Getting your website shown in a featured snippet is an effective way to raise awareness of your site and encourage website visitors to click through to your content. Featured snippets are displayed in the search engine results pages (SERPs) of Google, Yahoo!, and Bing, and they can be a great way to attract new visitors.
What Are Featured Snippets?
Featured snippets AKA (Position 0) is the result that shows up before position 1 on Google and takes more space on the Search Results page. Snippets are a box that contains a summary of the answer to a user’s question or query, as well as a link to the page from which the answer was taken. Snippets are generated based on data from Google’s Knowledge Graph and from user queries. To be eligible for a snippet, your content must meet two criteria: it must be clear and concise, and it must be the best answer to the user’s question. Featured snippets are a great way to get your content featured at the top of the search engine results pages and be noticed by your ideal clients.
Below is an example of a featured snippet.
Benefits of Featured Snippets
Here are the top 3 benefits of featured snippets:
1. Increase Website Traffic
Featured snippets can help bring more website traffic. When you have a snippet that is featured, it will show up in search results with a box on the right-hand side that contains the answer to the question posed by the user. This can attract attention to your website and result in more clicks.
2. Boost Conversions
Featured snippets can also help boost conversions. If someone is looking for an answer to a question, they may be more likely to click on your link if it is featured than if it is not. This can result in increased sales or other conversions for your business.
In 2017 Search Engine Land noted that the click-through rate (CTR) on a page with a featured snippet increased up to 8%, increasing organic traffic revenue by more than 600%.
Moreover, a recent study by Engine Scount shows that featured snippets got 35.1% of the total click share of search results pages. That is more than 1/3 of the page, which is pretty awesome. However, Engine Scount did not mention anything about revenues in their study.
3. Increase Website Authority
Featured snippets can also help increase your website’s authority. When you have a snippet that is featured, it shows that you are an expert on the topic at hand and that you are providing valuable information to your users.
How to get a Featured Snippet for your website?
Google’s featured snippets – position 0 – are prime real estate on the search engine results page. Snippets are pulled from websites to answer a user’s question directly on the search engine results page, and they can drive a large amount of traffic.
Here are five steps to help you get a featured snippet for your website:
Step #1 Identify questions that your website can answer.
Do some keyword research and try to identify questions that your website can answer. You can use Answer the Public or Google’s autocompleting feature (see example below) to find popular questions that people are asking online.
Step #2 Identify which questions you could potentially answer by looking at the Frequently Asked Question (FAQ section) on Google search results.
In this image below you could see other questions people ask are when you search the terms “What is integrated marketing”. “What is an example of integrated marketing?” is a question that is asked by people online. This could be an opportunity to write about this topic and get a featured snippet.
Step #3 Check if there is already a featured snippet for the question you’d like to target.
In this instance, “What is an example of integrated marketing?”, we can see that this question has already a featured snippet (check the image below). This means it will be a lot harder to rank for position 0 for this question. You could either do a much better job than this featured snippet or try another question until you find a gap on Google SERPs where a question has not been featured.
Step #4 Pick a question that is searched on Google and does not have a featured snippet yet.
This way you have better chances of ranking as a rich snippet than a question that already is on position 0.
Step #5 Write succinct and clear answers to this question.
Once you’ve identified potential questions, write succinct and clear answers to them on your website. Be sure to use paragraph breaks and subheadings to make your answers easy to read. You can see below in our featured snippet for
“7 on-page SEO Tips to Boost Your Shopify Store” we broke up our text into numbered tips.
If you need help getting a featured snippet for your website, contact us today. We are a top SEO Agency in Australia helping businesses grow with SEO.
Step #6 Make the most important text in your answer in BOLD
This way helps Google Search Engines identify that this text is important and is the answer to that specific question. Numerous times Google’s own John Mueller mentioned the importance of making text stand out with techniques like bolding. This is a snapshot of one of his tweets in Nov 2021.
Step #7 Ensure that your post’s URL matches or is close to the question
URL names are super important when it comes to SEO and ranking. So, writing clear and precise URL names that reflect what the post or pages are about helps Google understand what your page contains and increases your chances to rank on top.
Step #8 Optimise your post/page with proper on-page SEO
Ensuring that your post is well optimised with meta tags and titles increase the chances of ranking position 0 for the question you are trying to answer.
Step #9 Monitor your web page’s search engine rankings and make necessary adjustments.
After you have done all of the above, ensure to check your results. Give the page a couple of days to get indexed (sometimes pages get indexed faster) and then do a google search for your target question. Check if you get a featured snippet. If your question did not feature on Google’s featured snippet, then revisit the page and see what improvements can be done to enhance your chances of ranking in that position.
Types of Featured Snippets
Featured snippets are one of the most commonly sought-after types of Google search results. There are three types of featured snippets: knowledge graph, carousel, and standard.
- Standard featured snippets are the most common type. They appear at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) and provide a brief answer to the user’s query.
- Carousel featured snippets also appear at the top of the SERP, but they include a series of images and links to more detailed information about the topic.
- Finally, the knowledge graph featured snippets that appear as a box on the right-hand side of the SERP. This type of snippet includes an image, a brief description of the topic, and a list of related topics.
How to track your results for Featured Snippets?
Featured snippets are a great way to get your content noticed. But, how can you track whether or not your content is being featured? There are a few different tools you can use to help you track your results.
Tool #1 Google Search Console.
This tool will show you how many impressions your content has received and how often it has been shown as a featured snippet. It will also show you the click-through rate for your featured snippet.
Tool #2 Semrush Snippet Tool.
This tool will show you which of your pages have been featured as a snippet and what position they are appearing in. It will also show you the click-through rate for those pages. You can also use the tool to identify opportunities for getting your content into featured snippets.
Tool #3 MozBar Chrome Extension.
The MozBar extension is a free tool that gives you insights into your website’s SEO performance. It shows you information about Domain Authority, Page Authority, and other key metrics. It also has a feature called “SERP Features” that lets you see whether or not your site is appearing as a Featured Snippet.
To use the SERP Features feature, simply open the MozBar extension and click on the “SERP Features” tab.
Final Words on Featured Snippets
Optimising your website to rank in Google Featured Snippets can result in increased website traffic and higher ROI. There are a number of ways to achieve this, but the most important factor is providing the best answer to users’ questions. By following the tips provided in this article, you can improve your chances of ranking in Featured Snippets and increase your website’s visibility.
Looking for an SEO Agency or an SEO Expert to help you rank on Google and get a featured snippet. The SEO Room is an SEO Perth Agency working with businesses in Australia and across the globe to get them on top of search engines. Get in touch with us by booking a call or filling in the contact form below.
