How to Get Seen on Google’s Featured Snippets

What is a Featured Snippet?

It is a daily struggle to keep up to date with everything that is Google. Updates are published that only the most tech savvy have a clue of understanding. Different text boxes, images and links pop up at the top of Google on a weekly basis! One of the features that has been around for a while now, however, is the Featured Snippets section. It is an “answer box” for questions when they are asked online. An ideal way to get a quick answer and they are great on mobile devices. But who gets to have their links listed as answers to these questions? Here are some ideas on how to get seen on Google’s Featured Snippets, what you could do that would work well with your own website.

If you are searching for an answer to a question, then the chances are the answer box that may show up could be Wikipedia. This, along will other major websites will most probably take precedence. However, if your website ranks well and you include questions, bullet points, videos and images that are relevant to someone’s question, then you stand a slightly better chance of being seen. And this power is great for getting people finding you online. You only have to start showing in Featured Snippets and this will increase the strength of your own website.

Keyword Research is a MUST

If you rank in the top ten for your keyword search, then this will definitely go in your favour. So find a way to gain loads of great longtail keywords that may not even be that competitive – a great starting point for ideas on what to write about as well!

And research shows that it will be a concise answer to a question that will help to get you seen. A paragraph of text that answers the question asked. So think about the sorts of questions that will be asked for something in your industry and answer them well.

But don’t think you post or page must just be one paragraph. Google is clever and will spot an answer within your text. Ensure that you have the question as your sub heading and you have one paragraph for the answer. Try and keep this in mind with all your content writing. Google loves a question and answer, so be innovative, be clever and keep writing about what is relevant for your products and your market.

Videos also do well

Videos will work well on Google’s featured snippets, but not so much with images. Below is an example, (this is a weird analogy for an example we know) – it was the first thing that popped into our heads! (After how to tie a bow tie…)

Is your SEO effective?

Ensure you have all your SEO (search engine optimisation) in great condition. Make sure you have relevant SEO titles, meta descriptions, labelled images and lots of lovely strong keyword within your text. But do not stuff the text with irrelevant wording – this won’t help your website at all! You bring your ranking up with a great online marketing campaign and this will go towards being seen in so many ways.

“People Also Ask” Section

This is yet another section that Google have introduced, which gives you variations on your search enquiry. If you click on one of the questions, then it will keep offering other listed ideas. So just because you may not appear in the top Featured Snippets Box, does not mean that you won’t appear. If you have lots of relevant information on your website, appertaining to what you do then you will become a great knowledge in your field and potential customers will keep revisiting.

How to Get Seen on Google’s Featured Snippets

A summary:

Our easy ways and suggestions on how to get seen on Google’s Featured Snippets are as follows:

1. Keyword rich blog posts and pages
2. Title your posts with something relevant
3. Use sub headings that are keyword rich
4. Keep your answers concise, interesting and informative
5. If possible, include videos within your website
6. Always ensure your SEO is at the top of it’s game

As with all that relates to organic marketing, sometimes whatever you do doesn’t quite hit the mark. But keep going, as your knowledge will grow and you become more and more experienced in what you do. Product knowledge for what you are marketing will shine through on your blog posts and people WILL return to see what else you have written.

As we say, Google is always updating what you see, how you search and the way it formats its answers. It is no wonder people get confused! The whole aim of what we write at Sokada, is for people to understand these changes, in an easy to read way. Please get in touch if you have any questions or comments about what we write. Thanks for reading!