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What are featured snippets
The featured snippets are brief extracts of the content of a web page indexed by Google that appear prominently in the first result (position 0) of the search engine.
The most common types of featured snippets are definitions, lists, steps, and tables.
These can be very useful for users and for web positioning.
Why are they Important for SEO?
Featured snippets displayed by Google have a huge impact on organic traffic in two opposing ways:
- Increased CTR
- Decreasing organic traffic
It is true that the featured snippets act as a lure to the human eye, but this is not necessarily associated with a greater amount of traffic.
Even if you get your content to appear in the featured snippet, it can happen that you generate a big boost to your organic click-through rate, although just the opposite can happen.
Featured snippets are proven to increase the number of “clickless searches.”
In other words, when a user launches their query on Google, it responds so well to their search intent that they end up not clicking on any of the search results.
Therefore, before deciding to optimize for a specific keyword, look at the results that Google offers. It checks if there is a featured snippet and if so, evaluates whether or not said snippet accurately answers the question in question.
If so, we recommend not optimizing for the snippet in question because it won’t bring you more queries.
Featured Snippet Examples
There are several types of Featured Snippets for which to optimize your content:
1. Text snippets:
Table of contents
2. Video snippets
3. List Snippets
4.Table snippets
5. How to Snippets:
6. Definition snippets:
How to get a Featured Snippet or Position 0 in Google
The easiest way to get a featured or rich snippet and rank 0 in the SERPS is to follow the steps below:
1. Identify queries in which Google shows a featured snippet
Find a search results page that already has a Featured Snippet. This way, you KNOW that Google wants to display a Featured Snippet for that term. In fact, it already does! and you can take advantage of this opportunity.
2. Determine the type of featured snippet displayed
Once you have identified the terms with rich snippets, it is time to ask yourself if you are going to be able to improve the information offered or not.
And what kind of snippet is Google showing.
The answer to this question will determine whether or not it’s worth the trouble to optimize the content for that query.
3. Optimize for the featured snippet
Once you are clear that you can improve what is present, it is time to take action. If you can improve it and create something original that exceeds what is currently being offered to users, do it. Optimize your page content so that Google chooses to use your content in the featured snippet instead of your competitor’s.
In conclusion:
Google’s adoption of Rich snippets, Schema, FAQ, Video and Featured Snippets has reinforced the interest in what is known as SEO on SERPs.
Being clear about how it works and what its potential is for your business will allow you to occupy better spaces in the search engine.
Resources mentioned:
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a featured snippet?
Featured snippets are a prominent feature of the results that appear in Google search, usually in position zero. Understanding how they work is a great advantage to improve your SEO.
How do I get featured snippets?
Write attending as directly as possible to the search intention of the user who is making a query. This is the first step to appear in the featured results of Google.
Are featured snippets important?
This functionality has had a direct impact on Google for many user queries, causing an increase in their notoriety in the SERPs for those who occupy this position, but at the same time it is possible that they cause a drop in organic traffic if what the user search is fully answered with the snippet.