WHAT ARE FEATURED SNIPPETS?

...And How to Master Them

KATHLEENBOOTH

Is it possible to increase your search engine rankings but

decrease traffic in 2018?

Search engines have changed a lot...

The singular obsession of search

engines is solving for the customer

Their goal: Deliver the best answers, fast.

“The future of SEO will have to account for influencing

searchers without earning a click, or even knowing that a

search happened”

Rand FishkinFounder, SparkToro & Moz

The future of search may well depend on your ability to dominate “position zero”

Google’s Special Content Resource Blocks

1. Rich answers2. Knowledge graph3. Rich snippets4. Featured snippets

1. Rich answers2. Knowledge graph3. Rich snippets4. Featured snippets

1. Rich answers2. Knowledge graph3. Rich snippets4. Featured snippets

1. Rich answers2. Knowledge graph3. Rich snippets4. Featured snippets

1. Rich answers2. Knowledge graph3. Rich snippets4. Featured snippets

On-SERP* SEOis a process for optimizing for Google’s position zero.

* SERP: Search Engine Results Page

Types of Featured Snippets

TYPE OF SNIPPET % OF TOTAL SNIPPETS

Paragraph snippets 81.95%

List snippets (bulleted and numbered) 10.77%

Table snippets 7.28%

● Google extracts text from a page in an attempt to answer a question

● To optimize:○ Answer the question immediately○ Include a hook that encourages click

throughs○ Use <h2> formatting for snippet titles○ Limit paragraph snippets to 50 words

or less● Used for questions like:

○ How to do/get...○ Who is...○ Why is…○ What is...

Paragraph Snippets

● List out steps that explain how to do something or items in a listicle

● Searchers are highly likely to click through to read additional details

● To optimize:○ Use <li> formatting in snippet block○ Have 8+ items in the list○ Don’t include a number in the snippet

title○ Keep list items short

● Used for things like:○ Recipes○ DIY tasks○ How to…○ Top X…

List Snippets

● Google pulls data from a page and creates its own table to display results

● To optimize:○ Make sure your table has more than

4 rows (to encourage click throughs)● Used for questions like:

○ Lists○ Pricing○ Rates○ Data

Table Snippets

How to optimize for position zero:

1. Focus on articles or pages that already rank in the top 102. Add a snippet block right at the beginning of your article3. Use clean <h2> formatting for snippet titles4. Limit paragraph snippets to 50 words or less5. Keep sentences in list snippets short6. If possible, use <li> formatting for list items (not headers)7. Include the keyword you are optimizing for in the answer part of the

featured snippet code

bit.ly/positionzero

Our Results (in just week 1!)

The impact on traffic...

Ex. “Best Team Pages” article

New Opportunities...

New Opportunities...

“Definition of X [In under 100 words]”

New Opportunities...

Expandable snippets

1. You still need to create great content

2. You CAN optimize for - and win - position zero

Lessons Learned:

Questions?