But they often overlook the value of featured snippets.
We all know that getting to the top of Google through traditional methods is a difficult task. You need to build a lot of content, links, and domain authority to rank. This can take years, if not decades, of consistent SEO investment. And even then, there’s no guarantee of success.
Luckily, featured snippets can give you a free shortcut to the top of the SERPs.
In this article, we'll explain what featured snippets are, why they're so valuable, and how to maximize your chances of ranking for these snippets.
What Are Featured Snippets?
Featured snippets are specially curated pieces of content that typically appear at the top of Google search results .
Their goal is to provide Google users with answers to their queries directly within the SERPs.
Here is an example for the search query 'how to train for a marathon':
Featured snippet example for the search query 'how to train for a marathon'
Google automatically creates featured snippets by pulling relevant information from a web page that ranks for that query. These appear in one of four formats: paragraph northeast mobile phone numbers database list, table, and video.
Paragraph Featured Snippets
These make up the lion’s share of featured snippets. They’re typically 50 to 250 words long and tend to appear for ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘how’ search queries.
Paragraph Featured Snippets
List Featured Snippets
List snippets are bulleted or numbered lists and typically appear for queries seeking instructions.
List Featured Snippets
Table Featured Snippets
Table snippets tend to appear for results that rank or compare data.
Table Featured Snippets
Video Featured Snippets
Video snippets display videos from YouTube in whole or in part. They can appear for any search query.
Video snippets display videos taken from YouTube
Important note : In the past, a web page used for a featured snippet would also appear as one of the ‘regular’ listings on page one of Google. This meant that the same page could appear twice within a single SERP, driving even more organic traffic. However, since 2020, Google places the regular listing of any page used in a featured snippet on the second page of results.
What are the Benefits of Ranking for Featured Snippets?
Here are some of the main advantages:
More Organic Visibility
The main benefit of earning a featured snippet is that you can occupy prime real estate in Google's results without ranking in the regular top positions.
As you can see from the examples above, featured snippets take up a significant portion of the SERPs, giving you even more visibility than a regular first-place ranking. This effect is even greater on mobile devices due to the smaller screen size.
More Clicks
Because featured snippets put you at the top of Google’s results pages, you get more clicks to your website . Snippets receive around 35% of all clicks for a given search query .
This may seem surprising at first, but the goal is to answer queries directly in the SERPs and save users the trouble of clicking through to websites. As a result, you can expect featured snippets to have a lower click-through share.
But the truth is, many queries can’t be fully answered in the limited space Google provides, requiring users to click through to discover more content and details.
However, some snippets provide users with all the information they need. In such cases, being ranked at the top will not necessarily mean more clicks.
Better Brand Awareness
Earning featured snippets can also improve the perception of your brand.
The truth is that some users automatically assume that a website that Google deems worthy of a featured snippet is trustworthy.
Moreover, voice-activated apps like Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant use featured snippets to answer around 40% of voice searches .
With 27% of the world's population using voice search on mobile devices, gaining a featured snippet can significantly increase your brand's recognition and authority.
5 Tips for Optimizing Your Content for Featured Snippets
Now that you know the benefits of earning featured snippets, let's cover how to optimize your content for them.
Remember, there is no surefire way to guarantee you a featured snippet – these are determined by Google’s algorithm, which changes regularly over time .
The following tips can help you maximize your chances of success.
1. Discover What Featured Snippets Are Available
The first step is to research what featured snippet opportunities exist for the keywords you currently rank for.
You can do this by checking Google manually or by using a keyword tracking tool like AccuRanker, which shows you the various SERP features that appear for your target keywords.
Next, make a note of all the keywords that triggered the featured snippet and that you rank for in the top ten. You can then optimize your content around the format of the featured snippet (see step 4) and potentially ‘steal’ this list from your competitor.
2. Look for Untapped Featured Snippet Opportunities
The next step is to look for keywords that you are not currently targeting that could trigger a featured snippet.
Keep in mind that these are typically created for long-tail and question-based keywords (who, what, why, how, when, etc.), so try to focus your research on these types of queries.
The simplest approach here is to enter a relevant seed term into Google and note the keywords that appear in the 'People Also Ask' and 'Related Searches' boxes. Here's an example of the seed term 'how to repot a plant'.
3. Create Content Targeting Featured Snippets
With your new keyword list, you can start making your content more snippet-friendly.
Whether your goal is to optimize existing content or create entirely new content, the information you provide should be clear and concise.
Continuing with the example above, let’s say you have a post titled ‘how to repot a plant’ and you want to improve its ability to rank for multiple featured snippets. A good approach would be to make sure that the post also answers related questions that you found during your keyword research.
For example, you could add a subheading like “Is it best to store plants wet or dry?” and provide a concise answer of no more than 250 words. You can then repeat the same process for all other related questions.
This tactic will not only make it easier for your post to rank for multiple snippets, but it will also make your post more valuable to readers.
4. Optimize Your Formatting for Featured Snippets
When it comes to optimizing your content, the way you format it is just as important as the content itself.
Remember, the goal here is to make it as easy as possible for Google (and users) to read your content and extract relevant information to use in a featured snippet, so when structuring your answers to questions, try to give a high-level, snippet-worthy answer before going into more detail.
The rule of thumb for formatting is to make sure your content follows a clear and logical structure. Make sure to use H2 and H3 heading tags when formatting questions. And try to include your target keywords in your subheadings. You should also leave plenty of white space between sections so your content doesn’t appear as one homogeneous mass.
Of course, you’ll also want to make sure your formatting is consistent with the featured snippet you’re trying to steal from your competitors. For example, if the snippet you want to claim is currently formatted as a table, your content should match that as well.
