Our latest article considers some recent research done on featured snippets. Firstly we’ll take a look at what these are incase anyone is unaware and we’ll look at some interesting facts the study has found with a view to deciding whether featured snippets can help boost your SEO rankings and campaign.
Firstly, what are featured snippets?
When someone searches for a word, they don’t always automatically get the organic search results and the paid adverts displayed initially. You may have seen featured snippets but have been unaware of what they actually are. Simply put, these are a shortened version of an answer to a question, put by a person who uses the search facility. This ‘answer’ normally appears in a box above the main listings and because it provides a short answer, it is thus a featured snippet. In effect, a featured snippet is at position 0 so it is the king of everything else displayed. Research and commentary from Google suggest that 99% of all entries as featured snippets are ranking on page 1 anyway, so it is not like you can hope to use this as a boost if you are on the lower pages. We will provide some of the best tips to give yourself the chance to appear as a featured snippet later.
What does the research say?
The research has found some quite interesting results, some of which you may want to factor and think about with regards to your own campaigns.
- Around 35% of all clicks are those from feature snippets. This proves they are popular and why being at ‘position 0’ really does get you noticed.
- If your featured snippet is highly informative a user is more likely to click on it.
- Featured snippets give a better click through rate, and this is what would be expected, especially when point 1 is taken into account.
However:
- Those people that prefer to use the search engines for the natural search results would rather use those than click on a feature snippets.
- Around a quarter of people think a featured snippet is an advert and so will avoid clicking on it.
Despite points 4 and 5, the evidence clearly shows that featured snippets boost traffic. Being the first thing you notice on a page which stands out from everything else, is bound to be eye catching and allure the inquisitive mind.
How do I get to be showcased as a featured snippet entry?
When writing content, there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of having one of your pages become a featured snippet.
* Ensure keywords are used to the best ability whilst keeping your content piece authoritative and unique. Avoid over-using keywords as spammy content will have little chance.
* If you content can lean itself to the style of answering a question then it is more likely it could be used as a featured snippet. Don’t purposely do this though so it looks un-natural.
* Remember the layout of your content. If you are writing a continuous piece of wording without paragraphs or headings, the search engines cannot hardly be expected to break this down into featured snippet sections.
* Remember that sometimes it can be down to trial and error or simply luck!
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On behalf of all the team, we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, with best wishes for 2021!