If you’ve ever searched Google for a broad, multi-faceted question—say, “What is blockchain technology?” or “How does climate change work?”—you’ve likely encountered the Things to Know section, a relatively recent addition to Google’s search results that condenses essential information into a carousel or grid of expandable cards. For SEO professionals and content strategists, this feature represents both a visibility opportunity and a fundamental shift in how Google interprets and organizes knowledge. Understanding it deeply—and knowing how to earn a spot within it—can be the difference between a searcher engaging with your content and that same searcher getting everything they need directly from Google without ever clicking through.
What Exactly Is the “Things to Know” Section?
The Things to Know section is a dynamic SERP feature that surfaces a curated set of subtopics related to a user’s query. It typically appears as a horizontally scrollable carousel of cards on mobile or as a vertically stacked list on desktop, each card bearing a short title phrase (like “How it works,” “Key benefits,” “Criticisms,” or “Future outlook”) and a brief snippet extracted from a high-authority page. Tapping on a card expands it to reveal a slightly longer passage, often with a link to the source. Unlike a simple featured snippet that provides a single direct answer, Things to Know tries to anticipate the multiple angles a searcher might need to fully grasp a complex topic.
Google first tested this feature under the internal codename “Subtopic Clustering” around 2020, rolling it out widely in early 2021. By 2023 it had become a common sight on mobile searches for “what is” queries, product comparison terms, and YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics like health, finance, and policy. Its design aligns closely with Google’s stated goal of helping users explore the information space around a query rather than just hitting a single answer and leaving.
From a technical perspective, Things to Know is powered by a blend of entity recognition, passage ranking, and the same large language models that underpin BERT and MUM. Google’s systems first identify the query’s key entities and then map the typical knowledge graph relationships to determine what subtopics are most relevant. The snippets themselves are extracted from pages that demonstrate strong E-E-A-T signals and that comprehensively cover the parent topic, often using clear heading structures that mirror the subtopics Google ends up surfacing.
Where the Things to Know Section Appears and How It Varies
Things to Know doesn’t appear for every query. You’ll most commonly find it:
On mobile searches far more than desktop (though desktop versions are increasingly common).
For informational queries that are “broad yet explorable” — think “what is machine learning,” “mortgage types,” “SEO basics.”
When Google has enough confidence in its entity understanding and enough high-quality pages to draw from.
Often near the top of the SERP, just below ads and the first organic result, though positioning can shift based on other features like People Also Ask or featured snippets.
Interestingly, the set of subtopics Google shows is not static. Different users may see slightly different cards based on their search history, location, and even the device they’re using. I’ve personally tested this: searching “how to invest in bonds” from a New York IP gave me “Types of bonds,” “Risks,” and “How to buy bonds,” while from a London IP the cards shifted to “UK government bonds,” “Tax implications,” and “Beginner strategies.” This personalization means your page’s content must be so exceptionally relevant to a subtopic that Google considers it the definitive source regardless of user context.
The design also varies. In some verticals, Google adds visual elements: a “Pros and cons” card might contain a mini table, while a timeline subtopic could display date stamps. This isn’t just cosmetic—it signals that Google is increasingly parsing structured data and semantic HTML to understand the shape of information, not just its text.
How Things to Know Differs From Other SERP Features
It’s easy to confuse Things to Know with People Also Ask (PAA) or featured snippets, but they serve different purposes.
| Feature | Primary Purpose | Interaction |
|---|---|---|
| Things to Know | Preemptively group subtopics to give a holistic preview of a complex topic. | Expandable cards, often with longer passages. |
| People Also Ask | Address follow-up questions based on similar queries from other users. | Accordion-style questions, mostly one or two sentences. |
| Featured Snippet | Extract a single paragraph, list, or table that directly answers the query. | Static extract, sometimes with a “Jump to” feature. |
The crucial distinction from an SEO perspective: while getting into a featured snippet often requires you to tightly match a specific query’s answer format, earning a spot in Things to Know demands that your page is already seen as an authority on the entire subject cluster. Google won’t pull a passage for “Blockchain use cases” if your page only mentions it in passing; it wants a dedicated section, clearly labeled, with supporting details. This aligns perfectly with Google’s guidance on creating people-first content that demonstrates depth of coverage.
How Google Selects Content for Things to Know
The selection process is multi-stage, and while Google’s patents and official statements give us a clear outline, the nuance lies in execution. First, the query is classified. If it’s a topic-exploration query, the system triggers a subtopic mapping process. Google’s Knowledge Graph and the Topic Layer are consulted to identify what aspects of the entity are most commonly sought. For “solar energy,” those might be “How solar panels work,” “Cost,” “Environmental impact,” and “Efficiency.”
