The way you manage a website and domain is important in driving its Google search ranking. A well-designed webpage is able not only to put you among top 10 results, but can also earn you a featured snippet.
This SEO feature has the potential of improving your credibility in the eyes of Google. Even better, it can boost the interest of potential customers.
One study revealed that featured snippets steal a lot of popularity from highly ranking search results, reducing their click through rates (CTR) by 7%.
Thanks to the position zero, a featured snippet can grab the attention of a greater number of online searchers and generate more leads to your website.
However, you cannot expect to receive a Google snippet unless you invest a lot of time and effort into web page optimization.
In this article, we will show you how to design your digital content to earn a coveted featured snippet.
What’s a Featured Snippet?
Things are changing quickly in the digital world. SEO rules don’t stand still. You have to keep an eye on all changes.
Google introduced the concept of featured snippet several years ago, and since that time, it has become a big deal.
Essentially, it is the summary of the most relevant information from your website displayed on top of the Google search results page.
This is also why we call featured snippets a position zero: it stays atop of the other search results and even sponsored pages.
Such position gives a Google snippet huge advantage over other items on the SERPs, because it is almost impossible not to notice it while scanning through search results.
Technically speaking, featured snippets include a summary of the answer extracted from a web page; plus a link to the page, the page title, and the associated URL.
Since it shows up atop the SERPs based on the content relevance, you cannot mark up your page as a featured snippet.
But what you can do is make sure that the page contains a likely answer to a common Google inquiry.
Types of Featured Snippets
Although a relatively new SEO trend, featured snippets can already be segmented into three different types.
Depending on the nature of user search, Google displays snippets in the form of a paragraph, a list, or a table.
Paragraphs
The purpose of featured snippets is to provide users with the most important information about a topic within a limited amount of space.
Therefore, Google displays position zero answers within a few short lines of text.
Paragraphs are the most common type of featured snippet.
According to SEMrush, more than half of all snippets come in the paragraph format.
Lists
A vast majority of users begin Google searches with trigger words like ‘what’ or ‘how’.
They usually want to learn several ways to do, buy, or make something, which is why content creators often use lists and bullet points in their posts.
That’s exactly why list snippets are the second most popular type of position zero.
It gives a clear overview of website content and attracts user attention with its simple structure.
Below, you can see one example of the list snippet coming from our blog post at EduGeeksClub.com writing service.
Tables
Table snippets are not as common as the first two types, but they make the biggest impression when it comes to search results related to events, schedules, results, and comparisons.
If your webpage displays such content regularly, it will probably become a featured snippet candidate in some Google queries.
However, bear in mind to mark the website with a <table> tag if you want to compete for the position zero.
Simple Tips to Receive a Featured Snippet
Now that you are familiar with the background of Google snippets, it is time to learn how to optimize your website to pursue position zero.
Let’s check it out here:
Analyze Your Industry
Each industry has its own peculiarities.
These are little things that make your customers curious and eager to find out more about your products or services.
Your task is to learn what they want to know and give them good answers.
Check out feedback from website forms and emails from customers to see the most common user inquiries.
At the same time, you can find a lot of interesting inputs on social network channels.
All these sources will help you to gather information about an average customer, which enables you to adapt website content accordingly.
Don’t Be Confusing
You can’t get a position zero if your sentences are too long and confusing.
Mind the language and sentence structure to maximize the SEO potential of your website.
As long as you provide users with precise industry-related answers, you have the chance to receive a featured snippet.
Keywords
If you want to answer user inquiries properly and position your domain for a featured snippet, you have to employ the right keywords, phrases, and sentences.
Find the most popular words and all of their synonyms that could lead search engines to your content.
You can take advantage of online tools like Google Trends or Google Keyword Planner for the more efficient research.
With the right keyword optimization on page, you will improve your search rankings and can also receive a featured snippet every once in awhile.
Be Proactive
Sometimes even the best efforts to earn a snippet are useless.
This happens when you have a lot of serious competitors who also take care of content optimization.
If you want to stand out from this crowd, you have to be proactive.
Try to predict the coming trends in your business.
For instance, figure out what could be the next big thing in your niche.
Then, answer the questions which ought to become popular very soon.
Pay Attention to Website Formatting
Web page formatting is another important segment of content optimization.
In that regard, we suggest you write simple and clear sentences in short paragraphs and don’t forget to add header tags.
Additionally, you should use lists, numbers, and bullet points whenever possible.
Answers to user-generated questions are not supposed to be longer than 25 words.
Answers Come First
Keep in mind that featured snippets depend on answers that you give on your website.
This is why you need to separate the FAQ page from other content, saving it as a special place for curious followers.
It helps people find your tips and explanations but also enables search engines to find your web page and grant it a position zero status.
Conclusion
Featured snippets have become one of the most rewarding SEO features in the last couple of years.
By earning a position zero, you get the opportunity to present your content to the wider audience and generate more leads than ever before.
Using the tips we showed you in this article, you can increase the odds of receiving a Google snippet.
With a little bit of creativity and analysis, we are sure that it will bring you more leads and conversions!
All Images Credit: the author under his own license.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions stated in this post are that of the author, and Return On Now may or may not agree with any or all of the commentary.
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