What are featured snippets and why should you care? 

Well… 

This handy little feature can have a big impact on your SEO. 

Not to mention driving traffic to your site. 

If you want to improve your rankings for a particular keyword… 

Aiming for featured snippets could be the quickest way to do it. 

Let’s dive in! 

What Are Featured Snippets?

Ever noticed how sometimes, when you Google something… 

There’s a handy little snippet right at the top of your organic search results that directly answers your question? 

That’s a featured snippet. 

It looks like this: 

It may appear right up top, or underneath an ad. 

They’re also sometimes called answer boxes. 

Because they answer your question in a snippet… 

In a box. 

These snippets first appeared in 2014, so they’ve been around for a while! 

People were worried at first. 

Did this mean that fewer people would visit your site, because they could get their answer right there on Google’s search engine results page? 

Wouldn’t that be bad for business? 

But the truth is, featured snippets can be super handy and actually boost your SEO, your click-through rate, and your traffic. 

How Do They Work? 

Featured snippets usually contain useful info that directly answers your questions or relates to your search query. 

Google pulls this info from indexed web pages with the most succinct and useful information on the topic. 

So when you Google “What is a featured snippet?”, it pulls that answer from a site that explains it clearly. 

Many of the latest Google algorithm updates have had a strong focus on useful and user-friendly pieces of content. 

So if you can find the ideal mix between helpful info and SEO… 

You have a good chance of being featured. 

Are Featured Snippets Important for SEO? 

The whole point of SEOing your site and blog posts is to rank high on the SERP. 

And the point of ranking high is to get clicks. 

Everybody wants organic traffic to their site. 

And the truth is… 

Most people are only going to click on the first few results pages and then move on. 

So it’s in your best interest to be right up there. 

And the featured snippet is as high up as you can go! 

But there’s some confusion about whether or not this helps with SEO. 

Here’s the answer in a nutshell: 

• Ranking for a featured snippet doesn’t necessarily improve your SEO. 
• But improving your SEO can increase your chance of ranking for a featured snippet. 

Why is this? 

Because Google uses common search terms – 

In other words, your keywords – 

To pick out featured snippets. 

So it’s in your best interest to SEO and create quality content properly if you want to be featured. 

Benefits of Featured Snippets

Ranking for a featured snippet has some obvious benefits. 

You come out top on the SERP! 

That’s every website owner’s dream. 

And that is the reason we put a lot of effort into SEO. 

Featured snippets are actually known as position 0, before it’s even before the first-ranked. 

Being ranked right up there in a featured snippet has its own benefits. 

• Catch users’ attention: being shown up top in a handy little box immediately catches attention. 
• Surprisingly good click-through rate: if readers want more detailed info, they’ll likely click on the snippet first. Featured snippets get around 35% of total clicks! 
• Indicates quality content: if Google chooses your content as a snippet, it indicates that it’s both useful and well laid-out! 
• Boosts your credibility: having your content featured first gives the impression of you being an authority in your field. 
• Gives you an advantage with voice tech: when people use voice search, voice tech typically uses the featured snippet to respond to their query. 

What Are The Different Types of Featured Snippets? 

Featured snippets actually come in a few different types. 

These are dependent on what type of info someone is searching for. 

Having various types of featured snippets allows the info to be presented in the most logical way for the query. 

Here are the main types of featured snippets: 

• Definitions 
• List featured snippet
• Steps 
• Table featured snippet
• Videos  

Let’s dive into what exactly each one is. 

Definitions 

These are the most common. 

They usually pop up in response to “What is…” questions that people search for. 

Google prefers facts over opinions here! 

Lists 

List snips are extracted from lists within website pages, either numbered/ordered or not. 

They can also be pulled from header tags or anchor links in your table of contents. 

List snippets have a higher click-through rate than other snippet types. 

This is because it usually only shows a portion of the list, so you have to click on “more items” to read the full thing. 

Steps 

Steps are very similar to lists. 

But they’re usually pulled from lists that actually have the word “step” in them. 

Like this snippet below, in answer to the search “steps to create a website”. 

They’re also pretty good at click-throughs, especially if it’s quite a process! 

Tables 

Tables can be an easy way of organising a lot of data. 

Google pulls them directly from the page to show in the featured snippet. 

Videos 

Those “how to” questions are great for video featured rich snippets. 

If your business is such that video is an easy medium to work with… 

Then this is an excellent goal to aim for. 

You’ll need to make sure your title tag and description SEO are on point. 

