The Complete Guide to Google Featured Snippets

Today everyone is online not only for entertainment but also for business. The days when people would go to book for an answer is long gone; now they would rather go to the internet and get answers to their questions in real time and that is why you as a company, needs Google featured snippets.

Google featured snippets are search results that come at the top of the page when you search something on Google.

They are known as ‘answer box’ because their aim is to answer questions. This means that when your company’s page is featured they get more brand publicity which leads to more revenue.

Click-through rate (CTR) increases from two percent to eight percent on a featured page according to Ben Goodsell report.

Let’s say you want to do questions on how to tie a tie for this you will need a video or an image and text.

You also need to check for keywords that are SEO friendly and remember that if you choose to address questions dealing with how to do something, focus on that section and that alone.

Google featured snippets are not only helpful to the average person they also help companies to increase their clicks, boost conversions.

There three major types of featured snippets:

Types of Google Featured Snippets

• A paragraph - this can be boxed text or a boxed text showing what you need.

• List - this happens mostly when you are asking "a what/how to do" question, in this the answer is given using a list or bullets.

• Table - this is generally an answer given in a table.

Tips on How To Get Ranked

• Research - Google has a habit of changing their features constantly so it is up to you keep updating yourself in order for you to rank for them

• Create content that is of high quality and format it the Google loves it.

• You need to know what your competitor is doing and what type of snippet they are ranked for. This can be done by using the SEMrush analysis tools which can also be used to find all featured snippets.

• Having links that are already high ranking can be an added advantage so, work on that.

• Think like an audience, this will help you know the question that people need answers to.

• Give the answer that people are looking for in an easy, precise, quick and convenient way.

• Most of the questions revolve around this: how, where, when, what and who make sure your featured snippets answer this question.

• Chances of being featured might increase if your brand focuses on health, DIY, and finance.

• Keywords that are already featured snippets could be helpful to do some keyword research. This also helps you to know which keywords they preferred in the past and which they prefer now.

• According to Ahrefs searches, words like ‘recipe’ and ‘best’ have a better chance of getting featured than ‘make’ and ‘definition’.

• It is always beneficial to answer several questions in one query, according to Ahrefs the minute your page earns featured snippets there is a high possibility that the same could be featured in other related questions.

• Add a question and answer section on your website or a “how-to” section.

• Most featured Google Featured Snippets are 40-50 words so make sure to be keen on the word count, also make sure to use headers mostly to break your contents segments.

• When you’re looking for something on the internet an image captures your attention faster than words so make sure to use video and images that are of high quality. Most people prefer to learn visually, it is advisable to use both image/video with words.

• It is also acceptable to use voice transcript for video because it will make it easier for Google to distinguish the video and consider you.

Advantages of Google Featured Snippets

• Since it is the first thing a person sees this gives you a lot of exposure and gives you an added advantage compared to others.

• This is the place where company muscles don’t matter any company despite their rating in their country or economically can get a spot at position zero.

• It dominates the search engine results pages (SERPs) so it will be very hard for you to miss it.

• Everyone loves to save money so it will be nice to know that this doesn’t cost you an extra coin for your featured snippets to be featured.

• People tend to pick the first thing they see when it comes to Google search so when they search for something and the first thing they see is exactly what they were looking for they won’t look any further. When the client clicks on your featured snippets it automatically boosts your company's credibility.

• Google makes it easy for you to earn a featured snippets place; all you have to do is format your information the way Google loves it and produces quality contents. So, the ball is in your court, it all depends on how badly you want to succeed.

Remember to do your best because it won’t last forever, Google can change its mind, it is up to you to impress and keep impressing.

• 98% of Google Featured snippets that are featured are already top ranking but Getstats seems to think otherwise, they believe that 70% of the snippets being ranked are not from top ranks. It is up to you to do your best because this is not rock, paper, and scissors; it’s all about the quality and how up to date you are.

Queries which fall under transition, health, mathematical, requirement and DIY processes just to name a few are highly ranked. This kind of search queries does not need answer box: image and video, local and shopping.

When it comes to keywords, you will need to find words that are question-type queries like how what, why and where because they are easy to identify.

Google featured snippets’ main aim is to answer questions and is mostly used to respond to questions asked by the user, but question-based queries are not the only ones that trigger high ranking.

A big majority of keywords that are not question-related also do trigger featured snippets.

According to the Ahrefs study long-tail queries which don’t have any question word in them, also do trigger snippets. So, don’t concentrate only on question-based queries.

It will save you a lot of time if you use a keyword research tool that will show if a query triggers featured results.

This will also save you time, Serpstat is an effective tool for that purpose. It lets you see which of your keywords triggers answer boxes and also combines keywords research with featured snippets research.

Serpstat also helps you know your competitor weakness and strength by letting you filter their best- performing queries, so you are aware of what you’re up against.

For more question and research please browse Google’s own “people also ask” section. This will give you a massive understanding of which questions are relatable to each topic according to Google.

Now that you have decided on the type of query your comfortable with or one that you know you are expertise in.

The next thing is to find out how best to answer the query and which is the finest format that will make Google choose you again.

Tip on How To Provide The Best Answers

• All your answers should be precise, concise and to the point. This makes it easier when it comes to an emergency. Let’s say a user goggles “how to do first aid on a choking baby” and then find a whole paragraph explanation.

• It is important that you are organized. It is very easy to read a lot when information is either listed, steps or is in numbers. If bullets or steps are not applicable to your content then use images or videos.

• Let your article answer many questions that are related to each other, this is important if your aim is to have featured snippets. Remember once a page is featured it is most likely to be featured again in other related queries.

• If you prefer to use images and videos make sure your images are of good quality and the images attention seeking and eye-grabbing.

• Update your information and re-upload images regularly. Most of the time people just update their information but forget to update their images and video, it is important to update both.

• Monitor your featured snippets. This is like a company you don’t start a company then go and come back after 1 year and still expect it to flourish. You need to monitor where you are being featured and also what is new or outdated so you can replace it.