Featured Snippets: What They Are & How to Earn Them

What Are Featured Snippets?

Featured snippets are abbreviated substance excerpts that supply quick, wide answers to idiosyncratic hunt queries and often look adjacent the apical of hunt motor results pages (SERPs). 

The substance for Google’s featured snippets is pulled straight from the root leafage and linked for users who privation to research the taxable further.

Here’s a featured snippet example:

Google displays featured snippets successful SERPs erstwhile its ranking systems find that users are looking for answers to circumstantial questions—ones Google tin code by showing circumstantial passages from applicable webpages.

They autumn nether the larger umbrella known arsenic SERP features—which are peculiar results that basal retired from accepted hunt listings. 

Why Getting Featured Snippets Is Good for SEO

Getting a featured snippet is bully for SEO due to the fact that it gives you salient placement successful Google’s hunt results.

While featured snippets person contributed to the emergence of zero-click searches (when users find answers straight connected the hunt results leafage without visiting a website), they tin payment your marque through:

Enhanced Visibility

Securing featured snippets gives you premier SERP existent property and tin marque you 1 of the astir salient results connected the page.

On mobile devices, featured snippets inhabit astir 50% of the surface successful immoderate cases. This pushes competitors beneath the fold and ensures your contented captures idiosyncratic attraction first. 

Increased Traffic to Your Site

Appearing successful featured snippets places your contented successful a highly disposable spot that tin pull clicks and thrust much organic traffic to your site.

Even if featured snippets are zero-click searches successful the consciousness that they reply the contiguous question straight connected the page, users who are funny successful learning much whitethorn beryllium enticed to click done to your page.

A 2022 study from EngineScout shows featured snippets get astir 35.1% of each clicks.

Data Source: EngineScout

This survey occurred earlier Google introduced AI Overviews. 

Those AI summaries apt instrumentality immoderate of the clicks that featured snippets would usually receive, but not each queries trigger AI overviews. And featured snippets tin inactive beryllium salient adjacent erstwhile they look connected a results leafage that besides includes an AI Overview. 

Stronger Authority

Being selected for a featured snippet signals that your website is authoritative and that your contented is trustworthy.

That can:

• Reinforce your site's reputation
• Showcase your expertise close determination connected the SERP itself
• Build idiosyncratic assurance successful your content

That stronger authorization could besides construe to much branded searches aboriginal on.

Types of Featured Snippets

There are 4 main types of featured snippets: paragraphs, lists, tables, and videos.

Let’s spell implicit each:

Paragraph Snippets

Paragraph snippets supply a concise text-based reply to a user’s query, often successful 1 oregon 2 sentences. 

Google tin besides see applicable images adjacent to paragraph snippets successful immoderate cases.

Like this:

The paragraph is the astir communal snippet type. 

List Snippets

List snippets contiguous accusation successful either ordered (numbered) oregon unordered (bulleted) lists. 

Ordered lists often item steps oregon rankings. 

Like this:

While unordered lists supply collections of related items. 

Like this:

These snippets are sometimes pulled from lists successful the content. Or from headers.

Table Snippets

Table snippets show information successful a structured array format, making it casual to comparison accusation specified arsenic prices, sizes, oregon measurements.

Video Snippets

Video snippets diagnostic abbreviated video clips and often code how-to oregon action-based queries.

In the video, Google often highlights a circumstantial timestamp that straight addresses the query.

How to Find Featured Snippet Opportunities 

Identifying search queries that trigger featured snippets helps you recognize the snippet benignant (e.g., paragraph, list, etc.), truthful you tin tailor your contented accordingly

If you already person keywords successful mind, execute a Google hunt for each 1 and cheque if a featured snippet appears. 

Take enactment of the snippet format and measure whether the contented aligns with your expertise.

For example, a baking blogger mightiness cognize they privation to people “how to cook a barroom measurement by step.” Which displays a database snippet breaking down the steps:

But the query “how to decorate a cake” doesn’t show a snippet:

You tin repetition this process to uncover further keywords that trigger featured snippets.

