How to Dominate Google with Featured Snippets

A Complete Guide

Featured snippets are one of the most coveted and powerful SEO opportunities today. They are the special boxes that appear at the top of the search results, providing a quick and direct answer to a user’s query. They can drive massive amounts of traffic, authority, and conversions to your website, if you know how to get them.

But how do you target and win featured snippets for your website? What are the best practices and strategies to optimize your content for them? And what are the common pitfalls and challenges that you need to avoid?

In this blog post, we will answer all these questions and more. We will show you how to dominate Google with featured snippets in six simple steps. Let’s dive in.

Step 1: Understand the types and triggers of featured snippets

The first step to target and win featured snippets is to understand what they are, how they work, and what triggers them.

There are four main types of featured snippets that Google shows depending on the intent and format of the query:

• Paragraph: This is the most common type of featured snippet, where Google shows a text excerpt from a web page that answers the query. It usually appears for informational queries that can be answered in a few sentences, such as definitions, explanations, or facts.
• List: This is the second most common type of featured snippet, where Google shows a list of items from a web page that answers the query. It can be either numbered or bulleted, depending on the order and structure of the list. It usually appears for queries that involve steps, instructions, tips, examples, or options.
• Table: This is a less common type of featured snippet, where Google shows a table from a web page that answers the query. It usually appears for queries that involve data, statistics, comparisons, or prices.
• Video: This is a rare type of featured snippet, where Google shows a video from YouTube or another platform that answers the query. It usually shows a specific section of the video that is relevant to the query, along with a timestamp. It usually appears for queries that involve visual or auditory information, such as tutorials, demonstrations, or reviews.

To target and win featured snippets, you need to match your content type and format with the type of featured snippet that Google shows for your target query. For example, if you want to rank for “how to make pizza dough”, you need to create a list-based content that provides clear and concise steps.

But how do you know what type of featured snippet Google shows for your target query? The easiest way is to simply search for it on Google and see what comes up. You can also use tools like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer¹ or Moz’s Keyword Explorer to see the SERP features for any keyword.

Another important thing to understand is what triggers featured snippets. According to a study by Ahrefs, 99.58% of featured snippets come from pages that already rank in the top 10 results for the query. This means that you need to have high-quality and relevant content that ranks well on Google before you can target featured snippets.

Moreover, according to another study by SEMrush, 41% of questions and 29% of prepositions trigger featured snippets. This means that you need to target long-tail keywords that have question words (who, what, when, where, why, how) or prepositions (for, with, without, near, etc.) in them.

Step 2: Find and prioritize featured snippet opportunities

The next step to target and win featured snippets is to find and prioritize featured snippet opportunities for your website.

There are two main ways to find featured snippet opportunities:

• Analyze your existing rankings: You can use tools like Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, or Moz’s Rank Tracker to see which keywords your website already ranks for in the top 10 results. Then you can filter them by SERP features and see which ones have featured snippets. These are your low-hanging fruit opportunities because you already have some authority and relevance for these keywords.
• Analyze your competitors’ rankings: You can also use tools like Ahrefs’ Content Explorer or Moz’s Keyword Explorer to see which keywords your competitors rank for in the top 10 results with featured snippets. These are your gap analysis opportunities because you can identify keywords that you don’t rank for yet but have high potential.

Once you have a list of keywords with featured snippet opportunities, you need to prioritize them based on their value and difficulty. You can use metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, organic traffic potential, click-through rate (CTR), and conversion rate (CR) to evaluate each keyword.

A good way to prioritize your keywords is to use a scoring system that assigns a value and a difficulty score to each keyword based on these metrics. Then you can calculate the opportunity score by dividing the value score by the difficulty score. The higher the opportunity score, the higher the priority.

For example, you can use a scoring system like this:

• Value score: Search volume x CTR x CR
• Difficulty score: Keyword difficulty x (100 – organic traffic potential)
• Opportunity score: Value score / Difficulty score

You can use tools like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer or Moz’s Keyword Explorer to get the data for these metrics and calculate the scores.

Step 3: Create and optimize content for featured snippets

The third step to target and win featured snippets is to create and optimize content for featured snippets.

