What Is Featured Snippet And What Role Does It Play in SEO?

As Google continues to evolve its search algorithm, new features are being introduced to help users find the information they need quickly and easily. One of these features is the featured snippet. In this blog post, Best SEO Tool will discuss their impact on SEO.

What is Featured Snippet?

Before we get started, let’s go over what google featured snippets are, simply to refresh our recollections. Featured snippets are a form of SERP feature that uses a snippet from a site to answer a question. When a searcher enters a question, Google may try to answer it by extracting a piece of a site’s content and displaying it directly in the results.

Featured Snippets are text snippets that display at the top of Google’s search results to swiftly respond to a searcher’s inquiry. The content of a Featured Snippet is automatically retrieved from web pages in Google’s index. Definitions, tables, steps, and lists are all examples of Featured Snippets.

As shown in the sample above, Google will sometimes emphasize the most relevant element of the extracted blurb. Featured snippets may take several forms, including paragraphs, numbered lists, bulleted lists, and more, and are distinguished by the presence of a source link at the bottom of the feature. These features should not be confused with response features, which normally do not contain a source link and have a slightly different structure.

What types of featured snippets are there?

There are five types of featured snippets that Google shows depending on the intent behind the search query. Let’s check featured snippets example for each type.

• Paragraph
• Numbered list
• Bullet list
• Table
• Video

Paragraph

Succinctly conveying information in a concise paragraph is key to capturing Google’s attention. These snippets appear when users search for information that can be answered with a brief explanation. By structuring your content in a clear and coherent manner, you increase the chances of your website being selected for a paragraph snippet.

This one is unique in that Google sometimes blends featured snippets with People Also Ask (PAA) boxes. You may see other questions relating to your search term and click on them to learn more. As you can see in this example, that typically originates from a different source than the feature snippet:

2. Numbered list

When users seek step-by-step instructions or a breakdown of information in a specific order, Google often displays numbered list snippets. These snippets offer a convenient way to present content that requires a sequential explanation.

Craft your content using numbered lists and ensure each item provides valuable insights to enhance the user experience. This is an interesting example of search snippets, where Google shows only the first point and its own numbered list.

Bullet List

Similar to numbered lists, bullet lists are featured when users search for information that can be presented in a non-sequential manner. By employing bullet points, you can present concise and easily digestible information that meets the user’s needs. Optimize your content by structuring it with bullet lists and ensuring each point stands out.

Tables

Google may show table details that show information in a table style for searches that are based on data. These snippets are great for comparisons, figures, and any other data that can be put into rows and columns. Use clear titles and important data when making tables to make it more likely that your content will be shown in a table snippet.

Video

Google displays video snippets for visual searches due to the prominence of video content. Video snippets make tutorials, demos, and instructional films entertaining. Titles, descriptions, and tags might help you get a video excerpt.

It is also essential to note that other “snippet-like” results exist. You must be aware of the following to avoid any confusion:

Knowledge Panel

Knowledge Panel: A visually-rich panel displayed for well-known entities or topics. Focus on authority and credibility to appear in the Knowledge Panel.

Knowledge Card

Knowledge Card: Concise information boxes providing instant answers to specific queries. Craft concise and direct answers to common questions for Knowledge Cards.

Entity Carousel

Entity Carousel: Interactive search results showcasing related entities within a category. Develop comprehensive content covering various entities for Entity Carousels.

These three SERP features share a common characteristic. As they’re based on entities in the knowledge graph, they do not take answers from just one of the top-ranking search results. Although they may contain a link to the source of the information (for example, song lyrics), it is never in the form of an interactive title, as is the case with featured excerpts.

How featured snippets influence search and SEO?

Google launched featured snippets in 2014, and they’re one of the most noticeable SERP modifications in the last decade. There have been several changes to featured snippets seo.

Shortcut to the top organic position

If your content appears on the first SERP for a search query with a featured snippet, you may “win” that snippet and accelerate your journey to the top. Let us examine this.

According to our research, get featured snippet originate from sites that are already in the top ten. Furthermore, the great majority of feature snippet sites are ranked within the top five.

Finally, the higher your material ranks, the more probable it is to get highlighted. Ranking first in the SERPs is a more achievable aim than ranking first for a keyword. However, if that term results in a features snippet, the top spot becomes a little more reachable.

Fewer clicks… sometimes

Previously, the website with the google search snippet would also appear in the usual “blue link” search results on the first SERP. However, Google launched featured snippet deduplication in January 2020.

You lose the “regular” search result if your page is raised to the featured snippet. Aside from the minor traffic losses, some individuals believe that featured snippets limit clicks on search results. After all, why would you click on a result if the solution to the question already on the SERP?

While this is true for certain inquiries, it is not true for all of them. It is dependent on Google’s ability to offer a good response in the snippet. Take a look at the featured snippet for this query, for example:

For most individuals, the answer is obvious. As a consequence, there is only a 19% probability that a search for this question would result in a click.

Now consider the following sample for “how does the stock market work”:

Most searchers will probably want to know more since it provides a basic solution to the inquiry. That is perhaps why 82% of searches for this question result in a click.

The message here is that targeting keywords with low Clicks Per Search (CPS) is almost never a smart strategy. When exploring keywords in Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer, keep this in mind.

Final thoughts

You should now have everything you need to earn those coveted first-page SERP leaps. To summarize:

The goal of optimizing for featured snippets is to provide a concise and useful response to the search query in the most appropriate manner. Obtaining the feature snippet entails adhering to all of the finest SEO techniques & tools in order to have the content rank well for the target keyword.