What is a Featured Snippet?
To make the search experience as satisfying as possible, Google continually adjusts to the needs of users. In addition to paid and organic results, Featured Snippets have increasingly appeared in recent years. In German, these are also called “Highlighted Snippets“. The term “Snippet” describes the preview of a website in the search results. The format of Featured Snippets primarily serves for faster result delivery. A first concise answer to the respective search query is provided without the users needing to visit the website.
This short answer appears in a small box and is displayed as the first organic result. Previously, the website from which the Featured Snippet was created was listed again among the organic search results. Therefore, the position of the Featured Snippet was also called “Position Zero”. Today, this duplication usually no longer exists.
Types of Featured Snippets
There are different types of Featured Snippets. They most commonly appear in the form of a text snippet. As the name suggests, this is a short answer in written form. The combination of text and images also falls under the category of text snippets. In Germany, most text snippets are created from Wikipedia entries. For some search queries, the first result appears in the form of a video snippet. In Germany, these are almost exclusively created from YouTube videos. Table snippets can appear both as a table and in the form of a list. These often involve ingredients for recipes or similar listings. As with text snippets, images can also be displayed here.
How to create a Featured Snippet?
A high position in the search results is of course very desirable. A Featured Snippet from the content of one’s own website contributes, among other things, alongside suitable keywords and the right keyword density, to the visibility of the website. Unfortunately, this cannot be influenced. Google decides on the content and source of the Featured Snippet itself. One can only indicate that no Featured Snippet should be created from one’s own website.
Although Google cannot be influenced in its choice of sources, a pattern in the content and structure of suitable websites can be recognized. To increase the chances of a Featured Snippet for one’s own domain, the following should be noted: Text snippets appear only when a complete question is typed into the search field. Typically, so-called trigger phrases are part of these questions (e.g.: “What works…”).
To help Google recognize that the respective website contains an answer to the question, both the trigger phrases and so-called follow-up words (e.g.: “Click on…”) should be used. The answer should also not be longer than one or two sentences. Lists and tables also increase the chances. A Featured Snippet is created exclusively from the content and not from the meta description of a webpage.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Featured Snippets
Featured Snippets are often referred to as SEO Trend. At first glance, they may seem to hinder traffic. After all, the page does not need to be clicked for the information sought. However, the Click-Through Rate shows that increased visibility also boosts traffic to the website. Often, interest is piqued and the page is visited after all.
The Voice Search feature also serves to enhance the search experience. It has played an important role for search engines for several years and is very popular among users. Here, a short answer to any question is sought verbally. Therefore, voice search also utilizes Featured Snippets. The increasing use of voice search thus contributes to the visibility of the respective website.
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