How To Optimize Your Blog For Google’s Featured Snippets To Generate More Traffic

For a long time, the main objective of search engine optimization (SEO) was to reach the first position on the search result pages of Google. However, for the past few years, Google has placed results above historical positioning.

This new result location placed in the top position on SERP is called the zero position. The zero position is known by several other names. Here are some of the most common names for this feature:

Google has been improving featured extracts since 2013. The purpose of these blocks of information is to immediately answer questions from Internet users. They are all consistent with Google’s vision of finding useful information quickly, without clicking and wasting time browsing multiple websites.

What Is A Featured Snippet?

Featured snippets are a direct response to the user’s search query, which appears at the top of SERP (search engine results page). It is a relatively new feature that allows the users to receive the answer to their comprehensive query in the search result only without having to visit the website.

A featured snippet result of Google search

These featured snippets take the coveted ‘zero position’ on Google.

Besides the link to the website, the featured snippet box includes an advanced preview, extracted from the content of the landing page, as well as the title.

The extracts are intended to provide the users with a direct answer to the question they have asked.

Unlike Rich Snippets, Featured Snippets are generated automatically, without any markup being necessary.

Where Does The Content Of The Zero-Position Come From?

We often wonder how content displayed in position 0 is generated. Google creates snippets of code at its own discretion, so it’s impossible to force the creation of the featured snippet.

The results are generated organically, depending on the relevance of the information. Google searches for the answer to the question formulated by the internet user on the websites present in its index and determines the best answer to display it to researchers.

Some criteria greatly influence the possibility for a site to find itself in zero position:

Content Of The Zero-Position

The content of a zero-position extract does not necessarily come from the beginning of a page, or even from a single paragraph. Google searches on a full page and can collect a selection of content from the page that responds to the search in a relevant way. Google is even able to reformat content into lists.

The most significant thing to know about the featured extract is that the content comes from the pages listed in traditional organic results on SERP (search engine results page).

If your content is already in a good position on the first page of SERP, your website is likely to be displayed as a featured snippet.

Mostly, featured snippet opportunities come from organic search results placed at positions 1 through 5. So, you don’t have to be the first on Google to reach the zero position.

For some answers, the video format is well suited and often stands out in the Zero position. To increase the chances of appearing there, optimizing the referencing of videos is a necessary step (title, texts, tags, etc.).

What Are The Benefits Of Zero Position In SEO?

The potential advantages of being in position 0 are significant:

SEO managers around the world initially protested that extracts of content jeopardized their traffic and prevented Internet users from visiting their sites. However, in a majority of cases, the display in the top position is positive for a website.

More Traffic - Benefits Of Zero Position In SEO

Studies have shown that the zero position significantly improves traffic and conversions.

In addition to increasing traffic and sales, the zero position is ideal for building brand expertise. When your business provides the definitive answer to a question, the impact is powerful.

An E-commerce site can improve its SEO and visibility by highlighting its expertise on questions from potential customers.

Zero position results are also used in voice search, which can be a valuable asset.

The Impact Of Featured Snippets

According to a 2019 study conducted by SEO experts Rand Fishkin (Founder and Ex-CEO of Moz) in collaboration with Jumpshot (a marketing analysis company), Google received more than 150 billion requests in the first quarter of 2019 in the United States alone, across all platforms (computer, tablet and mobile).

The SEO specialist Rand Fishkin from SparkToro analyzed the data from Jumpshot and obtained the following results:

The Impact Of Featured Snippets

For each click on a paid link, the user will click on average 11.6 times on organic results. According to this same graph, practically every second request gets no click. The study notes, in fact, that on mobile, the rate of “Zero Click” climbs to 61%, which strongly suggests, as mentioned earlier, that Featured Snippets are really optimized for voice search.

Ahrefs studied 2 million Featured Snippets offered and the company discovered that this type of display always generates more traffic than the first organic search result. Featured Excerpts would, therefore, get around 8.6% of clicks that would otherwise go to the first search results.

