Featured Snippets in SEO: What You Need To Know

In this article, you will learn more about Featured Snippets, their importance for SEO and how they contribute to Brand SERP Optimisation.

What are Featured Snippets in SEO?

Simple Definition of a Featured Snippet

Featured Snippets in Google, also referred to as “direct answer” or “the answer box,” are short answers provided by Google immediately on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). This is a practical attempt by Google to easily provide the most relevant answer to the user’s search query in a simple way right at the top of the SERP, thus avoiding the need to visit a website.

Here is Google’s explanation about Featured Snippets and your website.

What do Featured Snippets Look Like?

Featured snippets, which are displayed at the very top before the first search result, come in different forms. They can have one of the following forms:

1. Paragraph Featured Snippets provide brief and concise information in a paragraph format.

2. Table Featured Snippets provide the user with answers in a table format for better visualisation of comparisons.

3. List Featured Snippets respond to search queries with either an ordered or unordered list.

4. Video Featured Snippets show video results, usually from YouTube, as the best answer to “how to” queries. 

All of these Featured Snippets can potentially be accompanied by an image, either from the page Google is citing or from another website.

Here is an example of a paragraph featured snippet for the search query ‘‘what is Kalicube Pro:’’

Here are other examples of the form of Featured Snippets.

Can I Dictate Google to Mark My Page as its Featured Snippet?

No, you can’t, because the Featured Snippets are automatically selected by Google’s algorithms from the multitude of pages and passages on the web that answer the user’s question. In other words, Google’s algorithms decide whether your page can be featured as a direct answer to a particular search query or not. 

Nevertheless, there are excellent opportunities to win a place at the top of the table.

Here is an article that explains techniques you can use to increase your chances of getting a Featured Snippet.

How Do Featured Snippets Fit Into Brand SERP Optimisation?

Featured Snippets rarely appear for search queries that match the brand name exactly. Therefore, they are not a major focus for people, company owners and brand managers looking to optimise a Brand SERP. 

However, they often appear for queries about a brand or person, such as “who owns {brand}” or “when was {person} born”. As more and more users research companies and people through Google with various search queries like these instead of visiting the brand’s website, getting the Featured Snippet and dominating the SERP for these brand-related search queries through Featured Snippets is absolutely essential to brand management.

Kalicube Solutions

1. You can learn more about Brand SERPs and how you can control yours and ensure that you keep your potential clients focused on an accurate and convincing depiction of you with The Fundamentals of Brand SERPs for Business by Jason Barnard;
2. You can browse our free resources (hundreds of articles, case studies and how-to’s to help you optimise your Brand SERP and manage your Knowledge Panel;
3. You can sign up for the Kalicube Academy where you can learn more about Rich Elements and how to trigger them in your Brand SERP. We also offer in-depth video-driven courses, resources and quizzes that make optimising your Brand SERP and managing your Knowledge Panel a relatively simple task;
4. You can win a place right at the top of the SERP through Kalicube’s Brand SERP Optimisation Process or opt-for the done-for-you Brand SERP and Knowledge Panel solutions where we do the hard work, identify the solutions and ensure that you achieve your goals and get Google “dancing to your tune.”