on Quora, so maybe you should do so too.

Build Goodwill on Quora

 

With Matt Cutts as an example, he demonstrated the value of building goodwill through genuine engagement in communities.

Cutts says:

"I was reading a book called The Cluetrain Manifesto when I came across a story about an employee at United Airlines answering questions and helping others. A webmaster forum shared some conspiracy theories regarding Google, including "if you buy Google ads, you'll rank [higher, lower] on Google."

During the webmaster forum, I asked the Google PR team if it was okay if I answered a few questions or debunked misconceptions periodically. They said it was fine. In my free time, I responded to questions and registered an account under the name "GoogleGuy" on Oct. 8, 2001.

On that forum, I eventually accumulated more than 2800 posts."

Imagine that: 2,800 posts on a webmaster forum answering questions about Google.

There were no other search engines or companies in the early days of search that spent as much time and effort building goodwill with the communities within their ecosystem.

Goodwill affects reputation. Companies with a good reputation are naturally trusted and recommended by the public. The importance of goodwill is underrated and overlooked in online marketing. If you only focus on factors such as links, anchor text, and title tags, you can't build goodwill.

Authenticity is increasingly important to Gen Z workers, who are entering the workforce today. It is impossible to build goodwill by engaging in inauthentic activities.Advertising during the Pandemic of Covid-19 is described in an article published in Adweek,

“These digital natives are used to consuming a lot of information at once, they are tech-savvy, and are inherently suspicious of advertising. This audience seeks
authenticity…”

An article in Harvard Business Review on the topic of companies marketing during the pandemic stated:

“…companies need to show that their contributions are material and not solely for commercial benefit. Consumers recognize authenticity and true purpose.”

“Authenticity” and “true purpose” should be the goal in participating in a community like Quora. Authenticity and goodwill mean participating on a regular basis and in a manner that is helpful. A one-off campaign of a day, a week, or a month of participation may not build momentum. In moderator circles, that kind of activity is called Drive-by Spamming and tends to be frowned on by users and moderators alike.

The same way you can't stuff a dollar into a charity collection box and expect to buy goodwill and authenticity, a company can't one-shot its campaign for popularity, goodwill, and recommendations from friends.

Companies that participate the most are more likely to gain the reputation of being the "good guys" or "good girls."

Piggyback Rankings

 

Ranking on another website is another way to build an online presence. That’s something that I call Piggyback Rankings. Earlier, a strategy for ranking a software company consisted of identifying all the relevant software download sites and submitting the software with highly optimized and unique content.

For software related keywords, the software download site should rank among the top ten. In the same way, a company can answer questions on Quora in a useful and comprehensive manner and end up ranking for keywords related to those questions.

For any search query, it's best not to have Quora ranking ahead of you. But if the page has a link to the website or mentions it, that counts as a win. If your company receives traffic or builds goodwill from that ranking, then it will benefit.

When a brand appears as an answer, consumers can become familiar with it. If a friendly page ranks in the top ten, it is better than if a competitor takes that spot.

Why Quora Matters for Your Marketing Strategy

 

Quora is only one aspect of community participation. Sometimes there are micro-communities that are specific niche verticals. You can apply whatever you learn from participating in Quora to other communities as well. Hard work will pay off and the effort you put into the campaign will become your unbeatable advantage.

More Resources:

How To Use Quora Effectively in 2021

Beginner’s Guide to Quora: The Most Helpful Uses for Marketers in 2021

How to Build Quora Backlinks That Get Indexed

Forum Link Building: How to Drive Traffic with Quora

Promote Your Website On Quora With Contextual Links