Have you ever found yourself searching for a quick answer to your query? It could be anything like- How to make a Chicken Burger? Or How to get abs within a week? Doing so, you might have noticed a box featuring at the top of a Google Search. Do you know what that is? It is known as a Featured Snippet, which is of significant importance in the light of SEO Success.
According to Ahrefs’ data, ~12.29% of search queries have featured snippets in their search results.Amazing Right? This is the importance of Featured Snippets to Search Queries.
Let us Dive deep and understand how Featured Snippets influence the way people search and SEO.
What are Featured Snippets?
It is a short text that appears on the top of Google search for a user’s query. They are usually pulled from web pages that are indexed on Google. They are typically of 5 types, which are:
- Definitions
- Tables
- Lists
- Video
Why is it Important from the point of view of SEO?
- It improves the Click Through Rate (CTR) of a website. If the user finds the info as per their needs, they will surely visit the website from where the snippets were pulled. It brings organic traffic to the website, which can be converted to leads and then to paying customers.
- With Featured Snippets comes “Credibility.” This is exactly what you get when Google presents part of your website content as a Featured Snippet on SERP. Your websites will be viewed as an authority on the searched query subject.
- Having optimized your websites for Featured Snippets can help you in attracting customers from Voice Search. As Virtual assistants on mobile phones mostly rely on Featured Snippets to give a quick answer to its users.
- A Featured Snippet from your website signals the reader that the content of the website is useful and valuable. For Example- Let’s say you google search for a quick answer and find Featured Snippets at the top. It is natural for the users to click through the website as Google has presented it as an authority on that subject.
- Helps to Segregate users that are not looking to buy. When a user finds the exact thing that they were looking for, it has a high chance that they will buy from your website.
What are the Different Types of Featured Snippets?
- Definition Box- It Aims to provide direct, short and concise description of 40-60 words about the query. It commonly features for What? Queries by Google. For Example- What do you mean by SEO?
The information above that is presented in the form of a Box is a type of Featured Snippets.
Tips: Always Remember that Formatting is the key when it comes to Featured Snippets. If you are looking to write your content for Definition Snippet format it should be short and concise that answers the query easily.
- The Table- This type of Featured Snippet is presented exactly how it sounds; in a Table format. Here you might ask the question: How does Google pull out a Table snippet for queries?
Well, for your information, let me tell you that Google doesn’t pull content from your website and makes it into a table format. This also doesn’t make sense, right? What Google does is it pulls the exact table from your website to show as a Table Featured Snippet.
Tips: Use the <tr> tag in your HTML to present data in a table format for google to crawl your content easily.
- The Ordered List- Here the trick is to present your data in an ordered list or steps for google to understand it better. Like a How to list in your content can be picked up by google to present it as a Featured Snippet. For Example, try searching How to get Abs within a week?
Well, True or Not True that is another matter but this is exactly what you will get as a Featured Snippet.
Tips: You can use #1,2,3.. And so on to denote steps in your content as it will be easy for readers and also Google to read and understand the content.
- Video: Have you ever found your query presented as a Video by Google? If yes, then you already know what a Video Snippet looks like. Google tends to first analyze your search query and, after that, tries to provide you with a quick answer that matches your query. Often it could be a video Featured snippet matching your query. For Example, Try Searching- How to do Origami?
How to Optimize Your Content for Featured Snippets?
Well, to tell you the truth, there is no “SURE” method to have your content rank as Featured on the Search Engines. Your content in the form of lists or tables can be replaced by a video snippet at the end. So it totally depends on Google Algorithms to rank which and what content as a Snippet. But by optimizing your website for Google to crawl easily and present it as a Featured Snippet, you can follow the key steps below:
- Keyword Research: Firstly, try to search for keywords on Google with Snippets. With this, you will get an idea of the keyword which Google likes to show as a Snippet. Also, look out for the type of snippets Google is showing for the specific keyword. By doing so, you could optimize the content of your website for Featured Snippets. For Example, If you are a local Business you should start with keyword Research for Local SEO.
- Content: You should make sure to frame your content in accordance with the search intent of the user. The content should be objective and concise to the point of the query. The Closer a Content looks like a Featured snippet, the more it’s chance to come up on Google Search as a Snippet.
- Heading & Subheadings: Frame your content with Headings and Subheadings. Make sure that they make sense to each other. For Example, when you have added an H2 tag of What is SEO? You can write the subheading, which is H3, as What are the types of SEO in practice? Write your content with Bullet lists or steps to improve the Flow and Clarity of reading.
- Structured data: It helps both the readers and search engines to understand the context of your content better. How? By adding certain text or tags a.k.a “Markups” within the HTML of your webpage. This helps Google to display accurate answers to the queries of the users.
- Voice Search: Did you know that snippets pop up when people use long tail keywords for their queries? Optimizing the content of your website with them can help you to feature your content as a Snippet. This is also true for Voice Searches done by users where the queries are usually in long tail keywords.
Final Words!!
Always remember to focus on providing concise and relevant information to your users. Make sure that your content is structured in a way that is easy to understand for both the users and Search Engines. With the above discussed tips, you can create content that stands out and delivers the information your audience is looking for.
