The SERP(Search Engine Result Pages) results are constantly evolving over time. Google has several different types of SERP features that attract customers at different stages of the buying journey. With so many types of SERP features on Google, it has become difficult for brands to get noticed on the SERP. Fortunately, one of the best ways to get noticed on the SERP is featured snippets. It is one of the most common methods for organic ranking. However, your site needs to be on the first page to be eligible to acquire zero ranks.

“Table of Contents”



Hide

 

Featured Snippets are special search results with concise but descriptive text (paragraph), video, list, or table is taken from a Google-indexed webpage that appears at the top of the Google SERP. It is a descriptive box where Google shows additional information according to search queries.

Featured Snippets appear at the top of the Google SERP, also known as “Position ZERO”. Since featured snippets are shown on the top of the SERPs, the chance of getting clicks increases. Google does not create the content that is shown on a featured snippet. It is content that Google extracts from existing content from a Google-indexed webpage.

For example, GrowByData was recently ranked on a featured snippet for the search query “What is SEO Intelligence”

example-of-featured-snippet
An example of a Featured snippet.

The search box shows the precise answer by highlighting specific texts that Google deems reflective of what the search query is looking for in bold as shown in the image above. This increases the user experience by helping them find the exact answer to their queries and meet their required needs.

Featured snippets are displayed to help people more easily discover what they’re searching for, both from the description of the page and when they click on the link to read the page itself. Google’s algorithm analyzes the millions and billions of content to best match the result with the intent of the user to enhance the product experience for the user. These are usually displayed for the queries in “what, how, top ten, recipes, etc.” format. Google pulls content from indexed pages that answer queries.

No, featured snippets are purely organic results where Google uses text from specific content found in any webpage that is in their index.

A featured snippet allows the user to find the information they are looking for more easily without scrolling. Many times, the user doesn’t even have to click on any links since the information is available on the snippet. It saves time for users along with an increase in experience. If the information on the snippet is insufficient, the user can click on the link available on the featured snippet to dive deeper into the subject matter.
For marketers and SEO managers, the featured snippet is very important because it directs most of the attention of the user to it and the chance of a user clicking on the first organic result is high. Thus, it greatly increases your odds of getting more visitors to your website. Not only does the quantity of traffic increase, the bounce rate decreases as well.  It is because the visitors who click on the links are those who find the featured snippet useful to them.

The Featured Snippet is the first result a user sees on the SERP, which comes with several benefits mentioned below.

1. Achieve SERP Position “Zero Rank”

With Featured Snippet’s Position ZERO ranking, you can easily get ranked above the fold and get high impressions with a good probability of getting clicks to increase the traffic to your site. Also, the featured snippet is very eye-catching with images, videos, and other engaging content as it takes up an extremely sought-after real estate in the Google SERP (Search Engine Result Page).

2. Target Users at the top of the Keyword Funnel

Normally users search for queries with the intent to find answers, definitions, meanings, steps, or even videos. They are typically looking for products or services to learn more about or to make a purchase. However, users at the top of the funnel are generally gathering information while being aware of any brands and businesses. Thus, Google featured snippets are the perfect SERP features to target such users with simple and direct answers with the option to delve deeper.

3. Get More Traffic for Mobile Text and Voice Searches

In 2023, searching is going to get even easier with various voice assistant apps such as Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa, Cortana, etc. According to Voice Search trends, an increasing number of mobile users use these AI apps to make various queries these days. The most interesting thing about these AI apps is that they tend to use Featured Snippets results to answer users’ voice and text queries. This can help brands and businesses increase their leads from organic traffic on Mobile devices.

list featured snippet
An example of list featured snippet

4. Table

Table types of featured snippets are displayed for comparison queries. Google extracts data from existing content on its web pages and shows them in a tabular format. Tables are shown in rows and columns. Some examples where you might see table featured snippets are prices of a menu, sizes of clothing available at a store, or a comparison of revenues as shown in the image below.

table featured snippet
Example of table featured snippet

 

How do you win a Featured snippet?

As one of the most displayed SERP features, Featured Snippets are very important to marketers. However, Google doesn’t provide the exact ways to rank Featured snippets. It is totally up to Google’s search engine algorithm to determine whether your content is fit to be shown as a featured snippet for a particular search query.

