Google is a huge junction of organic listing, information, data, resources, and marketing. All of these huddle on the Google search page. One of the supporting contributors is featured snippets, which offer ranking opportunities to brands.
Featured snippets are still SERPs one of the most crucial features. This feature provides the possibility to rank your website on the topmost page on Google, even though it ranks at the bottom with conventional ranking methods. There is a lot of scope to learn about featured snippets, and how one can optimally use these.
What are Google Featured Snippets?
Google featured snippets are also known as ‘position zero’. These featured snippets appear at the topmost page of Google SERP. Featured snippets provide concise (2-3 lines) answers to any question or query, and appear on the top of the search page.
Featured snippets are the experts of the web page that Google selects to be on the top page. Its main purpose is to give you a short and quick answer to your query which involves a long-tail keyword. When a user clicks on the URL of the featured snippet, they are immediately redirected to the page which includes the section of the snippet.
To be precise, Google featured snippets appear even above the number one result on Google. However, it is important to note that almost 100% of featured snippets that appear on the first page are already ranking on the first page. It is not possible to have a featured snippet from a page not ranking on the first page.
This informational section on the web page was introduced by Google in 2014. After 2014, Google gradually started updating it and provided a better optimization way for websites to get featured snippets.
How Can You Rank on Google Featured Snippets?
You can employ a few ways to rank on Google featured snippets, like the following:
1. Understand Different Types of Featured Snippets
The first and foremost step before jumping into content optimization for featured snippets is to understand the types of snippets. Google primarily uses four types of featured snippets, listed as follows:
- Paragraph Snippets – These are the snippets that provide answers to questions like ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘how’, etc. These snippets provide clear and concise answers.
- List Snippets – These snippets appear for ‘how-to’ guides and step-by-step instructions.
- Table Snippets – Table snippets present information in a structured format, ideal for comparisons, data, and statistics.
- Video /Image Snippets – Video snippets often take the relevant content from YouTube to answer certain questions.
Understanding these featured snippets will help you optimize your content and target the keyword or type of content that can deliver the best results.
2. Begin With Keyword Research
Starting your journey for Google-featured snippets with keyword research is the best first step. It has been researched and proven that a majority of featured snippets result from long-tail keywords. Additionally, the more a keyword is searched in the search box, the more the snippet related to the keyword is likely to appear. It is always suggested to start with keyword research.
While conducting keyword research for featured snippets, keep in mind the following things:
- Search question type search queries, like starting with ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘how’, are easiest to find.
- Target keywords with informational intent and not just questions.
It helps to use a keyword research tool for conducting your keyword research. These tools will also help you with competition tests.
3. Optimize your Content for Featured Snippets
There is no shortcut to getting your website featured. However, there are some tricks you can try to achieve what you intend. Start with the best SEO practices to achieve the best results. Here are a few actionable tips:
- Answer Questions Properly – Structure your answer in a way that provides the required information within 100-150 words. The answer should be short, and precise, and must include a keyword.
- Use Header Tags – Implement H1, H2, H3, etc to structure your content. This will improve the readability of your text and will help the Google crawler to identify your content.
- Use Good Quality Images & Video – It is highly critical to upload good-quality images and videos in your content and add the main image text and alt text to trigger an image or video snippet. Similarly, use clear, relevant images to enhance your content and make it more engaging.
4. Leverage On-Page SEO Best Practices
Optimize your on-page SEO for triggering featured snippets. You can do so by following the necessary steps:
- Title Tags and Meta Descriptions – Write creative & catchy title tags, and insert keywords in both title tags and meta descriptions. Keywords will help you achieve your featured snippets in a more effective way.
- Internal Linking – Internal linking is as important as inserting keywords. Use internal links to guide the visitors on your website to surf more relevant information on your website content. This will help increase the relevancy of your content on your website.
- Regular Contnet Update – As much as it is important to incorporate SEO best practices in the content, it is also necessary to ensure that your content is factual and relevant. Your content will be featured only when it meets the relevancy criteria and is true as per the global conditions.
- Utilize FAQs – Ensure that you include the questions and answer section in your content. Use FAQ schema to increase the chances of your content appearing in featured snippets.
5. Regularly Monitor Your Page
The Google space keeps changing constantly. If you stick to the conventional methods, you’re likely to fall behind the Google algorithms. Set up a clear monitoring alert for your most important keyword and ensure that it is still relevant.
This is how you can monitor your page:
- a. Use Google Console:
- i. Check performance report
- ii. Impressions and clicks
- iii. Average position
- b. Employ third-party SEO tools to track ranking, check competitor analysis, and get reports on featured snippets.
- c. Monitor your page by analyzing your audience’s behavior.
Conclusion
Every brand or website competes for Google ranking, and why not? Ranking for Google featured snippets can significantly increase your website’s traffic and visibility. By understanding featured snippets in-depth and accordingly optimizing your content and help you achieve your goals. Happy Optimizing!