Interested in gaining organic traffic to your website? Google snippets are a great way to do this! Anytime you have asked Google a question, you have probably encountered a Google snippet without knowing what they are called or its multitude of benefits.
Featured snippets help jump up in Google’s rankings because it shows a quick answer to a search query at the top of the search engine’s results page.
Due to its simple yet effective nature, search engine optimization (SEO) professionals have been using this strategy for multiple years now. Since Google introduced them in 2014, featured snippets have become a prominent SERP (search engine results page) feature that constantly evolves.
What is a Google Snippet?
Google snippets are short, intriguing pieces of text that are revealed at the top of Google’s search results which quickly answer someone’s question. They appear in what is commonly referred to as the zero position because it has jumped Google’s rankings, with all other results following behind. These boxes of information differ from regular search results, as a piece of the website’s content appears before its title.
With Google being the largest search engine, these snippets can be extremely advantageous when aiming to increase clicks on a webpage.
However, you may question that if someone sees the answer, why would they want to click further into your webpage? The snippet provides minimal, direct, but captivating information, meaning they are more inclined to click on the website to learn more.
History of Google Snippets
2014: Introduction of Featured Snippets
In 2014, Google introduced featured snippets on the SERP in the form of definitions, lists, tables, and videos.
At the time, there was no official name given to this feature, so like most unnamed material, people were referring to it by several names, such as “Google’s answer boxes,” “Google’s quick answers,” and “featured snippets.”
However, even during its release year, SEO professionals have begun to recognize the potential and benefits of this new feature.
2016: Featured Snippets receive their Official Name
Although a couple communities have been referring to this new feature as “featured snippets” for the past 2 years, in 2016 it became the official name of this innovation.
2018: Introduction of Carousel and Combined Featured Snippets
In addition to definition, table, and list snippets, Google released carousel and combined featured snippets in 2018 as well.
2020: Removal of the Duplication of Featured Pages
In 2020, there was a significant change to featured snippets as they removed the duplication of featured pages on the SERP. Prior to 2020, websites were shown as a featured snippet and again as a regular page on the first page of Google. This new update sparked controversy amongst SEOs as many perceived featured snippets to be now less valuable.
2021: Testing New Featured Snippets Formats
Google’s goal is to continue to make information accessible and as user-friendly as possible. In 2021, they continue to test different features and formatting for featured snippets in various countries.
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The Types of Featured Snippets
Definition Snippets
Definition snippets are a box of text used to give users fast and brief definitions or answers to their inquiry. This type of snippet typically appears after a question beginning with “what is” or “what are” and is between 40-60 words in length. However, Google does not provide a minimum word count to appear on a featured snippet for a variety of reasons including, the question being answered, the language, and the type of device (mobile, tablet, desktop).
A great example of a definition snippet is if someone were to Google “what is a featured snippet,” a definition snippet with 43 words and a simplified explanation will appear as the first result.
Table Snippets
In contrast to definition snippets that use chunks of text to convey information, table snippets display answers, commonly with the use of numbers and statistics, through a table.
An example of this is when someone searches “what is the population of each Canadian province,” Google will present the data via a table snippet. The table will consist of a chart containing columns for each province, their population from the previous year, and projections for a future year.
Ordered List Snippets
Another format that Google uses to exhibit information in featured snippets is an ordered list. These types of snippets are generally for questions that may need a set of steps, such as easy recipes and procedures.
For instance, if one Googles “how to optimize for Google’s featured snippets,” an ordered list with specific steps to follow will emerge as the first result.
Unordered List Snippets
Similarly, unordered list snippets show information in the same way as ordered list snippets, except the information normally does not require any specific order or list of instructions.
To illustrate, when someone searches for a “list of search engine optimization practices,” a simple list with no distinct ranking will pop up.
Featured Snippets SEO and Search Influences
Whether your featured snippet appears in a paragraph, numbered list, table, bullet list, or video will depend on the search query intent. But one thing is sure, featured snippets changed several things for SEO and users.
- Getting a shortcut to the top position with a featured snippet is easier if your content is already ranking on the first SERP. Therefore, the higher your content ranks, the better its chances of getting a snippet. In addition, it becomes easier when a keyword triggers a snippet.
- Sometimes Google may provide a satisfactory answer to a search query, leading to fewer clicks, try and avoid it with your targeted keywords. Researching keywords is important because you don’t want to target those that get fewer Clicks Per Search (CPS).
- Featured snippets provide excellent branding opportunities because they are the first things they see when there are no search ads. On mobile phones, they are even more prominent because they are the first thing users see. The more visibility you have on SERPs, the better your branding opportunities.
Remember that even though you can opt out of featured snippets, it can lead to a 12% traffic loss, even if your page remains on the first SERP.
How to Get Featured Snippets
Featured snippets are a great way to grow organic traffic to your website. Since you don’t pay for featured snippets, here’s how to get them:
Find Snippet Opportunities
Discover how your audience thinks to find snippet opportunities. Again, Google is a great place to start. Place yourself in your audience’s shoes and do search queries in several terms; you might even find some of your content featured under one of these.
If you don’t find any featured snippets, look in the “People Also Ask” section and read the answers. Then, use the information as an example to create content that provides the answers your audience seeks.
