Featured snippets

Featured snippets are the boxed answers Google shows at the top of many SERPs, before the regular results. Also called "Position Zero." Winning one can double your CTR for that query.

Types of featured snippets

• Paragraph, a 40-60 word text answer
• List, bulleted or numbered items (often for "how to" queries)
• Table, comparative data
• Video, usually from YouTube

Roughly 60% of all featured snippets are paragraphs.

The anatomy of a snippet-earning page

The question-answer structure

1. Use the query verbatim as an H2 (e.g., "What is SEO?")
2. Immediately below, answer the query in 40-60 words
3. Below the short answer, elaborate

Example:

<h2>What is SEO?</h2>
<p>SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of earning traffic from unpaid search results by improving a website's visibility and ranking in search engines like Google. It combines technical, on-page, and off-page tactics to make pages more findable.</p>
<p>[elaboration continues...]</p>

List-style snippet optimization

For "how to" and "steps to" queries:

1. H2 using the query
2. Ordered (or unordered) list with each step
3. Keep steps concise; detail below if needed

Table-style snippet optimization

For "X vs Y" and comparative queries:

• Include an actual HTML <table> with clear column headers
• Keep it simple. 3-5 rows, 2-4 columns

Who wins featured snippets

Almost always a page ranking in the top 5 organically. Google picks from pages it already trusts. So: rank first, then optimize for the snippet.

Tips that compound

• Use the query in your H2. Verbatim. Including punctuation.
• Keep the direct answer tight. 40-60 words. Not 120.
• Use structured markup sparingly. Snippets come from the body HTML, not usually from JSON-LD (except for some types).
• Include a relevant image near the answer. Google sometimes pulls an image into the snippet.
• Answer multiple related queries on one page. One page can earn multiple snippets.

Watch out

• "Snippet hijacking." Your competitor might steal your snippet by writing a tighter answer to the same question. Defend by iterating.
• Zero-click traffic. Sometimes Google shows the answer and users don't click. For informational queries where conversion isn't the goal, this can be a loss. Snippets help more for questions that lead to deeper intent.
• Opt-out. You can tell Google not to show a snippet from your page via nosnippet meta tag. Rarely worth it.

Measuring

Search Console shows impressions and CTR per query. A sudden CTR bump on a query often means you won a snippet. Rank-tracking tools (Ahrefs, SEMrush) also track snippet wins.