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Featured Snippets Optimization - SEO in 2021 Pt 4!

 Tuesday, March 9, 2021

We’ve briefly discussed featured snippets in our last part of the SEO trends series - the Google Passage Ranking. Let’s dive deeper into featured snippets optimization so we can understand this trend in greater detail.

SEO optimization revolves around getting your business’ webpage ranked among the top results of the SERPs. Every business is competing over the first ranked space. What if we told you that you can rank your webpage even above the first-ranked result? 

We’re talking about featured snippets. These are the digital marketing strategies that can help you outrank the number 1 position without making major adjustments. As Backlinko likes to say, “#0 is the new #1”, featured snippets are stealing traffic from the #1 spot. 

We’re here to help you with featured snippets optimization for your website, from start to finish. Let’s dive in!

What are Featured Snippets?

Featured snippets are rich and selected search results that show up as a small block of content at the top of Google’s search results. It appears at the top, right above the organic search results and below the paid search results, and hence also called ‘position 0’. They answer the user’s search query right to the point, which is why they are also known as ‘answer boxes’.

Types of Featured Snippets

There are different types of featured snippets and all of them are different in optimized structure - 

Paragraph 

It showcases an answer in a paragraph format taken from a <p> HTML element of a webpage. It answers questions like how, who, why, when, and what.

List 

It includes text in a bulleted or numbered lists format for step-by-step instruction or recipe queries. It has to be in either an <ol> or <ul> HTML element to be featured.

Table 

Pulled out from a <table> HTML element, it includes well-structured content of comparative nature.

The Tips and Tricks to Rank in Featured Snippets

Optimize for Voice Search

One of the goals of featured snippets is to promote Google voice search. Whenever a user uses voice search for a query, Google reads back featured snippets. Therefore, while optimizing your content for featured snippets, keep in mind to create it in the context of voice search queries. 

Find Opportunities

99.58% of featured snippets are taken from web pages that rank among the top 10 positions for that term. Therefore, focus on keywords that you already rank for to be in featured snippets. 

Add Snippet-Bait

Featured snippets are generally 40-60 words long. Therefore, create a similar word count block of content to make it look like featured snippets. Its design increases your chances of getting ranked. 

Formatting your content with different kinds of featured snippets also helps. For example, to get featured for listed snippets, use bullets or numbers.

Keep Check of the Language

Never use the first-person language in a featured snippet optimization content. Limit the type of phrasing like ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’, etc. It’ll confuse the readers when used for a voice search query. The same goes for using brand names. It’ll wipe out the factor of generalization. Hence, your chances of getting featured will diminish.

Use High-Quality Images

Google prioritizes paragraph featured snippets with an image in the content box. Include eye-catching, high-quality, and branded images in your web pages to allow Google to choose you as the best graphic options for a featured snippet. 

Featured snippets can drastically improve your click-through rates and drive more traffic to your website. 

If you wish to make your website optimized for featured snippets, reach out to your ultimate digital marketing expert, Walibu. Our professionals would love to help you!

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