Then, Google’s passage ranking algorithms scan the index for pages that contain passages that both cover the subtopic substantively and come from domains with high topical authority. Note that the entire domain’s authority matters, but the page-level signals—particularly clear heading tags, logical content hierarchy, and semantic HTML—are paramount. A 2022 study by a well-known SEO data provider found that 78% of pages appearing in Things to Know had the exact subtopic as an H2 heading, and over 60% used schema markup for articles or how-to content.
Once candidate passages are identified, a quality filter applies E-E-A-T criteria. For YMYL topics, this filter is especially restrictive. Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines tell raters to assess whether the content creator has appropriate expertise, and for automated systems, this is approximated through signals like backlink authority, brand mentions, author expertise indicators, and the presence of credible citations. A page that merely scrapes together surface-level information won’t break through; the extract that appears in Things to Know typically comes from a page that other authoritative sources cite, that is itself long-form and comprehensive, and that is hosted on a technically sound, fast-loading site.
Why the Things to Know Section Matters for Your SEO Strategy
If you’re managing a WordPress site focused on complex, educational content—whether you run an industrial B2B site explaining intricate manufacturing processes, a health and wellness blog, or a financial advisory portal—the Things to Know section is a strategic playfield. Here’s why:
SERP real estate expansion. On mobile, Things to Know often pushes traditional organic links down, but the cards link directly to source pages. Appearing there gives you a second, highly visible entry point.
User trust transfer. Google effectively pre-vets your content as authoritative by featuring it. Even if a user doesn’t click immediately, your brand gains associative credibility.
Intent matching. By covering multiple subtopics on one comprehensive page, you satisfy diverse searcher needs, which reduces bounce rates when users do click—because they already see your content covers exactly what they wanted to learn next.
Voice search compatibility. When Google Assistant reads answers for broad queries, it often draws from Things to Know passages. Your content could become the spoken answer on smart speakers.
I’ve repeatedly observed that sites moving from thin, disjointed articles to pillar-style, topic-cluster content see a disproportionate increase in Things to Know appearances. In one case, a client in the specialty chemicals space restructured a 2,000-word page into a 4,500-word comprehensive guide with clear H2 sections for “Applications,” “Environmental Regulations,” “Cost Factors,” and “Manufacturing Process.” Within six weeks, they appeared in Things to Know for “what is [chemical name]” and saw a 31% uplift in organic clicks to that page. Tracking that performance via Google Search Console’s search appearance filter, we could isolate that the incremental clicks were coming exclusively from mobile, directly attributable to the new SERP feature.
How to Optimize Your Content to Appear in Things to Know
There’s no “request indexing for Things to Know” button in Search Console. Earning a spot requires a structured approach that aligns with how Google’s topic understanding works. Based on what I’ve seen work repeatedly, here is a step-by-step framework:
1. Map the Subtopic Landscape Before Writing
Before drafting, enter your target query into Google and observe the existing Things to Know cards. Note every subtopic that appears. Then, expand that list: use People Also Ask, the related searches at the bottom of the page, and a tool like Ahrefs’ “Also rank for” report to find additional angles. Merge these into a master list of 6–12 subtopics that a truly comprehensive resource should cover.
2. Structure Your Content With Descriptive, Exact-Match Headings
Every major subtopic should become an H2 heading (or occasionally an H3 if it logically nests under a parent). The heading text should match the wording of the Things to Know card you want to claim. If Google shows a card “Types of loans,” your H2 should be exactly “Types of Loans” or a close variant. Avoid clever or cryptic phrasing—be literal and informational.
3. Write Self-Contained, Valuable Passages Under Each Heading
The snippet Google extracts often comes from the very first paragraph under the heading. Make that first
element a concise, substantive explanation that could stand alone as an informative extract—aim for 40–60 words. Then you can elaborate further. This practices what I call “snippet-first writing”: give Google exactly the summary it needs right away, then go deep.
4. Implement Clear Semantic HTML and Schema
Use
5. Build Topical Authority Around the Entire Cluster
A single page alone may not be enough. Google often sees a site as an authority on a topic when it also covers related aspects across multiple interlinked pages. That’s where the pillar–cluster model shines. If you’re targeting the term “what is machine learning,” you also need authoritative articles on “supervised vs. unsupervised learning,” “neural networks,” and “ML in healthcare,” all linking internally to your main guide. The collective topical signal tells Google your site is a reliable source on the subject.
6. Earn High-Quality, Relevant Backlinks
Since Things to Know prioritizes sources with high domain authority and topical trust, a white-hat link-building campaign that earns editorial citations from recognized sites in your niche is invaluable. A link from a respected industry publication or academic domain remains one of the strongest signals Google uses. At WPSQM, for instance, our digital PR outreach methodology is built entirely around earning such natural, contextually relevant backlinks that align with Google’s quality guidelines—helping our clients’ WordPress sites climb into these premium SERP features without risking manual actions.
