I. What Are Featured Snippets?
Featured snippets, also known as “answer boxes” or “position zero” in search engine results pages (SERPs), are a prominent and sought-after type of search result provided by search engines like Google. The purpose of featured snippets is to answer user’s search intent and provide them with quick and concise information related to their concerns without requiring users to click on any web page in the search results.
The term “position zero” emphasizes that these featured snippets are ranked above the traditional organic search results (the ones inside the green box), which are usually listed below. As you can see from the screenshot, featured snippets draw a user’s attention, giving them the answer to their search query.
They often include a summary or excerpt from a web page, along with the page’s title and URL. In this case, the user has learned the answer to “funeral cost in the Philippines” as soon as they type this search intent.
The idea behind featured snippets is to improve the user experience by providing immediate answers to common questions or queries, which can be especially helpful for voice search and mobile users. This prominence makes them valuable for websites as they can significantly increase visibility and traffic if their content marketing materials are featured in a snippet.
4 Types Of Featured Snippets
While learning how to make content appear as featured snippets is necessary, you should first know the four types. Understanding these is a crucial first step in optimizing content to appear as a featured snippet in search engine results. Once you know the types, you can tailor your content and formatting to better match the expectations of search engines.
Paragraph
As shown in the screenshot below, this type of feature snippet offers brief information in a paragraph format, which is extracted from a web page that directly answers a user’s inquiry. More often than not, search engines highlight the key information. In this case, Google highlighted the price range to let the user know the average cost of building a house in the Philippines.
List
As the name suggests, this featured snippet displays information in a list structured bullet-point or numbered list format (see the screenshots below). They are useful for queries that seek step-by-step instructions, multiple options, and a list of items.
Example of bullet-point featured snippet:
Example of numbered list featured snippet:
Table
Table featured snippets present data in a tabular format, making it easier for users to compare and contrast information. It often appears on search results for queries that require specific data as shown below. The user is looking for a computer keyboard price list. The example provides a rich snippet of answers, allowing them to weigh their options and know where the user should buy the keyword suitable for their budget.
Video
While less common than other featured snippets, this one features video content from video-sharing platforms like YouTube. When a user’s query is best answered with a video, Google may display a video thumbnail with a link to watch the video directly in SERPs.
As shown in the GIF below, the user can play the video feature snippet without going to YouTube. The video enlarges and plays immediately when a user clicks the play button.
Remember that featured snippets can take other forms, such as charts, graphs, and more, depending on the nature of the query and the available content on the web. These featured snippets aim to provide users with a quick and informative preview of the information they seek, often reducing the need to click through to a specific web page.
Another thing that you should never forget is that not all searches trigger featured snippets, and the format and content of these snippets can vary depending on the query and the source of the information.
II. 7 Tips For Making Content Appear As Featured Snippets
1. Understand User Intent
Search intent is the words or phrases a user types on search engines. In other words, search queries. By understanding the intent behind the search query, writers can write more relevant content that matches the intent.
Below are the different types of user intent:
2. Target Questions Keywords
To target questions keywords, you may use the questions in the “People Also Ask” section, where you can find tons of questions that many most ask online. Considering this allows you to come up with topics for your content marketing materials.
3. Provide Clear And Concise Answers
Structure your content marketing materials to deliver clear and concise answers to the user’s query. You may use bullet points, numbered lists, and tables to present information in an easy-to-digest format. The user can digest quickly, even at a glance and without clicking the link to view the whole content.
4. Optimize For Voice Search
Given that more than one billion people use voice search every month, the more you should optimize your content marketing materials for voice search to increase the chances of these appearing as featured snippets.
You should remember that many people prefer to command voice assistants like Siri or Google Assistant to do what they ask rather than typing their intent into Google and reading the search results. After all, voice assistant can read out loud the answer nearest to the user’s query while they focusing on other things.
The screenshot below shows Siri reading out load the search results they have found to answers the iPhone owner’s question. The paragraph is an excerpt from an article, which informs the reader on how to use Canva.
5. Use Long-Tail Keywords
Using long-tail keywords that target your niche can also help make your content marketing materials appear as featured snippets because these often have less competition, making it easier to rank and secure position zero.
6. Research Competitor Featured Snippets
To outperform your competitors, you must know their strengths and weaknesses. Researching your competitors’ featured snippets allows you to know how you will improve your content marketing materials so you can do the same, which helps you increase the appearance of these as featured snippets.
7. Use Header Tags Effectively
Organizing your content marketing materials using header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) can help these appear as featured snippets because the content breaks down into sections and subsections, allowing the readers and search engine bots determine the level of importance and identify the structure of your content.
Conclusion
Making your content marketing materials appear as featured snippets helps increase your business’s brand awareness, leads and conversions. The problem, however, is that the competition for featured snippets can be fierce, so persistence and ongoing content optimization are key. Always refine your content marketing materials and SEO strategies based on data and Google’s algorithm to increase your search engine ranking and likelihood of appearing as featured snippets.
Contact OOm Philippines, a leading SEO agency in the Philippines, if you need help with your content marketing strategy and rank higher on SERPs.
