A featured snippet is a short snippet of text that appears at the top of Google’s search results in order to quickly answer a searcher’s query.
Google extracts the content of a featured snippet from web pages in Google’s index. Common types of featured snippets are definitions, tables, steps and lists.
SEO experts call the position of featured snippets “position 0” because they appear before the number one ranked spot in the Google search results list.
Since searchers find the information sought in the snippet, they often won’t click on the other results on the list, giving an “unfair advantage” to the web page with the snippet. (At the whim of Google.) On the other hand, the searcher also might not click on the snippet, since it might be sufficient to satisfy their search intent.
Including names of the company’s products in the snippet might be helpful. For example, Eagle brand publishes a simple fudge recipe with Eagle Condensed Milk listed as an ingredient. The recipe could be featured by Google as a snippet.
(Example of a featured snippet – 7 Characteristics of an Ideal Partner.)
Featured snippets are controversial. Companies claim Google infringes their copyrights by using their content in search results without consent.
You can position a list of steps to be a featured snippet by to flagging each line with an H2 or H3 html code and writing “Step 1, Step 2, etc.” at the beginning of each line.
Think of questions your audience is likely to ask. Then frame that information as featured snippets on your web site.
Would you like some help better defining your ideal customer? Please contact me at mgray@profitadvisors.com to arrange a complimentary initial consultation.