What it is
People Also Ask is the accordion of related questions that appears in Google results. Click one and it expands to a brief answer with a source link, then often loads more questions. Each answer is lifted from a page that framed it clearly enough to be pulled.
Why it matters
PAA is free audience research and an AEO testing ground in one. The questions show you exactly how people phrase their curiosity about your topic, and the pages that get pulled into the answers are modeling answer-engine behavior in miniature. Structure content to win PAA answers and you are building the same question-and-answer shape that AI Overviews and chat assistants reward.
What to do
Mine PAA boxes for the real questions in your category, then answer them directly on relevant pages with a clear question heading and a concise answer underneath. Add FAQ schema so the structure is unmistakable to machines.