Search engine result pages (SERPs) have evolved dramatically over the past few years. In addition to the traditional blue links, we now see elements like knowledge graphs, images, videos, ads, and more. But one of the most prominent SERP features that has emerged is the featured snippet.
What Are Featured Snippets?
Featured snippets, also sometimes called position zero, are the boxed summaries of content that appear at the very top of Google search results. They provide a direct answer to a user’s query, pulling a succinct excerpt from a webpage determined to be a relevant and authoritative source.
As per SEO services by One Two SEO, featured snippets represent a major opportunity. Ranking a piece of content in this prime real estate gives tremendous visibility and traffic. But claiming position zero is no easy task.
Why Care About Featured Snippets?
There are a few key reasons why featured snippets should be a priority in your content strategy:
1. Massive CTR Potential
By providing a highly relevant, zero click answer to search queries, featured snippets can achieve click-through rates upwards of 70%. Since they appear before the normal organic results, they absorb much of the traffic.
2. Brand Visibility
Having a featured snippet means your brand and content get showcased prominently across search results. This allows you to reinforce your site’s authority.
3. Answer Intent Queries
Featured snippets help you tap into answer-oriented searches where users have high intent to find information quickly. These accelerated commercial intent queries can convert very effectively.
Overall, if you aren’t targeting featured snippets, you’re missing out on substantial search visibility and traffic opportunities.
Tips for Winning Featured Snippets
While getting a featured snippet certainly isn’t easy, there are a few proven strategies that can dramatically help:
Create Useful Self-Contained Content
Google wants to show featured snippets that directly answer a user’s question/query in a succinct, standalone way.
Optimize for Long-Tail Keywords
Take a long-tail approach focusing on very specific question and “how to” style queries in your niche. These lend themselves perfectly to featured snippets.
Follow a FAQ Structure
Structure your content in an FAQ style format, with questions matching high-intent user queries around featured snippets.
Include Lists and Tables
Lists, tables, images, and other visual elements can help feature your content more readily in snippets. Bold key long-tail phrases as well.
Target Low Competition Spaces
Check which queries around your niche already have featured snippets and target ones without them or with weak, non-useful snippets to replace.
Promote Your Content
Populate relevant linking opportunities with anchor text of your target long tail queries. Guest posting, outreach, and internal linking can all help increase rankings.
An Example: Winning a Featured Snippet for “How Long Does it Take to Create a Website?”
Let’s walk through a real example of identification and SEO around a featured snippet opportunity from one SEO services company.
First, they identified “how long does it take to create a website” as a decent volume query with commercial intent but without a claimed, useful snippet.
The company then optimized a blog post around this topic, specifically structuring it to answer the user’s question. It followed a clear FAQ format leading with the header:
How Long Does It Take to Create a Website?
It then takes 2-4 weeks on average to create a small business website when you consider:
- 1 week for planning, content & site mapping
- 1-2 weeks for website development and design
- 1 week for testing and revisions before launch
The company promoted this post through guest posting and outreach to build domain authority and quality links. Within 2 months their optimized content ranked in the prominent featured snippet position, massively increasing organic traffic and visibility.
Conclusion
Featured snippets represent the new SEO battleground, yet many brands still underutilize content optimization for position zero. By focusing on long-tail, high intent questions and providing concise, useful answers, you have an opportunity to tap into this lucrative search real estate.