What is a featured snippet? Featured snippets are the boxes that appear at the top of search engine result pages (SERP) that summarize the best answer to whatever question you asked Google. This information is taken directly from one of the websites on the first page of results, and it’s placed in its own box above all other results.
What is a featured snippet?
A featured snippet is a summary of a web page that appears at the top of your search results. It’s pulled from your content, and displayed as a box on Google’s SERP.
Google uses its own algorithm to determine which information it thinks users want to see in their search results. If you’re included in featured snippets, then you’ll have more visibility than those who aren’t featured by Google.
Types of featured snippet
There are several types of featured snippets that you can encounter in your SERP results:
- Paragraphs – These are the most common type of featured snippet that can occur in the SERP. It consists of a short piece of text that provides a brief answer to question queries like “How”, “Who”, “Why”, “When” and “What”.
- Tables – Table featured snippet provides data that are pulled out from a certain page and shown as an answer in the form of a table (e.g. for queries like “what are trouser sizes”). It usually consists of rows and columns that display values such as prices, rates, years or other numerical data.
- Lists – Listicle featured snippet is answers presented in numbered or bulleted lists (e.g.: How many days does it take Earth to orbit around Sun). They are typically displayed for “How” or “What” question queries that need to be answered in the form of step-by-step instructions or as a list of items
- Videos – In some instances Google might also display video featured snippets with ready-to-play time stamp which will start at specific part(s) within videos.
Boosted rankings
Featured snippets are a form of organic search result. They appear at the top of Google’s search engine results page and give you a highly visible place to showcase your most important content.
To be more specific, featured snippets are given higher rankings than regular results, so when someone searches for something, their first impression will often be an example from your website (as opposed to a generic answer). This means that if you have good content on your site and it fits with what people are searching for, your article can appear as part of the result set with its own blue background as well as being labeled “Featuring snippet”.
Increased CTR (sometimes)
CTR (click-through rate) is a measure of how many people click on your listing in search results. It’s a good indication of how well your listing performed for that particular query, as well as how it may perform in the future. Increased CTR can also be an indicator of increased rankings: if consumers are more likely to click through to your site after reading about it in an organic snippet, then Google will be more willing to reward you with higher rankings.
Optimized for voice search
In order to optimize your content for voice search, you need to make sure that it is optimized in the following ways:
- The right keywords: Think about what people will be searching for in their query. In addition, think about what they would say when they are asking Google a question. This could be something like, “When was the Declaration of Independence signed?” or “What countries border Canada?” Make sure that your content answers these questions and uses those keywords as often as possible.
- The right content: It’s important not just what words you use but also how much information you share with users and where it comes from. For example, if someone searches for a specific piece of data (e.g., “How many states does America have?”), make sure that there is an answer at the beginning of your article (not buried deep within). If someone needs more detail on a subject (e.g., “Where are all 50 states located?”), provide links within so readers can continue learning—and ultimately converting!
How to optimize for featured snippets?
To optimize your content for featured snippets, you can:
- Use the right keywords: Keywords are still a crucial component of SEO specialist Gold Coast. Use them in your title, meta description and URL.
- Use the right image: The image should relate to what is being said in the snippet itself (if there is an image). If it doesn’t then use text instead of an image as this can give you more space for keywords or any other information that you want to display alongside your snippet.
- Get rid of duplicate content: This includes using internal links from other pages on your website as well as social media profiles/pages where possible – this will help Google understand more about what pages are about without having to create separate versions for each page type (i.e., blog posts vs product descriptions vs news articles).
Conclusion
In the end, it’s important to keep in mind that featured snippets are a special type of ranking. Optimizing for them can be very rewarding in terms of traffic, but the process is not as simple as just aiming for them without considering other search results. If you have a site with a lot of content and want some quick wins, make sure you optimize your pages by following our tips. Also, don’t forget to keep an eye on Google’s SERPs and check if your site has any featured snippets already!