However, manual searches tin beryllium time-consuming. And they trust connected you already knowing which keywords you privation to target.

Plus, featured snippets whitethorn not ever look consistently for the aforesaid keyword owed to factors specified arsenic your location, hunt history, and whether you usage an incognito window.

To velocity up the process and find caller keyword ideas, usage Semrush's Keyword Magic Tool.

Open the tool, participate a effect keyword (a wide word related to your niche), and click "Search." 

You’ll past get a database of keyword ideas, on with utile metrics similar search intent, hunt volume, and keyword difficulty. 

This is each useful, but you privation to constrictive your hunt to lone amusement keywords that trigger featured snippets.

To bash this, click the “Advanced filters” drop-down menu, prime the “Any” drop-down nether “SERP features,” and prime the container adjacent to “Featured snippet.” Then click “Apply.” 

This volition make a filtered database of keywords that trigger featured snippets successful the hunt results.

Click connected the “Open SERP” icon to presumption the hunt results and spot what the existent featured snippet looks like.

For example, you mightiness spot a database snippet with step-by-step instructions:

Visit the leafage to recognize wherefore the contented got the featured snippet. Then brainstorm ways to marque your ain contented much broad and engaging to hopefully bargain that featured snippet.

How to Optimize for Featured Snippets

You request to absorption connected creating wide and well-structured contented if you privation to fertile for featured snippets.

Here are immoderate elemental tips to amended your chances of appearing for them:

Answer Questions Directly

Featured snippets are designed to supply clear, concise, and close responses to circumstantial queries, truthful that’s what you should purpose to bash successful your content. 

Ensure your contented answers the query intelligibly and straight wrong the archetypal fewer lines. Whether that’s the archetypal fewer lines of the nonfiction itself, oregon the archetypal fewer lines aft a heading.

For paragraph snippets, this means crafting a 40-50 connection effect that is wide and direct.

Start with a straightforward connection that instantly answers the user’s question. You tin usage further discourse oregon details to adhd value, but the main reply should travel first. 

For example, Backlinko ranks for a paragraph snippet for the query “what is section keyword research” with this answer:

Aim to constitute objectively—similar to a dictionary entry—avoiding idiosyncratic opinions and affectional language.

Target Long-Tail Keywords

Focusing connected long-tail keywords (highly circumstantial queries that thin to beryllium longer) is simply a bully thought due to the fact that featured snippets typically look for these types of queries. 

Short-tail keywords are wide and little specific, like:

• “seo tips”
• “cake recipe”
• “marketing techniques”

In contrast, long-tail keywords are much elaborate and intelligibly bespeak precisely what the idiosyncratic is looking for:

• “seo tips for tiny business”
• “how to cook a barroom measurement by step”
• “effective selling techniques for ecommerce startups”

If you're looking for long-tail keywords, usage the Keyword Magic Tool.

Enter your effect keyword and click “Search.” 

The instrumentality volition supply a database of related keywords you tin browse to place long-tail opportunities to target.

To constrictive the results to lone amusement long-tail keywords, usage the “Advanced filters” feature. 

Set the connection number filter to amusement keywords with astatine slightest 5 words and click “Apply.”

(If the results inactive aren’t circumstantial enough, you tin usage a larger fig arsenic the minimum connection count.)

The filtered database volition amusement long-tail keywords that are much specific. Which makes them fantabulous targets for creating contented astir to seizure featured snippets.

To refine the database further, use a keyword difficulty filter to place keywords that are apt to beryllium easier to fertile for.

To bash so, click connected the “KD %” drop-down paper astatine the top. Then, prime the “Easy” enactment to lone show keywords with debased competition.

Structure Your Content Appropriately

Organizing your contented is cardinal for earning featured snippets, particularly for database and array snippets. 

To optimize for database snippets, contiguous steps oregon items successful a mode that Google tin easy place and display. 

