# PAA Quality and Manual Override Guide

**Last Updated:** 2026-02-22  
**Purpose:** When and how to use manual PAA override when SISTRIX returns off-topic People Also Ask questions

## Overview

SISTRIX PAA (People Also Ask) can return off-topic questions when the primary keyword is polysemous or when Google SERPs mix different search intents. For HR/Lexikon content, we need **HR-focused** PAA questions. Use `paa-questions-manual.json` to override when SISTRIX PAA has >30% off-topic.

## When to Use Manual Override

Create `data/paa-questions-manual.json` when:

1. **Polysemous keywords** – Same term means different things in different contexts (e.g. Fluktuation = HR turnover vs. finance volatility vs. medical)
2. **Tech/financial confusion** – SISTRIX returns tech or financial PAA (e.g. Compliance → HR-Fernsehen, ZDF; Code of Conduct → GitHub, open source)
3. **>30% off-topic** – Review competitive-depth-analysis.md PAA list; if >30% are clearly off-topic for HR, create manual override
4. **Known problematic terms** – Fluktuation, Compliance, Code of Conduct, Change Management, Zeitmanagement, Pauschalversteuerung, Abfindung, etc.

## How to Create paa-questions-manual.json

### Location

`docs/content/blog/posts/{category}/{slug}/data/paa-questions-manual.json`

### Format (Simple)

```json
{
  "post_slug": "fluktuation",
  "primary_keyword": "Fluktuation",
  "questions": [
    "Was ist Fluktuation?",
    "Was versteht man unter Fluktuationsrate?",
    "Wie berechnet man die Fluktuationsrate?",
    "Welche Arten von Fluktuation gibt es?"
  ]
}
```

### Format (With Metadata)

```json
{
  "post_slug": "compliance",
  "primary_keyword": "Compliance",
  "source": "manual",
  "reason": "SISTRIX PAA returned off-topic (HR-Fernsehen, ZDF). HR-focused questions created manually.",
  "questions": [
    {"question": "Was ist Compliance? Definition"},
    {"question": "Welche Compliance-Bereiche gibt es im HR?"}
  ]
}
```

Both formats work. Scripts accept either string array or `{"question": "..."}` objects.

### Curating HR-Focused Questions

1. **Search primary keyword** (incognito) and note actual PAA in SERP
2. **Filter for HR context** – Exclude finance (Börse, Volatilität), medical (Sodbrennen, Resilienz), tech (Realtek, GitHub)
3. **Include 12–15 questions** – Definition, Berechnung, Arten, Ursachen, Kennzahlen, Sonderfälle
4. **Match user language** – Use natural question phrasing from SERP

## Examples by Topic

### Fluktuation (HR vs. Finance/Medical)

**Off-topic from SISTRIX:** Sodbrennen, Resilienz, Realtek driver, Klimawandel  
**HR-focused:** Fluktuationsrate berechnen, Arten von Fluktuation, hohe Fluktuation, Fluktuation pro Branche

### Compliance (HR vs. Tech/Media)

**Off-topic from SISTRIX:** HR-Fernsehen, ZDF, Resilienz  
**HR-focused:** Compliance im HR, Compliance-Bereiche, Hinweisgeberschutzgesetz, Compliance-Management-System

### Code of Conduct (HR vs. Tech)

**Off-topic from SISTRIX:** GitHub, open source, gaming  
**HR-focused:** Code of Conduct im Unternehmen, Verstöße, Erstellung, Verhaltenskodex

### Change Management (HR vs. IT/Agile)

**Off-topic from SISTRIX:** Scrum, Agile, IT-Projekte  
**HR-focused:** Change Management Definition, Widerstand, HR-Rolle, Modelle

## After Creating Manual Override

1. Run `php v2/scripts/blog/collect-faq-research-data.php --post={slug} --category={category}` so manual PAA is loaded
2. Source hierarchy: `paa-questions-manual.json` > `paa-questions.json` > `faq-research.json`
3. `analyze-competitor-content-depth.php` and `generate-section-briefs.php` use the override automatically

## References

- [blog-new-post-creation.mdc](../../.cursor/rules/blog-new-post-creation.mdc) – PAA off-topic check in workflow
- [LEXIKON_NEW_POST_CHECKLIST.md](lexikon-inventory/LEXIKON_NEW_POST_CHECKLIST.md) – PAA quality check step
- [BLOG_POST_IMPROVEMENT_PROCESS.md](BLOG_POST_IMPROVEMENT_PROCESS.md) – Full improvement workflow