Have you ever heard of position #0 in search results? You might think that position #0 means you don’t appear in the search results at all. The opposite is true. Position #0 is the Featured Snippet in the search results—a highly coveted spot for many search queries.
The Featured Snippet appears above the regular search results and is highlighted in a box. This makes it immediately stand out, creating a new opportunity for SEO marketers to capitalize on. In addition, Featured Snippets are also read aloud on devices that support voice search.
A Featured Snippet is a short summary of an answer to a question that appears in Google search results. This answer is displayed in a special box at the top of the search results.
You may have seen this box before when you’ve typed a “how” or “what” question into Google. The Featured Snippet is also called an “answer box” because it simply provides an answer to the searcher’s question.
The Featured Snippet is part of the organic search results, and you cannot purchase it. Google selects the best answer using its algorithm. You earn Featured Snippets by creating high-quality content and answering questions.
Google’s goal is to show every user relevant results, and it prioritizes user convenience above all else. Thanks to Featured Snippets, searchers get answers to their questions even faster. You can see the answer to your question right away and don’t even need to click on any results. This makes searching on Google even easier—and therefore more enjoyable.
In addition, voice-activated devices are on the rise. Users of these devices regularly ask Google questions, and the Featured Snippet is then read aloud as the answer.
Google is getting smarter all the time. Thanks to Natural Language Processing, Google can parse and understand sentences. In addition, Google can also recognize whether a question-and-answer structure is present. Every day, Google visits millions of URLs, reads the content, and ranks the pages in search results. In doing so, it identifies questions and answers. Based on its algorithm, Google selects the best answer to a question and then displays that answer in a Featured Snippet.
The top spot on Google is the one every marketer wants to claim, but being at the very top of the search results is, of course, even better. Position #0 stands out because a Featured Snippet is larger than the regular search results and includes a box. You can’t get a better spot than that!
We can hear you thinking, “A Featured Snippet is nice, but why would I want that spot? There’s a good chance the searcher won’t even click on my website. The searcher has already gotten the answer from the Featured Snippet, and my goal is actually to drive more organic search traffic to my website.”
Still, a Featured Snippet generates a significant amount of organic search traffic, even though the answer to a question is immediately visible. The snippet is a summary of the answer and often consists of just two sentences. This makes it very likely that a user will want to learn more about the topic.
That’s why users will click on the Featured Snippet and continue reading on your website. With a Featured Snippet, you’ve already gained the user’s trust, and the chances that he or she will click through are very high.
In addition, Featured Snippets offer you another opportunity. Featured Snippets are geared toward informational searches, such as “how-to” and “what-to” questions. There’s a good chance that searchers asking these types of questions are still at the beginning of their customer journey.
They’re just exploring their options. These people certainly won’t convert right away, but with Featured Snippets, you can answer their questions and build trust. Plus, they’ve gotten to know you online, so the chances they’ll come back are very high.
If we look again at devices that use voice search, the Featured Snippet is also good for your branding. Your website’s name is mentioned when the Featured Snippet is read aloud.
Getting a Featured Snippet works differently than ranking first in the search results. That’s because you don’t have to be in the first position to get a Featured Snippet. We generally see that a website from among the top five search results takes the Featured Snippet.
You can’t use a tag to indicate that you’re answering a question. But you can help Google understand questions and answers better. Featured Snippets are geared toward informational searches.
When you demonstrate that you’re an authority in a niche—such as SEO—Google will take you seriously within that niche. You can do this by creating a knowledge base or blog. Write articles on topics within your niche to demonstrate your authority.
In addition, it also helps if you’ve built up authority from external websites. You can achieve this by using link building.
Tip: Read 7 tips for getting backlinks here.
In these articles, you can, of course, identify questions and provide answers to them. Answering a question in an article is fairly easy. Take this blog, for example. The title of the blog is“What Are Featured Snippets?” We answer the question of what Featured Snippets are.
We do this by repeating the question in an H2 HTML heading and then providing an immediate answer to the question. This helps Google recognize that this is a question-and-answer structure.
Do you want a Featured Snippet? Then include the question in the meta title and an HTML heading, and provide a detailed answer to it. Ideally, limit yourself to one question per article and use the rest of the article to provide further explanation. Keep in mind that a two-sentence answer will most likely not provide the user with enough information.
An SEO-friendly URL makes it easier for Google to recognize what a page is about. In addition, pages with search engine-friendly URLs rank better and more easily than pages with non-optimized URLs. Every little bit helps, so make sure your URLs are structured properly.
So don’t think you’re off the hook just because you gave a short answer. The rest of your article needs to be substantive; otherwise, you’ll still lose the visitor, and that would be a shame. Curious about how to develop a good SEO strategy? Be sure to check out our other SEO blog posts.
Finally, it’s important to note that good content alone doesn’t guarantee Featured Snippets. You can help Google, but your competitors are probably doing the same!
With a passion for SEO and an unmatched drive for results, Jarik Oosting is the driving force behind SmartRanking. With over 15 years of experience in the field, he has built an extensive body of knowledge spanning technical SEO to complex site migrations. As the founder of SmartRanking, he has assembled a team of like-minded SEO specialists who help businesses achieve sustainable online growth.
His academic background in information science at the University of Groningen, with a specialization in natural language processing, gives him a unique perspective on the world of SEO. For Jarik, it’s not just about visibility in search engines, it’s about sharing knowledge and guiding businesses toward sustainable online success. That mission also led him to write a Dutch book about GEO.