What Are Featured Snippets?

A featured snippet is a block that contains the exact answer to your queryon search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO snippets are usually positioned at the top of SERPs below the paid ads and above other organic search results.

Find below a screenshot of a featured snippet for a google search on “how to blog.”

Usually, Google includes images in a featured snippet.However, the image source can be different than the source of the answer.

If you are looking for web design, remember that SEO snippets make people’s online search easier since they can see the answer they are looking for at a glance. Google programmatically picks the best response from a third-party website and features it in a snippet.If Google displays your content as a featured snippet, you can get a lot of exposure and leads through rich snippets.

How Can You Optimize Featured Snippets?

While working on your web designs or web development, remember that there’s no official recommendation from Google about improving your chances to get google featured snippets. Still, a few patents and experiments shed some light on what web publishers should be doing to rank their pages in featured snippets.

1. Do Keyword Research And Try To Make Your Search Queries In The Form Of A Question

Keyword research is acrucial tool for successful content, especially one that ranks for a featured snippet. So, make sure to answer questions that most of your target audience and customers ask.

There are several keyword research tools to help you with this. If you use KWFinder, you can type in a seed keyword and click the tab “Questions.”

You can also use Ubersuggest’s Free Keyword Tool for the same purpose.

2. Look At The Results In The “People Also Ask” Box

While researching keywords is extremely helpful, don’t forget to check out the “People also ask” section. Many times, you will find this section beneath a featured snippet.

Moreover, if you click on a question, more and more questions appear. It will offer you more opportunities to expand on a topic, and you will be able to answer as many questions as possible in a single blog post.

3. Strive To Rank On The First Page Of Google Search Results

Getting on page 1 gives you a chance to be featured in a rich snippet. Nearly all SEO snippets are found on the first page of Google SERPs.

This only goes to show that increasing your organic rankings remains to be a solid practice.

It would help if you also revisited strategies on how to improve your on-page SEO while providing a great user experience:

• Diagnose SEO problems and fix any penalties
• Make your web design is easy to navigate and crawl.
• Practice internal linking and link to quality external sources
• Make your website fast and mobile-friendly
• Use user-friendly URL addresses.
• Target your content with search intentand keep it fresh for Google featured snippets
• Optimize your images (Canvais a great tool to start, so are these online image creators)

4. Write Using The Inverted Pyramid Style

The Inverted (or Inverse) Pyramid is a journalism concept that teaches us how to structure the information. Start by answering “the most awaited part” and then proceed with the supporting details for the rest of your content.Dr. Peter J. Meyers of Moz believes that the inverted pyramid is a legitimate and smart technique to land featured snippets.

5. Use Words That Are Likely To Generate Featured Snippets

You can also go through a study by the STAT Search Analytics team: The Best Words and Themes to Generate Featured Snippets.

Their study revealed queries regarding snippets:

The results also revealed words that were less likely to rank in the snippets. You might consider removing them or minimizing their usage:

6. Structure Your Content

You should structure your content depending on the snippet format you want to show up for.

If you want to target a richsnippet, make sure the items are well-structured in a list, paragraph, or headings.

Here’s how you can format your blog post for rich snippets:

• Use header tags such as h1, h2, h3, etc., and write descriptive headers.
• Use punchy and short sentences that provide direct answers.
• Use tables, graphs, bullet-pointed lists, and numbered lists.
• Add a relevant and interesting image along with the snippet query you are answering.
• Think about the usefulness,skim ability, and overall experience of your readers.

7. Follow The Optimal Word Count

SEMrush analyzed over 1 million domains and 10 million keywords and had a useful discovery: Most SEO snippets have a length of 40-50 words. Hubspot mentions up to 58 words.

You can stay on the safe side for rich snippets by keeping your answers precise and to-the-point.

8. Add A Q&A Page To Your Website

Q&A pages are beneficial to site owners who offer products or services. These pages demonstrate your expertise by addressing concerns. They also offer more opportunities for showing up in a snippet.

When creating a Q&A page, show the facts that most people in your niche desire to know. Provide complete answers in short paragraphs, but keep them to-the-point.

Final Words

If you want to improve your site’s SEO by getting better traffic, you should know that occupying the first position of Google search results isn’t the only solution – ranking in featured snippets gives you a second chance.

Here’s a recap of the strategies you read above:

• Do keyword research and target question keywords.
• Check Google’s “People Also Ask” for relevant questions.
• Aim for the first page of Google SERPs.
• Use the inverted pyramid style when writing content.
• Include words that are likely to generate SEO snippets.
• Format your blog post based on your target google featured snippet.
• Stick to a length of 40-58 words.
• Structure your blog post well.
• Add a Q&A page to your website.

This article was kindly contributed by the team at Web Integrations, a website design and development company in Dundee.