In 2021 and beyond, high-ranking content on Google is an invaluable part of any successful digital marketing plan. This is because with higher rankings comes more visibility, web traffic, and leads. In fact, content bolstered to the #0 featured snippet slot offers your business the greatest chances of getting more eyes on your website fast. Keep reading. We’ll uncover more about what’s a featured snippet and what content works best for them.
What’s A Featured Snippet?
Featured snippets are responsible for quickly and effectively answering a searcher’s burning questions. This snippet is the very first piece of content listed on Google’s search engine results page. It is often referred to as slot #0 or position zero since it sits above the first traditional top result. Featured snippets, while common, are not found in every search query.
When it comes to Google’s algorithm finding a featured snippet, it is clear that these answer boxes aren’t chosen out of thin air. This is because studies found that 99.58% of content ranked as a featured snippet was already within the top 10 results.[1]
The Importance Of Featured Snippets For Success
The #1 slot on Google is the goal of many SEO-driven digital marketers. However, landing the #0 featured snippet slot comes with more benefits than you could imagine. Here are some impactful statistics that illustrate the effectiveness of a featured snippet:
- Hubspot found that the click-through rate of their featured snippet content was 2x greater than content not in a featured snippet.[2]
- #1 ranked content received a 26% click-through rate on results pages without a featured snippet. But with one, this decreased to just 19.6%.[1] This shows that featured snippets steal a significant chunk of the traffic from the #1 ranking position.
3 Simple Tips For Landing A Featured Snippet Slot
While there is no magic formula for scoring the coveted featured snippet placement, there are tactics that will get you closer to this goal. Now that you understand the impact of a featured snippet slot, below are three tips for creating meaningful content for a featured snippet slot.
#1: Understand Proper Featured Snippet Formatting
The first step in getting a featured snippet is understanding how it is commonly formatted to best create content that coincides with this structure. In general, the anatomy of a featured snippet is most successfully structured in these three ways:
- Paragraphs make up the majority of featured snippets and are perfectly structured for answering specific questions in great depth and detail. Hubspot found that paragraph content between 54-58 words was most optimal for a featured snippet.[2]
- Lists are a great featured snippet format for providing step-by-step instructions, how-tos, and directions to audiences
- Tables work well as featured snippets for displaying data points and measurements in an organized fashion
#3: Optimized Content Is A Must
It isn’t possible to have a featured snippet without strategically optimizing your content. This starts with researching the keywords that your target audience would search with. Next, integrate them into your content’s headings, paragraphs, titles, and descriptions. Long-tail keywords are especially effective for slot zero because they are more specific and detailed than a single keyword alone.
#4: Create A Frequently Asked Questions Page
A frequently asked questions (FAQ) page answers all of your audience’s burning questions in one place. It’s also one of the best ways to improve your chances at a featured snippet. This is because featured snippets typically aim to answer queries that stem from the format of a question starting with who, what, when, where, and why.
If you provide relevant, detailed, and high-quality answers to commonly asked questions, there is no question that your likelihood of getting a featured snippet will soar.
Ranking #0 Made Easy With Full Circle SEM
A featured snippet is your golden ticket to improved brand authority, awareness, traffic, and conversions. Investing in a partnership with Full Circle SEM gives you access to digital marketing pros with the expertise to effectively write and optimize content for a featured snippet. To learn more about what our marketing professionals have to offer, contact us for a free consultation today.
Sources:
[2] https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-featured-snippet-box