Fortunately, in order to win featured snippets, there are various ways and best practices that you can work on to improve your chances of winning this coveted SERP position.

But here are some of the best practices you for Google SERP snippet optimization:

  • Provide Definitive Answers and information

This step is essential if you want to target textual or definition-featured snippets in the form of a paragraph. This is a simple step in your optimization process. All you have to do is give a definitive answer to any questions related to the search terms or keywords you are focusing on.

    • Give simple answers in 40-60 words or around 250 characters.
    • Don’t beat around the bush in your answers with background, statistics, or details.

Here’s an example:

featured snippet
Example of featured snippet

In the above example, we can see that the number of words is around 40 with two sentences giving a precise answer to the user’s query “What is ad intelligence “.

  • Give Exact Lists (either ordered or unordered lists)

An essential step to optimizing your campaigns for featured snippets is to figure out the intent of the searcher. For example, if the intent of the user is to find out the steps to improve SEO or a list of Search Intelligence tools in the market, or how to rank on Walmart (image below), etc. then you should have your content in the form of a list to get featured in this SERP feature.

Also read the latest 2023 SEO Guide for Walmart.

Therefore, try to answer queries in ordered or unordered lists especially for “how”, “top ten”, “best movies/tools”, “benefits”, etc. These lists are used to break up dense contents into smaller chunks to make it easier for the user to understand. Also, try to use HTML code for ordered or unordered lists.

List Featured snippet
An example of list type featured snippet

  • Create Better content than your competitor

One of the major Google featured snippet ranking factors is content. Content optimization tools and techniques can help  If your competitor is ranking on a featured snippet, try to create better content that provides more precise answers, definitions, steps, video content, etc. that solves or answers the search query.

Always try to create content that provides value to the user. If it’s an e-commerce site then product title optimization is a better way to be on the “zero rank”. Here is an article from Grow By Data on Google shopping product title optimization.

Since users are constantly searching for better content and the Google algorithm is trying to provide the best possible customer experience, it is always best to continuously optimize and update your content regularly. But keep in mind that featured snippets only show your results if you rank on the first page of search engine result pages.

  • Optimize your Content Hierarchy and Structures

Clearly use a content hierarchy for a better arrangement of information on your web pages. The paragraph should be formatted with proper headings like H2s, H3s, and H4s in appropriate sections. Creating an excellent content hierarchy and structure allows the reader to skim through the content easily and it also lets the search engine scan your content easily.

  • Add Questions in Heading Tags

Try to add questions on your heading tags in your content. Here are some examples.

    • “What are featured snippets?”
    • “How to optimize your content?”
    • “How to conduct pricing analysis?”

Try to use heading tags i.e., H2s, and H3s for such questions. If you look at some of the results of GrowByData, most of these featured snippets extract text after questions.

  • Make Videos

If your targeted audience is video consumers or if they are mostly on YouTube, then make simple videos explaining step-to-step processes and optimize your description on YouTube. For informational and how-to videos provide a time-stamp to direct viewers to a particular part of a video in order to increase the user experience and reliability of the content.

There are many reasons why your snippets are disappearing from the Google SERP. First, if your competitor has better content, and provides a better answer to questions then your competitor can steal position zero from you. Thus, regular optimization, competitor analysis, and content update are very essential.

Secondly, Google ceases to display featured snippets from search terms that you are previously ranking for. This case usually occurs when Google deems it unnecessary to show such results for that keyword or search query based on the search intent.

Conclusion

Featured Snippets can be a great tool to increase traffic to your website. Because even though this SERP feature is designed by Google to give the user the information without having to click or scroll; it is not always possible to provide all the necessary information in 2-3 sentences or 40-60 words. Use this guide to optimize your content for featured snippets and enhance your authority, credibility, reliability, and traffic on Google. A SERP Monitoring tool can be extremely helpful to monitor you and your competitors trying to win the featured snippet real estate. It can tell you who is currently winning the SERP feature on each of your important keywords so you can create better contents to strategically usurp the competitor.

Originally published at Grow By Data.