Timestamps are also a great help and get indexed by Google… 

Which can boost your chance of being featured. 

How Do I Get My Content to Rank for a Featured Snippet? 

According to SEMRush, only 6% of search engine results pages have a featured snippet. 

Which means there’s plenty of opportunity for you to rank for one! 

So how exactly do you do that? 

In all honesty, it’s not easy to aim directly for that. 

Google is also constantly reevaluating content to find the best snippets. 

But there are steps you can take to up your chances. 

Here’s what you can do. 

Do Keyword Research 

Choosing target keywords is the first step to technical SEO in any form. 

Your keywords need to be relevant for your niche and business. 

What would your ideal customer/client be searching for? 

I do this on a blog post by blog post basis. 

Today I may be writing about how to SEO your website. 

Tomorrow I may be writing about being a confident salesperson. 

Obviously, these two will have quite different keywords, based on what my ideal reader is likely to be searching for. 

You don’t need a fancy keyword research tool, either. 

Check Reddit or Answer the Public to see what people are asking. 

Google Your Keywords 

Once you have your list of keywords, I highly recommend Googling them. 

This will show right away if there’s already a featured snippet for that keyword. 

If there is, you’re still in luck for two reasons: 

1. You know that Google wants to show a snippet for that term 
2. You already know what you have to beat! 

This step can give you excellent insight into the kind of content Google likes for featured snippets. 

All that remains is to structure your own content marketing the right way… 

And you could have a chance of knocking the existing one out of top spot. 

Check “People Also Ask” 

This is a great way of doing extra research on topics that people are obviously looking at. 

Checking out these questions can open you up to new keyword ideas… 

And help you find similar things that might be easier to rank for. 

Then, it comes down to creating new, improved content that provides better answers than the ones you see there. 

Use More Than One Keyword Per Post 

If you can use a few different keywords throughout each post… 

Your chances of ranking for a featured snippet increase. 

For example, if you’re targeting the keyword “how to do an SEO audit”, you may also be able to add the keyword “how to rank on Google”. 

If you do it right, you could be in the running for two featured snippets in one article! 

Answer Questions Directly 

One of the best ways to get a featured snippet is to create very targeted content. 

In other words, make sure you answer the reader’s question directly. 

Preferably underneath a heading with the target keyword in it. 

And in 40 to 50 words for the best chance of hitting a snippet. 

Which is the more useful featured snippet to the question “How many soccer players on a team?” 

1. A soccer team has a maximum of 11 players and a minimum of 7 players. One of the players must be a goalkeeper. A team still counts as complete with just 7 players, but the match may be cancelled if the number falls below 7. 
2. Soccer teams can consist of a different number of players at any given point during a match. This can vary from match to match, depending on how many players in the team are feeling unwell or are injured at the time of the soccer match. During a match, each team should have between 7 and 11 players in order for the match to be played. 

Number one is much more to the point. 

Your reader has their answer and can click on your site if they want more info. 

Number two is kind of waffly and doesn’t answer the question directly within the first 50 words. 

This kind of snippet is likely to drive people away instead of attract them! 

Ultimately, what I’m saying here is write concise, valuable content that isn’t fluff. 

Use Various Types of Formatting 

Try using lists, step-by-step instructions, and tables throughout your posts. 

This gives you a good chance of featuring and you may even edge out an existing snippet. 

Maybe your competitor is ranking for a table when a step-by-step snippet would work better. 

Use that to your advantage! 

Using structured data in your content makes a big difference. 

By this, I mean formatting your data to be easy to read and analyse. 

Use headings throughout. 

Instead of listing things in a paragraph, put it in bullet points or a table format. 

Anything that helps your reader to skim and analyse info more easily will boost your chances. 

Final Thoughts on Featured Snippets 

So, what are featured snippets? 

To some, they may be just a random bit of text on a Google search… 

But if you play your cards right, for you, they could be an amazing opportunity to: 

• Gain more traffic 
• Boost your credibility 
• Catch people’s attention 

There’s plenty you can do to increase your chances of getting featured. 

But don’t get so caught up in trying to feature that you forget to try and rank a page on your website. 

SEOing your content, offering value, formatting it harmoniously… 

All of these things will boost your chances of snippets. 

But ultimately, featured snippets are fleeting. 

They change often. 

There’s nothing wrong with working for them. 

But don’t pour all your effort into that and forget things like backlinks, sponsored posts, guest posts, and so on. 

What are featured snippets to you? 

An opportunity? A nice-to-have? Or a goal?