Answer as Many Questions as You Can
Once a page ranks for one featured snippet, it has a better chance of appearing in other related search queries. The benefits are a ripple effect where you earn even more snippets. Therefore, you can aim to optimize some of your content to ensure that you answer as many questions as possible. Use the opportunity to pack these articles with defining terms and information so that they are highly valuable to search engines and users.
Tweak Your Ranking Content
If you currently have a page ranking in the top 10 but don’t own a snippet, you can easily win it with a few tweaks to your content. First, you can check for featured snippet opportunities with Ahref’s site explorer tool by searching for the keywords with the higher search volumes in the top positions. Next, prioritize the ones with the most value to the search query.
Now you can check if these qualify for a featured snippet before making any changes to the content.
Remember: your content needs to provide relevant and short answers to search queries on Google.
Keep Snippets in Mind When Creating Content
When creating content, it’s important to keep snippets in mind, but you should first make sure to meet your first purpose of covering a specific topic. Therefore, select the topic first, then align it with the search intent by analyzing the competing pages on the SERP by looking for and filtering out featured snippet keywords and creating the appropriate content with short and relevant answers.
When writing content, remember the following:
- It’s important to structure your content correctly using headings
- Keep explanations and sentence structures simple
- Use the preferred audience language because Google uses featured snippets as answers in voice searches.
- Use the ”inverted pyramid” method wherever you can by providing the most important information at the top of your content.
- Ensure structured content sections have the required highlights so that Google can notice them for featured snippets and to enhance your direct search results.
Optimize for Specific Snippet
Optimization for Definition Snippets
Formatting is crucial to help appear in a featured snippet. For definition snippets in particular, Google will most likely use the information from sites that have already organized their content to look like featured snippets. To do so, including subheadings that resemble questions users may often research is key, such as “What is X” and “What are Y.” It is also important to make sure the text stays between the 40-60 average word limit.
Keep in mind that Google looks for non-bias and objective definitions. Although you might have a strong opinion on a topic, keep that out of the definition, as it should resemble a dictionary interpretation rather than a personal diary entry.
Optimization of Table Snippets
Similar to definition snippets, table snippets also rely on formatting. Instead of pulling various data from a web page and presenting them in their own table, Google shows information that was previously in a chart for these featured snippets.
Optimizing table snippets is fairly simple. Place as much information into tables as possible, and be sure to include a <tr> tag in your HTML to tell Google that your website consists of tables.
Optimization of Ordered List Snippets
Since formatting plays a huge role in the optimization of snippets, ensure that each subheading begins with “Step #1” or “1.”. Not only does this help your readers better follow along, but it provides Google with a better understanding of your text. It is also important that your subheadings are consistent. If you start off with “Step #1: perform X,” do not continue with “2. perform Y.”
To go the extra mile, you can even include H2 (header 2) or H3 tags around your subheadings to better communicate with Google and to make your content as clear as possible.
How do I Know if I Already have a Featured Snippet?
Google does not notify you or show any information regarding if you already have a featured snippet. However, you can easily find that information by using the Ahref’s site explorer tool by searching for the keywords you rank for. Next, filter the search for featured snippets and now you can see if you already have one.
If you notice that your featured snippet has a few errors, we do not recommend editing the page unless the information Google pulls is extremely misleading or false. Once you edit the page, there is a risk of losing that featured snippet to a competitor. It is better to have a few errors than to not have a featured snippet at all.
Keeping Track of your Featured Snippets
After learning that you have a featured snippet, it is important to keep track of it. You can do this by using the Ahref’s site explorer tool again. Then, create a rank tracking project for all your keywords and it will allow you to monitor your featured snippets.
Some key components to look out for are the amount of featured snippets you currently own, the number of featured snippets you have had in total, and the percentage of all the featured snippets among the tracked keywords that you own.
Can I Opt Out of Google Snippets?
There are two different methods to opt out of Google snippets.
The first method is blocking both featured and regular snippets by adding the nosnippet rule to your page. When you specify this rule, it will tell Google to not show any text or video snippets from your site when a user searches for that page or its keywords. However, a static image thumbnail may be visible if it is available. You can also use a data-nosnippet HTML attribute to block featured and regular snippets, but this method is a little more complicated.
The second method to opt out of Google snippets is to only block featured snippets. You can do so by experimenting with the max-snippet rule. Since featured snippets will only be shown if a piece of text has enough information to concisely answer a question, the smaller your max-snippet number is, the less likely your website will be a featured snippet. The max-snippet rule does have a few special values, 0 and -1. If you set your max-snippet number to 0, this is equivalent to the nosnippet rule, telling Google to block both featured and regular snippets. -1 on the other hand indicates to Google that it can choose the snippet length that it believes will be most useful for users.
Although you can opt out of Google snippets, we do not recommend this as it can lead to a significant decrease in traffic to your web page.
Bold Solutionz and Optimising for Featured Snippets
Getting featured snippets takes much effort and has a tremendous learning curve, thanks to the research and SEO required. Our team of experts at Bold Solutionz uses the latest tools to find the best keywords to ensure your website featured snippets that give you the highest ranking spot without needing to advertise.
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