Most people remain extremely confident in some of the earliest results that Google has to offer. Google is one of the only search engines online that introduced a button that automatically goes to the first organic search engine result. This would save the user time and it often presents them with the information they were looking for. If you are looking to optimize for Google’s Featured Snippet here are a few useful tips.
The “I’m feeling lucky” button is still on the Google homepage and with the ranking techniques that new google algorithms are using, many people trust this button to present them with the results they have been looking for. One of the biggest revelations in the use of Google in recent memory is the idea of the featured snippet.
This is a concept that is having many people avoid the “I’m feeling lucky button” in favor of the featured snippet option.
Featured Snippet Explained
Search engine results that are positioned before the original classic 10 blue links are called featured snippet results. The overall goal of positions your result is to provide the user with a direct answer to the query that they have typed into the search bar. This is the direct answer to the question and there’s no reason why a user has to click on the website to access the info.
featured snippet results are utilized by Google assistant and these are often the answers that you receive when doing a search through voice search.
How To Get To Featured Snippet
Getting to featured snippet often involves the use of featured snippets, answer boxes and knowledge graphs. Featured snippets are designed as excerpts that are taken directly from the text on your page. In order to receive the featured snippet, the page ranking has to be within the first 10 of basic search engine results and the content needs to be optimized for a specific list, paragraph 4 table.
Google will capture an excerpt from the text published on the website that it has determined is likely to answer the query of the user, it displays this above search engine results in a quick answer format.
For quick answers like “When was Julius Caesar born?” Google positions your result to display the date in plain text without the need for someone to load the full site. It’s also likely that a series of related questions will be answered underneath the first drop-down.
Many website owners are now concerned with the idea of getting into these answer box results. As there are answer boxes for applications like song lyrics, definitions, the weather, sports league statistics, stock prices, time zones and more, there are more opportunities to include your content in Featured snippet results.
Who are Featured Snippets for?
Featured snippets are an excellent tool for users to access quick information. They can be accessed on almost any device and they are lowering the total number of clicks that a user has to make in order to access the data that they need. In 2019 search clicks cut in half and this has created a massive number of efficiency improvements for the average web user.
The lack of clicks can be detrimental to many content publishers that are hoping that users will load their entire page however. Featured snippets are changing the way that traffic comes in for many people that have been working on top SEO results for years. The click-through rate on various devices is lowering for these users and this means optimizing their page in a whole new way to focus instead on positioning your results rather than a click-through strategy.
How to ensure your site gets clicks
Build Better Content
Focusing on your content will make sure that any of the basic answers that are provided by your site will spark a user to check out the long-form answer you provided. Zero click searches can serve as a precursor to other quality answers you might have on your website. Having in-depth content on your site that answers a question well, or adds new information that could be closely related to featured snippet results can be an excellent strategy.
Improve Keyword Research
Not every keyword within your niche will have a query that is going to be easily accessible through search engine results. Finding ways that you can access Google’s answer boxes through keyword research could be a great way that you could capture new results and extra clicks from this new optimization strategy.
Remember That This System Will Continue To Change
Google is likely to continue expanding these types of results. Users across the world are now becoming dependent on these types of results for their google searches. Expecting Google to get more sophisticated in its optimization techniques is an important step forward. Working around future changes to featured snippet results will make sure that you can keep capturing new traffic. Working to optimize for Google’s Featured Snippet is pertinent for this new traffic.
If you want to improve your chances of being in a featured snippet for a Google search and overall more organic traffic to your website, contact us today to set up a free consultation!
