What are Google featured snippets? Why are they important?
In this article:
What are Google featured snippets?
Google featured snippets are direct answers of the peoples queries in some highlighted lines on the top of the search result page, which is referred as the position 0. Showing up in the Google featured snippets is the most coveted thing that any business wants. A place in the snippet section can increase huge traffic to that business website, according to Ben Goodsell it can increase click through rate from 2% to 8% and 677% organic traffic. About featured snippets, you need to know that It is important for those who are answering and those who are giving answers. Featured snippets generally start with the question words like, what, where, why, when, how etc.
Why are Google featured snippets important?
Google featured snippets are a huge opportunity for all to rank on the top of the page without higher authority, the only need is you have to do featured snippets SEO of your content perfectly. Being featured on the Google featured snippets increase your website’s organic traffic automatically. A study by Ahrefs shows that you will get fewer clicks without featured snippets. Having a spot on Google featured snippets increases your website's page authority and brand authority. It also increases your brand visibility. Being featured on the snippets shows how credible and trustworthy your content is?
Types of Google featured snippets
Paragraph snippets
Paragraph snippets provide direct answers to the question, they appear on the top and can also include images in some questions.
List snippets
List snippets show data in list form. They are of 2 kinds,ordered list and unordered list.Ordered list shows data in a step by step format and each item is numbered, whereas in unordered list, step is not followed and items are shown in bullet form.
Table snippets
In table snippets data is shown in a tabular form which is easy to understand.
Video snippets
In video snippets, Google features video from the websites and specially from Youtube to make people understand visually.
Importance of Google featured snippets SEO
Google featured snippets SEO is important. It presents a huge opportunity to the SEO experts to make their website easily rank on top position in the Search Engines, primarily Google. Having a spot in Google featured snippets increases your website's trustworthiness. It boosts your brand authority, and ultimately increases traffic on your website. Featuring in Google snippets doesn’t need a high Google ranking but the only need is organic and relevant content. Google looks at the content which is a direct answer to the question and is also organic. Your content if it gets featured in the snippets will make things easy for you to be discoverable. But being featured in the snippets section is not so easy at all. It requires lots of optimization and some strategies which can make your content preferred over others, by Google.Here are some of the strategies which you need to know about featured snippets optimization:
How can you optimise for Google featured snippets?
Analyse your competitors featured snippets
Analysing your competitor’s snippets, their keywords and content saves all your time. After this you have a view in your mind of what you should do to rank higher. It makes it easy for you to make a strategy for ranking on the Google featured snippets. You have an idea of what keyword you should target and how you have been doing on Google as compared to your competitor? It helps you a lot in doing featured snippets SEO.
Add more question words in your headings
If you see the “People also ask” section in Google’s page, you can see that Google has featured those answers and questions which are directly answering the question, related with your topic and addressing what, when, who, where, how etc. So adding more question words in your headings can increase the chances of your ranking and place your website content to be featured in the Google snippet section.
Do your own keyword research?
Keyword research is the most important thing for any SEO expert. It plays a pivotal role in your page’s ranking. Do your own keyword research according to your niche and your target audience. Also consider using more long tail keywords.
Focus on on-page SEO
On-page SEO will make Google understand your website’s content. And a perfect SEO helps it rank early and also there are more chances of its featuring in the snippet section. So focus on on-page optimization of your website. Do all the tactics to make it better; like shortening your URL, creating an eye-catching title, using question keywords in heading tags, internal and external linking etc. Thus focus on the on-page optimization featured snippets SEO.
Think like your audience
To be featured in Google search snippets section, you must think like your audience. About featured snippets, a study by Ahrefs there are more than 70% other reasons which trigger their search intent. So, for optimising or writing something you have to understand what can be the reason behind a certain topic. And when your audience is putting something on the search bar then what they can think, what is their intent? Remember they are your potential customers so follow this as well.
Optimize Your Content for Voice search
Voice search has transformed the way of search. People often ask their google assistant, Alexa or Siri for the answer. And generally these rely on featured snippets to answer user queries. So, optimizing your content and website according to voice search as well raise chances of your content for featured snippets. For example, if anyone asks “hey siri, how can I do SEO of my website?” The assistant will most likely show answers from featured snippets. Optimizing your content for voice search also ensures optimization for featured snippets. Know more about How voice search optimization is important nowadays? And expert tips for optimization according to it in our blog- Voice search optimization, 5 pro tips.
Pay attention to Online Reviews
Reviews play a vital role for growth of small businesses. When you optimise your content for the featured snippets, also pay attention towards online reviews. It helps in building your brand's credibility and trust on search engines and in the eyes of customers. A business with higher reviews, has a higher chance to display in the featured snippet section.Get more deep knowledge about this in our blog on “Importance of Online Reviews for Small Business Growth”.
Google featured snippets are now an important part for any business's SEO strategy. As they get the Zero spot, they help in getting huge and high-quality traffic on the website. Securing a featured snippet spot is not that easy task, it requires a well-structured content, targeting right keywords and clear formatting. Collaborating with the best SEO optimization company can help you in earning a prime spot by enhancing the technical SEO, content strategy and updating with Google's algorithms.
Justo Consulting is also one of the best SEO optimization companies, which can help you with your SEO strategy. Here our SEO strategists can help you in enhancing your website's SEO and its ranking on SERP. Boost your visibility with our SEO strategies.
Conclusion
So, you need to optimise your content to find a spot on Google featured snippets. Give direct but precise answers, focus on the search intent. You may also want to have a look at what Google states about Featured snippets.
FAQ
What are featured snippets on Google?
Highlighted lines on the top of the search page are called as Featured snippets, they are direct answers of the question and have links with the detailed answers. They may appear as a video, list, table and in the form of a question group.
Why are featured snippets important?
eatured snippets provide direct answers of the question, they are important for one who asks the question and for those who are giving the answers of that question. Featured snippets are more likely to be important for the businesses as they can achieve the potential customer, organic traffic and authority by winning Featured snippets on Google.
How featured snippets are chosen?
Featured snippets directly chosen by the automated crawlers of google. Crawlers check all the details and whether your content is worthwhile or not.
How to optimise for featured snippets?
For Featured snippets write organic content, put keywords accordingly within the content, add FAQs, add more question words in your headings, and in this way one can optimise for featured snippets.
What do featured snippets display on SERP?
Featured snippets directly display the short answers of the question, they also display the link from where you can get a detailed answer. Featured snippets can display in the form of paragraph, list, table and video, it depends on the question.
