Featured snippet optimisation refers to the technique of making sure that snippets of text that appear in Google search results are engaging and relevant to users. This can include including specific keywords, making the snippet short and concise enough, and ensuring that the snippet provides a direct answer to the user's question. This can help improve a web page's performance in search results and increase site traffic.
But what are featured snippets?
Featured snippets are the text snippets that appear below the title and URL in Google's search results. These snippets are automatically generated by Google's algorithm from the content of a web page and typically contain a portion of the content that it believes is most relevant to the user's search query. The purpose of featured snippets is to give users a quick idea of what is on a web page before they click on the link.
They do not necessarily appear above the number one spot, but are designed to be a quick answer to the user's query and provide relevant information without having to click on the link. The goal of featured snippets is to provide an immediate answer to the user's question, and allow for a better search experience.
how do I get my web content to appear as a featured snippet?
Here are some techniques to help your content appear as a featured snippet in Google search results:
- Include questions and answers in your content: Many times, featured snippets appear in response to specific search queries. Be sure to include questions and answers in your content to provide a quick response to users' search queries.
- Use headings and sub-headings: Featured snippets are often pulled from the headings and sub-headings of a web page. Be sure to use headings and sub-headings to organise your content and make it easier for users and search engines to scan.
- Use relevant keywords: Use relevant keywords in your content to help search engines understand what your web page is about. Be sure to include the keywords in titles, headings and in various important parts of the content.
- Create qualitycontent andunique content: Google tends to prioritise content that is useful, informative and original, so make sure you create high quality content that is relevant to your audience.
- Use schema markup: schema markup is a tagging system that helps you provide structured information to search engines about your content. This can help improve the way your content appears in search results, including featured snippets.
We know that Google's algorithms are complex and ever-changing, so there is no magic formula to guarantee a featured snippet will appear, so you need to be aware of the changes and trends the algorithm introduces over time.
3 Benefits of optimising featured snippets
- Improves visibility: Featured snippets appear at the top of Google's search results, which increases the visibility of your content. As users can get relevant information without having to click on the link, they are more likely to click on the result if it provides them with a quick answer to their question.
- Increases CTR (Click-Through Rate): Featured snippets provide a preview of the content on a web page, which can increase the CTR of a search result. This is because users can get an idea of what is on a web page before clicking on the link, which increases the likelihood that the link is relevant to their search query.
- Helps improve relevance: By optimising your content for featured snippets, you are ensuring that your content matches users' search intent. This can help improve the relevance of your content to search engines, which in turn can improve your ranking in organic search results.
Featured snippets are a great opportunity to appear at the top of search results for the terms your target customers are searching for. By including the right keywords in your content and optimising it for featured snippets, you can increase the visibility of your content to users searching for relevant information.
New landscape, devices that leverage voice search.
With the fervent popularity of voice search devices, such as virtual assistants and smart speakers, the search landscape is changing. Users are using these devices to ask questions in natural language, rather than typing into a traditional web search engine.
To appear in voice search results, it is important to optimise your content for specific questions and ensure that your content can provide complete and accurate answers to users' questions. Using questions and answers in your content and making use of SEO techniques to improve search engine visibility can help improve your visibility in voice search results.
Another important point is to make sure your website and content are optimised for mobile, as most voice searches are performed on mobile devices.
It is essential to have an effective strategy to identify how customers are changing the way they search and adapt your content accordingly, in order to engage them. This can include tracking search trends and optimising your content for the most common questions and queries of your target customers.
As they are automatically generated by Google's algorithm, results can vary from day to day. It is important to track your featured snippets regularly to see how they are performing and detect any changes. Continuous monitoring will allow you to identify any problems and take action to fix them.
As such, featured snippets are an important tool for improving visibility, increasing CTR and improving the relevance of your content in Google search results. It is important to consider how to optimise your content to take advantage of this feature.
