What is a Google Featured Snippet?
Have you noticed that some of your Google searches produce an informational box with the answer to your search query above the organic search results? For example, a search for “how many counties in the U.S.” returns a Google snippet telling you that there are 3,006 counties. This snippet quotes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s website and provides a link to the answer. A somewhat new feature on Google within the past few years, that box is called a featured snippet.
It’s All in Your Formatting!
Google snippets take three different forms:
- Text: This type of snippet contains a sentence or paragraph answering your query.
- Table: This type of snippet provides a table with data to answer your query.
- List: This snippet provides a bulleted list of things or steps to respond to your query.
If you want to land a featured snippet, you will want to format your content in one of those three forms.
Additional Content Tips for Featured Snippets
- Put yourself in users’ shoes and write your content as they would type their question into Google.
- Be brief and direct. Write concise content and try to stay between 40 – 50 words in length.
Looking for more detail? Check out our blog about how to rank in Google’s featured snippets: https://www.fasturtle.com/how-to-rank-in-googles-featured-snippets/
