Featured snippets have grown to become an integral part of Google’s SERPs. Many search queries have featured snippets, making it easier for searchers to find the answer to their questions. They benefit the searcher and businesses who want their site at the top of search results. If you target featured snippets in your content or webpages, your site can quickly jump to the top of search results despite their traditional rankings. But what exactly are featured snippets, and how can our websites appear for them? Keep reading for strategies that will help you optimize your site for featured snippets.
What are Featured Snippets?
Featured snippets are short text excerpts that appear at the top of a Google search results page and are used to quickly answer a searcher’s query. The content inside the snippets is pulled from relevant web pages in Google’s index.
Featured snippets are important to SEO because they can increase your site’s organic search without having high rankings.
What are the Different Types of Featured Snippets?
There are four types of featured snippets that often appear in search results:
Lists: you can typically see a bulleted list in featured snippets. They may display the steps or “how-to” to something, rank things, or present an unordered list of items. 
Table: Google may pull data from a relevant webpage and display it in a table to compare and contrast certain information.
Definitions: The definition featured snippet presents the searcher with a concise description that provides information about their query.
Videos: Google may present a video to a searcher’s query if it provides the best answer. 
How Can You Optimize for Featured Snippets?
Although there is no guarantee that your webpage will appear for featured snippets, creating high-quality, targeted content can increase your chances.
Keyword Research
Keyword Research is essential for any SEO strategy and could help you increase your chances of appearing in featured snippets. Use your top keywords and plug them into a search query to see what results appear on Google. Identify which keywords have featured snippets; these would be the keywords to focus on since we know Google wants to show a snippet for that term.
High-Quality Content
Now that we know which keywords to use, we want to create objective, high-quality content. Your content should be clear, concise and provide valuable information to the keyword query you are targeting. It should be easy to read with engaging elements.
Structured data can also help search engines recognize and understand your content, leading to rich snippets. Schema markups improve not only your SERP rankings but also your chances of securing a featured snippet.
Effective Headings
Utilize headings to your advantage. Using headings and subheadings can improve the quality of your content by improving its flow, clarity, and readability. They could also be another way to incorporate targeted keywords.
Contact Boston Web Marketing
Let us get your website a featured snippet! Our SEO Specialists at Boston Web Marketing can help you and your business rank higher in search engines, driving traffic to your website and increasing conversions. Contact our team to get started today!