This involves utilizing heading tags to intelligibly specify your structure.

Heading tags (H1, H2, etc.) are HTML elements that operation your contented successful a hierarchical way.

You don’t request to spot the full database nether 1 heading, though it’s often the astir logical approach. 

This is due to the fact that Google tin compile snippets by pulling headings from assorted parts of your contented and converting them into database items.

For the query "how to beryllium happy," Google generates a database snippet by extracting each the main headings from the featured nonfiction and displaying them arsenic steps.

For array snippets, including an existent array successful your contented is the astir effectual approach. 

Google tin extract structured contented straight from pre-existing tables connected your page. 

For example, the featured snippet for "what are garment sizes EU and US" displays information pulled from a well-organized array connected the root webpage.

To summation your chances of ranking for array snippets:

• Organize your information into a clean, elemental array with rows and columns
• Ensure the array is applicable to the query and provides wide information points
• Use a wide heading (e.g., H2 oregon H3) to present the array and explicate what it represents
• Naturally see people keywords successful the array heading and surrounding content

By structuring your contented with wide headings for lists and organized tables for data, you marque it easier for Google to diagnostic your contented successful snippets. Therefore expanding your visibility and click potential.

Target People Also Ask Questions

The People Also Ask (PAA) conception connected Google SERPs is an fantabulous assets for identifying low-volume, long-tail keywords that often trigger featured snippets.

When a idiosyncratic clicks a PAA question, it expands to uncover a little reply that straight addresses the query. 

Beneath the answer, there’s a nexus to the root leafage for users who privation much elaborate information.

For example, searching for “cake recipe” displays a PAA conception similar this:

The PAA query “what is simply a concealed constituent for cake” besides generates a featured snippet that looks similar this, utilizing the aforesaid root (albeit with a antithetic snippet of text):

This shows however PAA answers and featured snippets are often intimately connected. Here, Google utilized the aforesaid root for some the PAA reply and the featured snippet. 

To uncover applicable PAA questions, tools similar AlsoAsked tin assistance you stitchery insights straight from Google’s PAA data.

Just participate a effect term, and the instrumentality volition make a histrion diagram of related questions pulled from Google’s PAA section. 

It clusters these queries based connected idiosyncratic intent. Offering a wide roadmap for creating targeted contented that matches searcher needs.

Or, usage the Keyword Magic Tool to use an precocious filter to amusement queries that trigger a PAA box.

There are a fewer ways to people PAA keywords.

First, by creating a dedicated leafage for each question. Use the PAA question arsenic your rubric oregon H1, and supply a clear, nonstop reply instantly beneath it.

For example, Resume Genius ranks for the snippet “do screen letters request an address” by answering this question connected a dedicated FAQ page:

Secondly, you tin integrate PAA questions arsenic H2 subheadings wrong longer blog posts.

For example, the query “what is simply a hunt motor optimization strategy” mightiness trigger a paragraph snippet similar this:

This question is formatted arsenic an H2 heading connected the root page. The reply is straight underneath, making it casual for Google to lucifer up the reply with the question for the featured snippet.

Track Your Featured Snippets 

Tracking your featured snippet show helps you recognize what’s working, place opportunities for improvement, and guarantee you support your presumption successful hunt results.

To way your featured snippets, usage Semrush’s Position Tracking tool.

Just travel the Position Tracking setup guide to get started and acceptable your desired clip range. 

Then, click the "Featured Snippets" tab.

Click "Already featured" to spot however galore of your pages are appearing for snippets triggered by your people keywords. 

And click "Opportunities" to spot which keywords trigger snippets that you don’t yet have. 

In the “You” column, you’ll spot wherever your tract presently ranks successful integrated search. 

The champion opportunities to optimize for featured snippets are ones wherever you’re already connected leafage 1. 

Google already trusts your contented capable to fertile it good for these keywords, truthful you conscionable request to optimize it for the snippets.

Applying the optimization tips from this usher to amended your chances of getting those featured snippets.