What is a Google featured snippet?

Google Featured Snippets are search results appearing in top positions above organic search results. Google designed featured snippets to provide quick answers to questions that users ask in searches. As a result, marketing and SEO consultants are continually trying to achieve this position. (Also sometimes referred to as “position zero.”)

How to get your web pages to appear in Featured Snippets.

Since you found this article, you may also be researching Featured Snippets on Google. You probably also found Google’s official answer on how to mark your web pages so that they will appear as a featured snippet.

YOU CAN’T

At least that is what it says in Google’s answer in this webmaster guide. Getting your page to appear in a Featured snippet is done automatically by Google’s algorithm. Therefore only Google’s systems can determine whether a page is an excellent featured snippet. And if your page is snippet worthy, it will rise to the top as Google will make it a featured snippet.

How much traffic will my website get from featured snippets?   

SEO experts recognize the obvious that web pages that display in this coveted position are precious for websites. At the same time, some set out to create studies that measure their value. According to research done by Moz, 24% of search results display a featured snippet.  

How can I recognize when my content will qualify? 

The first thing you can do is review the content that Google is currently ranking as a featured snippet. You will observe some patterns emerging. Featured snippets often display answers from the content of relevant websites in the form of a paragraph, table, or lists. This content is usually concise, well written, and immediately answers the questions asked.  

Is it possible to have the best answers and never become a Featured Snippet? 

The answer is YES! Your web page might have the best answer, but its reputation may not be as trustworthy. People expect Google to deliver solutions from experts that are accurate and trustworthy. Therefore Google must be 100% certain its algorithm is not displaying wrong or spammy answers. Websites that achieve the top position have the best solution, but also have E-A-T. (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).  

Why is E-A-T important, and how can your website get some?  

Quality is so important to Google that it assembled 16,000 quality raters to review content from websites to help identify whether sites are of high quality. Google also created Quality Raters’ Guidelines to help identify experts who write authoritative content that is trustworthy enough to show as Google featured snippets. Google also created a “How Google Fights Disinformation Guide“, that is used across all its platforms, including Google Search, Google News, YouTube, and its advertising platforms.   As a result, these volunteers and guidelines help strengthen Google’s search algorithm and prevent it from displaying low quality and inaccurate results.    

12 Tips to help optimize content for ranking as a Snippet.  

Most SEO consultants agree that there is nothing specific you can do aside from making the best FAQ and content possible. From our experience, Google favors answers that are well written, easy to read, thorough, include images or videos, provide graphic or multimedia representations, and do a great job helping people. 

Getting your pages to display in featured snippets.  

1. Do keyword/phrase research and pick relevant questions that have a high number of searches that are relevant to your target audience. 
2. Before you start writing an answer, Search Google for your question and observe the current featured snippet. 
3. Evaluate the current featured snippets results for your question and pay attention to how they are formatted. Does the format do an excellent job of answering the question? Google uses tables, paragraphs, and lists. Try to use the best approach for your answer. 
   1. Tables can best answer complex comparison related questions 
   2. Paragraphs are the most popular and are great for definitions.
   3. Lists are great for how-to questions.  
4. What is missing with the current Featured Snippet? Can it be improved? Try to make your answers and page better and more complete than the current Featured snippet.  
5. Is it easy to read? Try to write at an 8th grade level with short sentences.
6. Create 100% unique content. Do NOT reuse content from your existing website or other sites online.    
7. Answer multiple questions in one page by grouping related content
8. Create step by step, “how-to” content
9. Use high-quality images and videos.” 
10. Use Headers and break up main points.   
11. Keep sentences concise and to the point 
12. Repeat steps 1-12 above, because the Google Featured snippet changes regularly, so you may need to continue to improve your answers to maintain the top result. 

Your website can appear in Google Featured Snippets if you put in the effort. 

Putting in the effort to create the best content possible will eventually pay off with featured snippets! Study Google’s Quality Raters Guide to learn about E-A-T and apply it to your content. Use our twelve tips above when you create or edit an article for your website. Do this religiously and the next time Google indexes your site, you might find your page has advanced to position 0 as a featured snippet.