When the situation calls for answers – and fast – absolutely no one wants to dig through the search results one by one. Thankfully, featured snippets are here to the rescue.
Google created featured snippets to answer the query in full and at a glance. This innovative answer box sits right at the top of the page, effectively overshadowing all the other search results.
Where does the content inside the box come from, you ask? Well, Google’s automated system pulls an excerpt from a relevant web search listing and displays it with the page’s meta title and URL.
So, as you can imagine, it’s well worth handcrafting web content that aligns with the parameters for featured snippets. Win out over the other contenders and you get your website put at the very top of the search results for that query.
Wondering just how to make that happen? Use this guide to explore why it’s time to enter the battle for snippets and the steps you need to take to land at the top.
Why Bother Trying to Win the Snippet Game
When it comes to SEO, landing at the top of the search engine results page is the holy grail. And featured snippets give you yet another way to achieve that goal. With each snippet you win, your website gets boosted to the top of the results, driving more organic traffic your way than ever before.
Users will typically click through the snippet to get more info on the topic, after all, ending their search on your site if your quality content meets their needs. As all that traffic comes your way, you have a much better chance of improving your brand recognition, conversion rates, and revenues.
With so many benefits of winning snippets up for grabs, competition remains fierce, especially for high-volume queries. But you still have many chances to dominate the snippet game.
In fact, as of 2019, more than 23% of queries use featured snippets to instantly deliver answers to users – and that figure is growing all the time. Snippets work particularly well for mobile and voice searches, too, which means they’re definitely not going away any time soon.
Most Common Types of Featured Snippets
To best answer each query, featured snippets come in many different forms, such as:
- Paragraphs
- Step-by-step directions
- Bullet lists
- Tables
- Videos
- Calculators
- Accordions
Paragraphs
Paragraph snippets fully answer the query in just a few sentences. They work great for short questions and definitions, which is why they’re the most common snippet format.
If you ask Google “why train your dog,” for example, it returns:
Step-by-Step Directions
Step-by-step directions may appear at the top of the search results upon asking Google how to do or make something. The total number of items in the list depends on the character count of each step.
If you type in a query on how to get your dog to walk on leash, you’ll likely see:
Bullet Lists
Unordered lists typically come up for queries best answered by a collection of bullet points. Inputting questions starting with “most common,” “types of,” or “best” have the highest chance of returning this type of snippet.
When trying to decide how to train your dog, you might look up the different types of dog training, triggering this result to appear:
Tables
When you want data, snippet tables deliver the stats in a quick and easy-to-read format. Only the first few rows will appear, but you can click the ‘more rows’ button to see all the data.
If you look for the best in show winners for the Westminster Kennel Club, this table pops up:
Videos
When written words won’t answer the query well enough, videos are the snippets of choice. Oftentimes, Google will return up to three short videos for your review.
Upon searching for a demonstration of border collies herding, you’ll see:
Calculators
Google can display calculators and other tools as snippets as well. They don’t always have a linked URL, however. So, unless you already need to add a tool to your content, it’s not worth trying to win these queries.
If you want to buy a new home with a big backyard for your dog, you can look up a mortgage calculator to get access to this smart tool:
Accordions
Accordion snippets have largely been replaced by the People Also Ask section, but you can still find them from time to time. These results have drop-down sections you can unfurl to learn more about the topic without leaving the SERP.
If you’re looking for dog supplements, this snippet may appear:
Across all these featured snippet formats, you have many chances to add your two cents and surpass all the other contenders vying for the top spot.
Featured Snippet Optimization Tips and Tricks
As far as featured snippets go, you have to be in it to win it. Fortunately, quality content can get you there – just as long as you take the right approach by following these three simple steps:
- Find your ideal search terms
- Go beyond what’s currently working
- Keep the snippet best practices in mind
Find Your Ideal Search Terms
As with all SEO endeavors, you must start this journey by doing keyword research. Unless you already have pages upon pages of optimized content, you need many keywords to explore to start.
The keywords should be relevant to your brand and align with your content marketing goals. You’re not just going to create web pages filled with potential snippet content. Instead, you want to focus on building a website that best supports your customers’ needs while infusing the content with snippet-worthy clips.
So, create a spreadsheet full of potential keywords and get ready to go through them all one by one. Focus on high volume, low competition long tail keywords first to get some easy wins under your belt. Then, move on to more difficult keywords.
Also, don’t forget to check the domain authority of the current victors to gauge your chances of bumping them out of the winner’s circle. Trying to go up against the leaders in the industry could backfire, after all. To avoid that, start with queries answered by sites with a similar domain authority to your own.
Go Beyond What’s Currently Working
With your keywords in hand, start seeing what queries already have snippets in place. Ask yourself, “Can I answer the query better than the current featured snippet?” Reflect on whether the format in question will work within your content – or if you can change things to make it fit.
If you want to move forward, build out the content on each page to take visitors on a deep dive into the subject at hand. After that, infuse the snippet content into the applicable web pages while trying to one-up the current placeholders.
To make an even bigger impact, think about how you could improve your page format to help the snippets stand out. Perhaps you could set the target content in its own boxes on your webpage, for example, making it easier for visitors to scan and Google’s bots to understand.
Keep the Snippet Best Practices in Mind
While you create your website content, keep all these featured snippet best practices in mind:
- Create content that helps Google understand the purpose of your page
- Make all your content easy-to-understand and straight-to-the-point
- Frame the sections as clear, concise answers to the search queries
- Keep the featured snippet content between 40 and 55 words long
- Arrange the content using bullets, numbers, or tables
- Use header tags, table tags, and other HTML markups
- Remove all noindex tags and other access control methods
Quality is key above all else. So, put yourself in your visitors’ shoes, reflect on what they want to see with each query, and then go well beyond that to provide the best experience possible.
Keep Creating Quality Content to Win Featured Snippets
Winning featured snippets requires you to play the long game. You’ll need to stay the course and keep creating quality content before you see any results.
All along the way, don’t be afraid to revise your approach and try new things to see what works. Every industry is different, so experiment away to find what helps your target audience the most.
Remember to track your wins, too. With that move, you can build upon your winning formula and keep moving toward achieving all your content marketing goals.
Although this might feel like quite a journey, if nothing else, your efforts will help you create a website your customers love. And that’s worth all the research, content creation, and revisions all on its own.
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