This guide covers the rebuilt PAA Box, on its way to the Chrome Web Store. Today the store has 1.0.4, under its original name, BlogStorm: People Also Ask Tool. It’s the same extension, so installing now gets you PAA Box as an update. Where 1.0.4 differs, there’s a note. Every version is on the changelog.
1. Install it from the Chrome Web Store
Open the PAA Box listing in the Chrome Web Store and click Add to Chrome. The only site it asks for at install is Google search on google.com. Other Google country domains are opt-in (step 9).
2. Pin it to your toolbar
Click the puzzle-piece Extensions icon at the top right of Chrome, then the pin next to PAA Box. On a Google results page the icon opens the panel. Anywhere else it opens google.com.
In 1.0.4 today: the toolbar icon does nothing when clicked.
3. Run a Google search
Search for something that shows a People also ask box. When PAA Box finds one, a note pops up at the bottom right: “People also ask found. Open PAA Box”. It fades after five seconds. After an install or update you’ll also get a short What’s New card; Open the box takes you straight in.
4. Open the PAA Box panel
Any of these opens it:
- The note at the bottom right.
- The small PAA Box icon next to the “People also ask” heading.
- The PAA Box tab on the right edge of the page.
- The PAA Box icon in your toolbar.
To put it away, use the >> button or click anywhere outside it. It won’t close mid-run. Within a tab, PAA Box remembers whether you left the panel open.
In 1.0.4 today: the panel flashes open on your first search, then slides aside. Bring it back with the icon by the heading or the arrow tab.
5. Choose a mode
Questions only is the default. It’s free, and it’s fast. PAA Box opens just the questions whose follow-ups it needs and reads the last layer without clicking it.
With answers is part of PAA Box Pro, coming soon. It opens every question and also saves Google’s answer and source link for each. That takes longer, because many answers load in over a few seconds and PAA Box waits up to seven seconds for each. If an answer never shows, the question stays with a blank answer.
6. Choose a depth
| Depth | What it unpacks | Questions only | With answers (Pro) |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0 Lid off | The first four questions Google shows | ~5 sec | ~30 sec |
| D1 One layer | Plus the follow-ups each one opens | ~10 sec | ~1 min |
| D2 Two layers | Plus the follow-ups of those | ~30 sec | ~4 min |
| D3 All the way | Plus one more layer | ~1-2 min | ~12 min |
Every question you open makes Google add new ones right under it. PAA Box keeps up to three new follow-ups from each and skips anything it has already seen, so the most a run can return is 4, 16, 52 or 160 questions. The times are the estimates shown on each depth button. D1 is picked the first time, and after that PAA Box remembers your mode and depth.
In 1.0.4 today: the depths are called Root Level, First Branch, Growing Tree and Full Growth, with estimates of ~5 seconds, ~15-30 seconds, ~1-2 minutes and ~2-4 minutes. There’s no mode switch: every run opens every question and reads the answers.
7. Unpack
Press Unpack. Questions land in the panel as they’re found, with a progress bar and a running count. The button turns into Stop. Press it and PAA Box finishes the question it’s on and keeps everything so far.
No People also ask box on the page? You’ll see “Nothing to unpack. Scroll to People also ask and try again.”
In 1.0.4 today: results show up only at the end, with no Stop. Google has also changed how the box shows answers since then, so a run can end with “No seeds found to grow”. Version 1.0.5 fixes that.
Collapse and expand
Results nest the way Google spawned them. A question with follow-ups shows a count, like “3 inside”. Click the – next to it to fold that branch away, and + to open it again.
In 1.0.4 today: the tree shows a “+3 branches” count and doesn’t fold.
8. Download the CSV
Press Download CSV. You get one row per question, in a file named after your search and the date, like PAA-Box-how-to-make-coffee-2026-09-27.csv. The six columns:
| Column | What’s in it |
|---|---|
| Depth | 0 to 3 |
| Question | The question text |
| Parent Question | The question it came from, or “Root Question” for D0 |
| Answer | Google’s answer (With answers mode, Pro only) |
| Source URL | The answer’s source link, or “No source available” |
| Search Query | What you searched |
Rows follow the order PAA Box opened them: a top question, everything under it, then the next. Parent Question keeps the structure, so you can sort and filter freely and still rebuild the tree. More on the file in how to export People Also Ask questions.
In 1.0.4 today: the button is called Harvest Data and the file is named BlogStorm-paa-data- plus the date. The columns are the same.
9. Switch on your local Google
It works on google.com from the start. For a country domain like google.co.uk, google.ca or google.com.au:
- Run your search on that domain.
- Click the PAA Box toolbar icon.
- Chrome asks whether PAA Box can access that Google domain. Allow it, and PAA Box works there from now on, the same as on google.com.
Why does Chrome ask? PAA Box requests only google.com at install. The 186 country domains it supports are optional, so it never reaches one you haven’t approved. It also keeps updates smooth: when an update asks for wider access, Chrome switches the extension off until you approve it. Say no, and the panel still opens on that page, just this once. Remove a domain later in Chrome’s extension settings and PAA Box stops loading there.
In 1.0.4 today: only google.com is supported.
Tips
- Keep the tab in view for With answers (Pro). Google pauses answers in background tabs. The panel reminds you during a run and warns you if you switch away.
- Go easy. PAA Box clicks the way you would, only faster, and a deep run is a lot of clicks. After heavy use, Google may show a captcha instead of results. If it does, solve it and take a break. Start at D1. Save D3 with answers for searches that deserve it. When Pro runs unpacks for AI assistants, it keeps at least 20 seconds between runs and stops at 30 an hour, a sensible pace by hand too.
- Reload before a second run. Opened questions push new ones into Google’s list, so a repeat run on the same page can start from a different top four.
PAA Box Pro is coming soon
Pro will cost $7 for your first 7 days, then $90 a year. It adds Google’s answers and tools for what you unpack:
- With answers. Google’s answer and sources for every question (step 5).
- Question map. See how every question connects, and save it as an image.
- AKA content plan. Turn the stack into Authority, Knowledge and Answer pages, built in your browser.
- Copy outline and JSON. Paste the whole stack into a brief or your own tools.
- History. Every unpack saved in your browser, with what’s new since last time.
- Use it from AI assistants. Claude, Cursor and other MCP apps can unpack for you.
Unpacking questions, D0 to D3, and the CSV download are free. See how the Pro trial and billing work, or get notified when Pro goes on sale.
Where to go next
New to the box itself? Start with what People Also Ask is and how it works. Got your CSV? Here’s how to turn People Also Ask questions into a content plan.