What are featured snippets and why are they important?
Automatically pulled from web pages in Google’s index, featured snippets are those little bite-sized chunks of text that appear at the top of Google’s search results.
To put it simply, I’m going to show you what they look like - Just incase you can’t visualise it…
Being featured here means a lot of brand exposure, with Google giving users your answer as the go-to for their search query. Cool, huh?
But why are featured snippets so great?
To obtain the best traffic from Google, you’ve got to keep an eye on its features and how they change. All. The. Time.
It might seem like a chore to keep an eye on what they’re up to, but you’ll be thanking Google when your rankings improve - or of course, you manage to nab a featured snippet or two.
Users love featured snippets for many reasons. Firstly, they give the answers to questions in a way that’s convenient, quick and easy to read. Just think the next time you perform a Google search, no doubt you’ll be checking out the featured snippets for the answer you’re looking for.
Tips for ranking in Google’s featured snippets
1. Look for questions to answer
There are plenty of places to find content ideas, but one of my personal favourites is Answer The Public.
This is a great tool for answering the how, what, when, where, why and who questions. Let’s say you want to learn more about pizza… I mean, who wouldn’t?
Pop ‘pizza’ in the search bar and you’ll be greeted with plenty of questions under each of the terms above. Pick a question and offer your own unique answer that gives enough insight to the user and really answers the question.
2. Do some keyword research
Optimise your keyword research to help grab a featured snippet spot. You can use a range of tools to find out if a search query will bring up featured results or not - so whether you’ve got a better answer or there’s questions needing answers, get involved!
Handy tip: Serpstat allows you to easily see which keywords bring up featured snippets.
3. Think about the type of snippet you want to feature in
There are three formats of featured snippet:
The paragraph
List
Table snippet
For example, if you’re a website offering recipes, you’ll be looking to grab yourselves a list featured snippet. These are perfect for step-by-step queries.
4. Stay within the optimal word count
Featured snippets are just that - snippets. Keep your content as tight and concise as possible so that it can be easily featured. Especially if you’re offering step-by-step instructions or quick responses such as the answer to: “How old is Meryl Streep?”
5. Consider video for your featured snippet
Video is a great way for users to following tutorials and get quick information. Google will pull these directly from YouTube however, so although you’re not necessarily getting a featured snippet from your website - it’s great brand exposure.
6. Look on Google as you do normally for ideas
If you’ve used the term “Google it”, there’s no doubt in my mind that Google is your go-to for queries. It could be that you’re looking for opening times of a local store, how to change a tyre or the phone number for a restaurant. If you think like a user would, you’re going to create better content.
Put it this way… When we plan our blog content we often look at related search terms on Google. ‘How to…’ ‘What are…’ that kind of thing. Don’t try and overcomplicate things! After all, you’re appealing to Google users who want a question answered - So go ask some questions yourself and get to grips with search terms!
Sadly, there’s no real ‘hack’ for getting your content into the featured snippets of Google, however, with a combination of the above it can most definitely help you get there.
Looking for more SEO and content tips? Keep an eye out for more blog content coming your way.