Featured snippets are specific sections in SERPs that display excerpts from web pages and a link to the original web page in addition to the organic search results.
Snippets are described by Google as follows: “Google’s search results occasionally display entries where the snippet summarising a page occurs prior to a hyperlink to a webpage, not after as with our regular structure. “Featured snippets” are the term for results presented in this manner. Since features snippets ensure more website visibility, digital marketing Virginia Beach professionals suggest brands to devise SEO strategies to appear on featured snippets.
Featured snippets are results in position zero that come up first. Rich snippets, occasionally mistaken for featured snippets, are regular results with extra data, including star ratings, prices, locations, phone numbers, and other data.
Three Steps for Position Zero Rankings
It’s crucial to understand that there is no set procedure for guaranteeing that your content shows in featured snippets.
However, by taking the following actions, you can give yourself the best chance of landing in the highly sought zero position. Additionally, the SEO results will still be favorable even if you follow the advice below and fall short of ranking for a highlighted snippet.
1. Keep Current Zero Position Rankings
Keep an eye on current zero position ranks and frequently adjust your best-performing pages. Frequent monitoring will also let you know if the SERPs have dropped. You can take steps to recover your prior rankings if you lose a position-zero result.
To keep your rankings at level zero, update your content as follows:
Achieve fundamental SEO optimization: Prior to considering snippet-specific optimization, check to see if you’re adhering to fundamental on-page best SEO practices. Are you utilizing clear URL routes, HTTPS, pertinent markup schema, adequate content length and keyword saturation, and a header-based layout that is simple to read?
Update your content frequently: Google favors showing featured excerpts of recent articles. Make sure the data you present is up to date, and indicate that the page has been looked at recently using a tag like “Last Updated on.
Respond to any more related queries: High-quality articles frequently appear in numerous featured snippets. Consider adding more questions and answers to the existing pages that pertain to the main subject.
Keep track of current content that does well in search engine results: Pages that appear in the top ten “standard” results, particularly those that appear first beneath a featured snippet, must be regarded as low-hanging fruit. Not all articles will be eligible for featured excerpts, so keep that in mind. Update the content of your top-performing sites, though, if you have a better solution than the one in the current excerpt.
Especially for content that generates significant leads, renewing content pays off greatly in terms of keeping traffic.
2. Make content for the featured snippets.
In that only modest adjustments to your current content development procedures are generally required, creating content for featured snippets is typically simple. Small changes to the article’s structure and keyword research can have a big impact.
Use the advice listed below to optimize your content for featured snippets:
Create content based on question topics: Featured snippets are generally returned in response to search queries that take the form of questions and begin with terms like “why,” “how,” “if,” “do,” etc. Featured snippets frequently provide results for keywords that have an informative intent. Wherever it is possible, create content that addresses these questions, or at the very least, include sub-sections that do.
For search queries that already display featured snippets, create content: If you can provide more in-depth, higher-quality content, keyword searches that currently return featured snippets suggest potential chances.
Create Q&A pages as follows: Utilize headings effectively and incorporate brief, definition-style responses to your questions related to IT solutions and managed services as particular subheadings whenever possible. For greater relevance, match the wording of headlines and responses to search requests. The phrases “People also inquire” and “People also seek for” are helpful in this situation.
Implement the proper schema markup and adhere to Google recommended practices: The importance of schema markup in featured snippets is a topic of discussion, as many examples exist without structured data. There are no drawbacks to including structured data on your pages, though. Lists, FAQs, articles, activities for the home, “how to” pages, and other instances serve as specific examples.
3. Do not hesitate to use the opt-out feature.
Rarely do snippets in the top five positions outperform those in the zero position. Position zero may not always be as crucial as getting visitors to a landing page, especially if building brand recognition is not a top concern. Similar to how it might not be feasible in a featured snippet, you might want to display rich snippets in your results.
Track conversions both before and after reaching a zero position whenever you can to identify which situation is best for your web pages. The nosnippet tag can be used to disable featured snippets.
