Google has recently introduced the featured snippets which appear in the top of the search results if the user searches anything. Featured snippets in Google are apt answers to user queries displayed at the top of Google’s search results, occupying the ZERO’th position in the SERP’s.
Featured Snippets are displayed by Google in all formats like,
- YouTube videos
- Images
- Paragraphs
- Numbered lists
- Tables
- Charts
- Bulleted lists
The main advantage of ranking your website in the featured snippets is you can get more traffic, more search visibility and also increased credibility to the brand.
How to make the website to rank in featured snippets?
Provide Answers to ‘W’ Questions:
If you try to rank the web pages in the featured snippets. Provide contents in your web pages which answers the questions like Who, What, When, Where, Why. If Google considers the answer part of the public domain, they’ll supply a rich answer from their database by ranking your website. Google will analyze the websites to find the answers to the user’s queries and will display it in the SERP’s.
Provide Content for “How” Questions:
Most of the snippets that Google displays in SERP’s are instruction sets. That is when the user searches any query like “How to”, Google will try to display them the results with the instructions that they are looking for. This may be the content with the bullet points, steps, etc. Depending on the question, you can use text, lists, images, and even videos to instruct your users.
Definitions:
Another type of content which the Google displays in snippets is definition. That is when the user searches any potential terms, Google will display its definition in the search snippet. For example when the user searches as “CTR” or “What is CTR”, then its definition will be displayed in the zeroth result of Google SERP.
Comparisons:
Update the content on the website with the lists, tables, and text that compare and contrast two or more items make for great content. For example, if the user searches for the query like “SEO vs. PPC”, then the Google will display the snippet with the comparison of both. If your site has content relevant to it, then yours will be displayed in the search snippets.
How to Optimize Content for Featured Snippets?
Though this is not a simple task, it is quite achievable. Create the content on the site which answers the user’s queries. Try to update the content on the site with the bullet points, step by step instructions, numbered points, etc. Also, optimize the site for both the desktop and mobile devices for the effective rankings in the search engines as well.
