A featured snippet is the box that appears at the very top of Google search results, showing a direct answer to a search query. It’s pulled from a web page and displayed before the regular search results. Ranking here is sometimes called “position zero” because it’s above everything else.
Types of Featured Snippets
- Paragraph: A short text answer to a question
- List: A numbered or bulleted list of steps or items
- Table: Data organized in rows and columns
- Video: A clip from YouTube answering the query
Why Featured Snippets Matter
Getting a featured snippet sends a huge amount of traffic your way. Even if someone doesn’t click through, they see your site’s name as the authority. For voice search, the snippet answer is often what gets read aloud.
How to Optimize for Featured Snippets
- Answer a specific question clearly in the first few sentences of a section
- Use the question as an H2 heading, then answer it directly below
- Format lists properly with HTML list tags
- Keep answers concise: 40-60 words is typical for paragraph snippets
Related: SERP