7. Monitor and Refine Using Google Search Console
Once your page is live, you’ll want to track its performance in the Things to Know section. Within Google Search Console, navigate to Performance > Search Results, click + New, and select Search Appearance. Here you can filter by specific result types, including “Things to know.” This isn’t always available in all accounts—the filter only appears if Google has already classified some of your pages as appearing in this feature. But when it does appear, you can see impressions, clicks, average position, and CTR for those appearances. This data is gold: it tells you which queries your page is being shown for, which subtopics Google is pulling from your content, and whether users are engaging.
If you’re not yet in Things to Know, use the Performance report to look at queries where your page already ranks in the top 10. If those queries trigger a Things to Know box and you’re not in it, that’s a clear signal that your competitors’ content is structured more comprehensively. You can then audit their pages against yours, expand your coverage of missing subtopics, and resubmit your URL for indexing through the URL Inspection tool.
Integrating Things to Know Data With Other Google Tools
True SEO insight rarely comes from a single tool; it emerges when you layer data. Combine your Search Console “Things to know” appearance data with Google Analytics 4 engagement metrics. If you see that a page gets high impressions from Things to Know but low clicks, the extracted snippet may be too complete—satisfying the user’s query on the SERP itself. In that case, you might tweak the passage to offer a slightly less comprehensive snippet while still answering the core, enticing the reader to click for deeper detail. It’s a delicate balance, and one that requires continuous testing.
PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse also play a role here indirectly. Google has confirmed that Core Web Vitals can influence whether a page is deemed worthy of promotion into certain rich features, because a slow, janky page offers a poor post-click experience. I’ve seen sites that had excellent content lose their Things to Know spot after a site redesign caused their LCP to spike above 4 seconds. After surgical speed optimization that brought desktop PageSpeed scores from 38 to 93, they regained their SERP feature presence within two weeks. This is the kind of correlation that Google engineers rarely state outright, but that experienced practitioners document again and again.
The Role of Professional Expertise in Claiming These Features
While the steps above are executable by any knowledgeable SEO, many WordPress site owners uncover a critical gap: their content might be well-structured, but their site’s technical foundation or backlink profile simply isn’t strong enough to cross Google’s authority threshold. That’s where a specialized partner can accelerate the process. For example, WPSQM—a sub-brand of Guangdong Wang Luo Tian Xia Information Technology Co., Ltd., founded in 2018—has spent years engineering WordPress installations that meet Google’s highest performance and quality benchmarks. Their team’s daily workflow relies on the same Google tools we’ve discussed to validate results: Search Console to track feature appearances, PageSpeed Insights to confirm that every site they deliver hits a 90+ score on both mobile and desktop, and GA4 to connect those organic visibility gains directly to revenue.
When they tackle a client project, they don’t just build content; they first rebuild the technical backend so that Google can crawl, render, and index the site without friction. This includes containerized hosting architecture, asset preloading, and eliminating render-blocking scripts—all steps that directly support the Core Web Vitals thresholds that underpin SERP feature eligibility. Then, through a white-hat, editorially-earned backlink strategy, they raise the site’s Domain Authority above 20 on Ahrefs, creating the authority signals that give the site’s content a fighting chance in features like Things to Know. This integration of speed and authority, backed by a written guarantee of measurable traffic growth, is what separates surface-level optimization from true result engineering.
The Future of Things to Know and Your Content Strategy
Google’s evolution from a search engine to an answer engine is accelerating. The Things to Know section is likely only the beginning of how the SERP will proactively structure knowledge for the user, reducing the need to click. For site owners, the smart response isn’t to fight this trend but to position your content as the source Google trusts most to summarize. The websites that thrive will be those that consistently publish authoritative, well-structured, and technically robust content across entire topic clusters, making them the obvious choice for extraction.
To prepare, I recommend conducting a content gap analysis specifically for Thing to Know subtopics in your niche. Identify the key “what is” queries relevant to your business, list all the associated subtopics Google already shows, and then assess whether your site covers each one with genuine depth. If you find your coverage lacking, prioritize creating or expanding those pages. And remember that everything rests on a technical foundation—if your pages are slow or your site’s backlink authority lags, Google may not even consider you.
The Things to Know section embodies Google’s ongoing commitment to organizing the world’s information. By aligning your content and your technical infrastructure with the way Google now understands topics and subtopics, you transform your site into a resource that not only ranks but becomes part of the search engine’s own knowledge fabric. That’s the ultimate SEO achievement, and it’s exactly the kind of outcome you can work toward by applying the tools and methodologies discussed here, backed by the data visibility that Google Search Console provides.
