Featured Snippets Optimisation Services

How to Optimise for Featured Snippets

There are search results and then there are special types of search results.

Featured snippets are included in the latter.

Being at the top of organic search results is the goal for many brands. And with featured snippets, they get to achieve that even if they don’t produce more content and do not have that strong of a backlinking strategy.

It allows your website to quickly jump to ‘position 0’ even if traditional ranking factors place you at the bottom of the page.

Google’s ‘Featured Snippets’ section is an integral part of its Search Engine Result Pages. What are featured snippets on Google and how can you strategise your content for the same?

You’re about to find out.

Featured Snippets Types

1. Paragraph Snippets

These types of featured snippets work mostly for definition-oriented answers where they can provide a brief, practical definition of a topic. Here’s an example for the query, “What is WordPress SEO?”

The idea of paragraph snippets isn’t to hurt your click-through rate in SEO, but rather help it since the snippet just answers the question briefly. It entices the user to click through the snippet and the ones that are serious about learning more will be the only ones who’ll click. You’ll see featured snippets for question-oriented queries that start with “how to’, “Who is”, “Why is”, and “What is”.

2. List Snippets

List-based snippets are steps that explain how to do something. For example, some of the queries that would have a list snippet are “Top SEO agencies in Brisbane” or “Top 5 sports in Sydney”, etc.

List snippets can be used to rank, show a brief step-by-step process, or identify different products. These snippets are also famous for “how to” and “recipe steps” articles.

3. Table Snippets

Google also provides a snippet in a table format to show different types of comparisons and provide a clear visual representation of the information asked for. Surprisingly, Google’s table snippets are quite popular as it significantly improves the user experience and Google takes a step further in recreating a table rather than just pulling out the information the way it’s formatted.

4. Video

Most ‘how to’ queries are also accompanied by a YouTube video snippet on Google search results. That is if you’re investing efforts in Youtube SEO. And understandably so. YouTube is one of the largest video-streaming search engines in the world. If you have a tutorial video on YouTube or even have an interview you want to highlight, video snippets are the place you’d want to be.

Strategies to Optimise for Featured Snippets

Yes, it’s great to be selected on the ‘featured snippet’ section of Google. But how does Google decide? Find out the strategies that you can use to optimise for featured snippets.

1. Conducting Keyword Research

Of course, the core of ranking at the top of search results starts withkeyword research. It’s the first step for Google to identify the content relevancy of the query to your topic.

You can manually type the queries that you want to be ranked at the “position 0”. For example, if you’re a customer service SaaS tool, you can type in queries like “how to automate customer service” or “top customer service automation tools”. You’ll notice that most sites that make it to featured snippets are those that have very objective but specific information. Hence, it will take the right, long-tail keywords integration in your content if you’re hoping to get featured.

Use a comprehensive keywordSEO tool that helps you determine the related queries, competition for the long-tail keywords, and what are the related queries that people are asking. SEO tools directly show you the keywords with a featured snippet and filter out keywords that don’t have a featured snippet.

2. Creating High-Quality, Structured Content

Writing relevant content is a constant favourite in terms of top SEO trends. Because it’s what Google has continuously emphasised over the years. With snippets, one thing you’d find in common is Google emphasises drawing facts. Be it definitions, listicles, or step-by-step guides.

The content that is featured in the snippet is more or less objective and unbiased. So it’s important that you don’t include a personal opinion in a piece of content that you’re targeting for a featured snippet.

If your specific SEO goal is to land on featured snippets, then you need to approach your content in a similar manner. The more dictionary-looking content, the better. The content needs to be concise, on the point, easy to read, and comprehensible. The readers nor Google cares about whether you use fancy words or jargon. It just cares for a simple explanation.

To optimise your content for a featured snippet, provide a brief (40-60 words) explanation of a query starting with “what is”. The more a piece of content looks to answer a straight question, is brief, and directly matches a user query, the more likely it is that Google will feature it.

3. Using Clear Language

While we’ve talked about the importance of conciseness, clear language is more about the content rules you must follow if you’re aiming for a featured snippet.

For example, using first-person language is a strict no-no. Why? Because of the ramifications of voice search, it makes the content more brand-oriented and generic than objective. Also, it is advisable that your content is long-form as Google is able to rank it better and readers get many relevant answers in one piece.

At the same time, including brand names in the desired piece of content makes the result ineligible for a snippet. It again diverts the content from being factually correct and objective. The snippet needs to make complete sense in the context of the voice search and if there’s a brand name in there somewhere, it confuses the searcher as they’re looking for general information and not branded information.

4. Add “How to” Sections and “What is” Headers

To have featured snippets-friendly content, you need different sections of your site that are able to answer the questions in the snippet. Some pages are created specifically for answering user questions since that way, there is a far better chance of landing the ‘position 0’.

While we will get into detail about how to structure your headings in the following sections, understand that answering ‘what is’ and ‘how to’ questions are a way of signalling Google that your information is snippet worthy. Ideally, this heading needs to be at the top of the content, below an introductory paragraph if possible. It can give a clear indication to Google and even increases your chances of receiving an answer box for a competitive keyword.

5. Utilising Proper Formatting (headings, lists, tables)

As mentioned above, there are different types of snippets that you can aim for. One way to improve your chances of landing at ‘featured snippet is by organising and formatting your content efficiently or practising structured data optimisation on your web pages. That way Google can decide which type of featured snippet category to place you in. All your headers and subheaders need to be contextually placed and provide direct answers to a search query.

For example, you’re writing an article about Healthcare SEO, your heading can read something like “7 ways to boost Healthcare SEO” and your H2 should include pointers such as:

Adding Medically Oriented Keywords

Optimising Visual Elements

Optimising Speed for better Website Engagement, etc

Pointers and bullets make your content easy to read and make it appealing for readers to skim through and Google to feature you in a listicle-featured snippet. It is helpful especially for long-form content as readers may or may not have time to read everything, but at least they can get a summarised outlook.

6. Identify Phrases that You’re Already Ranking For

If a web page of yours is already ranking, then half your job is done. Because Google usually pulls content from top-ranking results. That content will be easiest to get featured for after you optimise for answer boxes.

You can find your top pages on SEO tools like Ahrefs and Google Search Console. A98hrefs lists featured snippets that a particular site ranks for. On Google Search Console, you can check the performance report to find your highest-ranking sites. Focus on the sites that have position #2 and below and #1 is already a featured snippet.

7. Incorporating Relevant Images or Visuals

Pictures and visuals catch a reader’s attention way better than just words. Paragraph snippets with images are more eye-catching and they also take up more SERP space. So there’s a higher chance the reader will click on the snippet link than scroll down.

You can add images using the tool Canva and add stock photos, templates, and icons to create contextual and professional-looking images. Google pulls images for featured snippets from image search results, hence optimising them is important if you want to generate links from featured snippets.

Videos are another way to increase your chances of getting featured in the featured snippet section. Sites with videos have a 53% higher chance to show up on Google and the best part is you can easily do so with Canva or your smartphone. To increase its visibility on Google, you can add transcripts so that Google can identify the text and rank your videos accordingly.

8. Monitor Your Progress

While you’re already keeping track of your on-page SEO andoff-page SEO activities, you need to do the same with your featured snippet. That means keeping your current featured snippet position intact and setting up a content audit process to rank on position 0 for your most important keywords.

Keeping a constant eye gives your a strategic advantage on your SEO efforts as well as helps you closely monitor when Google changes anything. Look out for PPA queries related to your keywords, focus on taking a definitive approach, and have clear-cut and precise content that readers can resonate with. Featured snippet progress can mean SEO progress if done right.