Wikipedia claims to have lost 21% of its traffic due to Google Featured Snippets.

For its part, Google gets 6% of traffic thanks to the clicks that remain in its huge ecosystem of websites.

What Are The 7 Types Of Zero Positions Displayed On Google?

The extracts offered in the zero position are generally offered in seven common formats:

Instructions And Practical Answers

Instructions, recipes and answers to practical questions occupy a large part of the zero positions present on Google.

The educational content is particularly powerful because it encourages clicks and more time on the page. Depending on the question, you can use text, lists, images and even videos to inform people.

The downside to creating content around what, who and when is that it’s often easy to answer in one or two lines.

Users who are looking for answers to these questions may be satisfied with the proposed extract and not continue their search for information on the site. The questions how and why, on the other hand, easily lend themselves to more advanced answers.

Extracts placed in the zero-position work like teasers and encourage users to learn more by clicking on the link.

Definitions

Definitions, explicitly or implicitly requested, are a good opportunity to display snippets in the zero position.

Comparisons

Lists, tables and texts that compare and contrast two or more items is great content to display in the zero position.

Formatting this type of content is also easier, as it easily lends itself to table format. Just mark your page with the <table> tag and don’t be afraid to include as much relevant information as you can.

If your page reaches the zero position, Google will use this data to create a simplified version of your table.

Prices And Costs Of Products And Services

The display of catalog prices and price comparisons between products are often displayed at the top of the page via Featured Snippets.

Price and comparison lists and tables are elements that can be easily integrated into the content and formatted to appear in the zero position.

Rankings And Lists

One of the most frequently used keywords in search queries and which often displays selected extracts is the word “best”.

Create lists of the best products and explain to your users why certain products, companies, services are better than others.

How To Position Your Site On The Zero Position?

Getting a zero position is not easy. To position yourself, your site and your content must meet specific criteria.

Optimize Your Blog For Google's Featured Snippets

The first step in trying to get the zero position is to identify the right opportunities. Not all search results have a featured snippet at position 0.

If the zero position you are targeting on an issue is occupied by poor quality content and whose domain is no more popular than yours, there is an opportunity to put yours at the top of the results.

Some queries will be answered by top quality and highly authoritative websites in the eyes of Google. These zero positions obtained by other sites will be difficult to dethrone and energy can be put to use on other more accessible requests for the moment.

Create Quality Content

Create Quality Content

The quality of the content is one of the pillars of organic search. Obtaining position 0 can only be done by producing quality content that answers users’ questions.

Structure Your Content

content strategy diagram on a notepad

In natural referencing, position zero or not, it is important to structure your pages and your content in order to facilitate their understanding by Google robots.

Link Building

Link Building

The zero position is mainly obtained by the contents classified in the first 5 results. To increase your chances of placing your site there, you must multiply the content positioned at these positions on as many requests as possible.

The popularity of your site, induced by the quality of the links it receives, will help you get these positions.

Working on the link building of the site, therefore, remains one of the important steps to climb the last steps towards the featured extracts.

Conclusion

Position 0 is an infallible ranking to get ahead of your competitors. You are in front of the first result on the SERPs which brings you an increase in visibility, traffic and ROI.

Increase your chances of ranking for featured snippets by providing direct and concise responses based on the keyword opportunities you discover.

Pay particular attention to the experiences of your readers. It would be best to always write content with featured snippets in mind. Although they are not the ultimate SEO solution, they provide you with excellent results.

Vaibhav Lall

With more than 12 years of experience in digital marketing and consulting, Vaibhav is passionate about helping businesses grow through the strategic use of digital marketing best practices. When he's not busy advising startups, Vaibhav takes delight in listening to Jazz or John Mayer and Coldplay songs. He is also an avid proponent of the practice of mindfulness and starts his day with a calming meditation session. In his free time, Vaibhav can be found in quite corner, reading a Simon Sinek or Ben Horowitz book.