Getting to the top spot of Google’s organic search results is a difficult battle. As of each passing day, the search engine changes its policies and features for its ranking system. As a result, SEO specialists keep working on fixing their past content to adjust them for Google’s new ranking system. Among those new policies and features, the featured snippets are, without an argument, the first thing that an average user will notice when entering a search query.
Optimizing a website’s SEO content for featured snippets will also help
the website’s ranking to increase explicitly without the need for backlinks or
constantly upgrading the content. In this article, we will discuss and examine
what featured snippets are in detail. You will also find information about how
you can optimize your website’s content for featured snippets to rank higher.
Anyways, let’s dive in.
What Are Featured Snippets?
Officially called featured snippets, Google’s answer boxes include pieces of information that are a direct answer to a search query and appear at the top of the search engine result page (SERP). They pull the most relevant content from the highly ranked web pages and offer it to the users as an answer to their search query. They are also called “position 0” as they are placed on the top of the page, right below the ads, above the rest of the result page.
Featured
snippets are one of the most noticeable SERP features, and they’re developing
all the time. They make searching a query a useful and straightforward
experience for users. Since users can take a look at what they are searching
for at a glance, the website’s content that gets picked from the search
engine’s algorithm will rank higher and get organic traffic. Being featured on
the SERP will also make way for increasing brand awareness and online
reputation of a business.
Featured
snippets may appear in different forms. For example, a user can find a brief
explanation of what they have searched for in a paragraph. They can also appear
as listings and a table. We will look further into the types of featured
content and which one is the best for your website content.
Types of Featured Snippets
What
a user types in as a search query, whether it is a question or a sentence, will
determine which type of the featured snippets should be on SERP to utilize the
feature. Featured snippets will appear as in four main types on the result
page:
- Paragraph
- Listing (numbered or bulleted)
- Table
- Video
Let
us take a look at each and every one of the featured snippet types and what you
should choose to optimize according to your website content.
Paragraph Snippets
Featured paragraph snippets are the most
common of the featured snippets that appear on SERP. They usually provide the briefest
answer according to what the user wanted to know, along with an image displayed
alongside.
Paragraph SnippetParagraph snippets can help, instead of
hurting, your click-through rate (CTR) if optimized correctly. By optimizing
your paragraph to answer the question briefly but getting the user interested
in more information, you will increase your CTR organically.
Paragraphs often appear when asked “what,
why, who, how, and when” questions.
Listing Snippets
Listing snippets appear in two different
forms: numbered or bulleted. List snippets apply mainly to posts about
step-by-step directions, DIYs, or recipes.
If the featured listing does not fit into the
featured snippet box, no matter if it is numbered or bulleted, the “More
items” option will appear just above the link to the source page. As a
result, when a user clicks to see more, they will be redirected to your website
and automatically and organically increase CTR.
If your content is appropriate for listing
snippets, you can optimize them by including questions in your headings. Also,
answering the question under a related title in less than 50 words to get
featured.
Table Snippets
Google displays a
table snippet for better understanding to improve the structured data. The
search engine does not just pull the information and present it how it was
formatted. It can retrieve the particular information the user is searching
for, and recreate its own table.
A website owner does
not have to provide a table to get this kind of snippet; any data on the web pages
that can appear as rows and columns has a chance to be featured. Also, Google
considers well-structured content with prices, rates, years, and other
statistical data available.
Video Snippets
Featured
video snippets tend to show up for profoundly visual “how-to”
searches where the user is presumably searching for step-by-step directions.
Texts from video descriptions can also be included as an answer to a search
query. Google retrieves relevant videos, highlighting suggested video clips that
are likely to answer the search’s question best.
Several
key factors affect your video’s chances to be featured on video snippets. Some
of them are:
- Name of
the video
- Suggested
clip’s length
- Views on
the video
- Age of the
video (the year it was published)
- Video’s
ranking
Now
that we have pointed out the types of featured snippets, it is time to examine
how to optimize a website’s content to win featured snippets.
How to
Optimize Content For Featured Snippets
Studies have shown
that almost thirty percent of Google SERP includes featured snippets. This
percentage is expected to increase even further as the voice search option is
expanding its borders.
As a result, it has
become a crucial step to take for website owners or businesses to appear on
SERP to increase credibility and visibility.
Whether you seek ways to increase your traffic or benefit from other advantages of increased visibility, we offer some tips to get featured to appear in position 0.
Keyword Research And Answering Questions
Keyword research is a vital necessity for successful content writing, especially if the content is aimed to get ranked for a featured snippet. Using SEMrush and its amazing keyword tool will help you understand what users are looking for the most.
Also, you can search for the frequently asked questions on your content and try to set a place to their answers in your content. Asking the specific question and answering it in the following paragraph will increase the chances of being featured. This method may also result in higher user recognition because it makes any article better structured and, therefore, providing a much easier read.
What Do People Also Ask?
The “People also ask” box usually
appears below the featured snippet related to a question. A content writer can
find many topics to include in their SEO content and expand its borders.
Therefore, the content will be eligible to be featured.
It is also important to include similar questions in an article because search engines feature content that has synonyms of or closely related search queries.
Summaries in Listings And How-To Instructions
The more comfortable you make it for a search
engine algorithm to crawl your content, the more likely it is to award you a
featured snippet. For that reason, choosing the right keyword is only half the
battle. You should also include numbered and bulleted lists that summarize the
key points or steps in a post.
With 15 items on the list and eight of
displayed in the snippet, it is possible to engage the user to click through to
see the entire list on your website.
Benefits of
Featured Snippets
Although featured snippets were introduced to
SERP in 2014, it has become a huge factor affecting a website’s recognizability
and raises brand awareness. Featured snippets provide more clicks from the
organic search results without being ranked higher on Google ranks.
Why should you optimize your content for
featured snippets? What does it yield for your business’s future and
reputation? Please keep reading to find out what they offer and how they are
useful for you.
Sometimes Fewer Clicks Do The Work
As a result of the answer to a question being displayed on the SERP right away, many SEO specialists believe that getting featured in a snippet reduces clicks and traffic.
In some cases, it might be true. For example,
if the user searches for basic information like the birth date of someone or
work hours of a specific place, they will not have to visit a website as they
will get the information from the snippet.
But if the search query is a little more
specific and complicated, such as “how do search engines work?”, they
will find a brief explanation that is not enough. As users will need to know
more about the topic, click on the website that is featured on the snippet.
This will automatically increase the website’s organic traffic.
Great Way to Advertise Your Brand
As many other businesses compete with each
other in your field, appearing on position 0 of the SERP will make a brand more
visible and recognizable. From a possible customer’s perspective, you become
more appealing by appearing in a featured snippet.
FAQs
Conclusion
As the featured snippets are the first things a user will see on the SERP, getting your content into this invaluable position 0 as a part of your SEO strategies will help increase your visibility and trustworthiness. You can reach Position 0 if you make an effort in content writing for your site, mainly when answering questions and paying attention to the questions users ask.