In today’s digital age, your Google ranking can be the difference between success and bankruptcy. Companies of all sizes and industries can easily rise or fall if they don’t leverage their digital presence through strategies like search engine optimization. No matter how effective your services or products are, if you don’t appear on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs), you will be leaving a lot of money on the table from your target customers.
The first step to dominating those SERPs is knowing full well that Google constantly alters its algorithm. This means it always changes the way it evaluates content and ranks websites. As a business, it behooves you to know exactly how these changes work so that you can outrank your competitors. An increase in SERP (search engine results page) rankings not only improves your ability to generate traffic and leads, but also increases the degree to which users consider you as trustworthy. And in the digital world, authority is the secret to revenue and customer loyalty.
Today, a typical SERP contains more than just plain hyperlinks. One of the many changes Google has introduced in recent years is the presence of featured snippets. They allow searchers to get practical answers right away without having to click on any of the links.
Attaining the featured snippet position is actually more rewarding than ranking first in organic results. Snippets highlight your content in a unique way, placing it exactly where your target audience will see it. Unlike title tags and meta descriptions, featured snippets are more effective at capturing audience’s attention and increasing click-through rates. It essentially takes up two listings of search real-estate. Think about how much more traffic the site can garner from this sought after ranking position.
What are featured snippets?
Snippets offer “quick answers” to a user’s search query. Unlike regular search results, snippets feature a portion or summary of the page’s content alongside its page title, publication date, and source link. Additionally, the featured information appears right on top of the link unlike regular meta descriptions.
Google extracts these bite-sized pieces of information from selected authoritative webpages and “features” them in answer boxes. This format makes snippets easier to read and digest. Most marketers call snippets “position 0” (P0) because they appear right below the Google Ads (if there are any) and directly above all the organic results for the entered query.
Technically, you don’t have to rank first in organic searches to be featured in the snippets box. Although most webpages that get featured as snippets already appear on the first page of the SERP. Still, there isn’t an exact formula in earning that position zero.
According to Google, they display snippets because they believe the format will help users easily discover answers, both from the description and from the page itself. This may suggest Google’s feature requirements involve searchability (dictated by your SEO and keyword placement) and the usefulness of the content your page provides.
The main goal of featured snippets is to answer the user’s question right away without needing to scroll through the entire SERP and click on various websites. This makes snippets especially helpful for both mobile and voice searches. They enhance search experience and provide quality information in the shortest time possible.
Types of featured snippets
Snippets generally fall into four categories:
- Paragraph
Successful paragraph snippets are not just textual blocks that answer the searcher’s question. They provide additional information that captures the searcher’s interest and drives them to click the link.
Paragraph snippets are likely to appear for queries that begin with:
- What is
- Who is
- Why is
- How to
- List
Some queries like “how to wash a car” or “how to bake brownies” require a set of steps. Google displays list snippets to answer queries about specific processes. These lists can take the form of numbers or bullets.
Sometimes, Google also uses list snippets to present a selection of items that don’t need to be ranked in a specific order. Search terms like “the best smartphone models in 2020” or “what to put in a resume” often generate unordered list snippets.
- Table
Table featured snippets are seen for queries that involve:
- Pricing
- Rates
- Structured data
Table snippets reduce research time and make data more readable. Unlike with paragraph and list snippets, Google does not just pull out data and present it the exact way it appears on the source page. It can reformat the table or highlight certain details to make it more specific to the query.
- Video
Apart from text snippets, Google may also decide that an audiovisual source will be more useful to the search term. Video snippets feature a photo preview, and may also answer queries using text from video descriptions.
Aiming for position 0
Featured snippets allow users to quickly access information from quality sources. Getting your content and web pages into featured snippets shows your expertise on a specific subject. Your audience will then see you as an authoritative source and will more likely visit and engage with your website.
Achieving a featured snippet translates to higher organic traffic and a special advantage over other results. Remember, snippets are more eye-catching and offer a direct answer compared to regular links. As such, searchers will be more tempted to click on a snippet than spend more time browsing through different webpages. All of these benefits will help you better engage with target customers and improve sales.
If you want to land that featured spot, you need to put more work into your content. Your blogs and web pages should be structured to help Google extract quick and easy answers for your target audience. Additionally, Google favors webpages with fresh content, so you also need to update your site regularly.
With so much online content published daily, it can be challenging to come up with original, quality, and SEO-friendly information. Spike Interactive can help you create content that does not just rank, but also gets featured. We’re not just web marketers, we’re game-changers committed to helping our clients achieve their business goals. Our mission is to grow your traffic and turn clicks into customers through unique digital marketing strategies.
Want to know more about our services? Call us today at 206-472-1141 for a free consultation and quote.
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