There are some general best practices that you should follow when creating and optimizing content for featured snippets, such as:

• Answer the query directly and concisely: You need to provide a clear and direct answer to the query in your content, preferably in the first paragraph or section. You also need to keep your answer concise and to the point, as Google tends to favor shorter and simpler answers for featured snippets. According to a study by SEMrush, the optimal length of a featured snippet is 40 to 60 words.
• Use headings and subheadings: You need to use headings and subheadings to structure your content and make it easy for Google and users to scan and understand. You also need to use keywords and variations in your headings and subheadings, as Google may use them to generate featured snippets. According to a study by Ahrefs, 36% of featured snippets are generated from headings.
• Use lists, tables, and images: You need to use lists, tables, and images to format your content and make it more engaging and informative. You also need to use keywords and variations in your lists, tables, and images, as Google may use them to generate featured snippets. According to a study by Ahrefs, 19% of featured snippets are generated from lists, 16% from tables, and 12% from images.
• Use schema markup: You need to use schema markup to add structured data to your content and help Google understand it better. Schema markup can also help you enhance your appearance in the SERPs with rich results, such as ratings, reviews, prices, etc. You can use tools like Schema.org or Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to generate schema markup for your content.

There are also some specific best practices that you should follow when creating and optimizing content for each type of featured snippet, such as:

• Paragraph: You need to provide a clear and direct answer to the query in the first paragraph or section of your content. You also need to use question words or prepositions in your query and in your content, as they tend to trigger paragraph snippets.
• List: You need to provide a clear and direct answer to the query in the form of a numbered or bulleted list in your content. You also need to use words like “steps”, “ways”, “tips”, “types”, etc. in your query and in your content, as they tend to trigger list snippets.
• Table: You need to provide a clear and direct answer to the query in the form of a table in your content. You also need to use words like “data”, “statistics”, “comparison”, “price”, etc. in your query and in your content, as they tend to trigger table snippets.
• Video: You need to provide a clear and direct answer to the query in the form of a video on YouTube or another platform in your content. You also need to use words like “how”, “why”, “what”, etc. in your query and in your content, as they tend to trigger video snippets.

Step 4: Monitor and measure your featured snippet performance

The fourth step to target and win featured snippets is to monitor and measure your featured snippet performance.

You need to track and analyze how your featured snippets are performing in terms of rankings, traffic, conversions, etc. You also need to identify any issues or opportunities that may affect your featured snippet performance.

There are some tools that you can use to monitor and measure your featured snippet performance, such as:

• Google Search Console: This is a free tool from Google that helps you monitor and optimize your website’s performance on Google Search. You can use it to see how many impressions, clicks, CTRs, and positions you get for your keywords with featured snippets. You can also see how many errors or warnings you have for your structured data.
• Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker: This is a paid tool from Ahrefs that helps you track and analyze your website’s rankings for any keyword on any search engine. You can use it to see how many keywords with featured snippets your rank for in the top 10 results with featured snippets. You can also see how your featured snippets change over time and how they compare with your competitors.
• Moz’s STAT: This is a paid tool from Moz that helps you track and analyze your website’s SERP features for any keyword on any search engine. You can use it to see how many keywords with featured snippets you rank for in the top 10 results, as well as their types, formats, sources, and positions. You can also see how your featured snippets fluctuate over time and how they differ across different devices and locations.

Step 5: Test and experiment with your featured snippets

The fifth step to target and win featured snippets is to test and experiment with your featured snippets.

You need to constantly test and experiment with different aspects of your featured snippets, such as the content, the format, the length, the keywords, etc. You also need to monitor the results and measure the impact of your changes on your performance.

There are some tools that you can use to test and experiment with your featured snippets, such as:

• Google’s Rich Results Test: This is a free tool from Google that helps you test and validate your structured data for rich results, including featured snippets. You can use it to see how Google renders your structured data and whether it is eligible for rich results. You can also use it to debug any errors or warnings that may affect your rich results.
• Google’s Search Console URL Inspection Tool: This is a free tool from Google that helps you inspect and troubleshoot any issues with your web pages on Google Search. You can use it to see how Google crawls, indexes, and ranks your web pages, as well as whether they are eligible for any SERP features, including featured snippets. You can also use it to request a recrawl or reindex of your web pages after making any changes.
• Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool: This is a free tool from Google that helps you test and validate your structured data for any web page. You can use it to see how Google extracts and displays your structured data, as well as whether it has any errors or warnings that may affect your SEO.
• Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper: This is a free tool from Google that helps you generate and add structured data to your web pages. You can use it to select the type of structured data that you want to add, such as article, product, event, etc., and then tag the relevant elements on your web page. The tool will then generate the schema markup code that you can copy and paste into your HTML code.

Step 6: Keep up with the latest trends and updates on featured snippets

The final step to target and win featured snippets is to keep up with the latest trends and updates on featured snippets.

You need to stay updated on the latest developments and changes that Google makes regarding featured snippets, such as new types, formats, features, algorithms, etc. You also need to follow the best practices and guidelines that Google provides for featured snippets.

There are some resources that you can use to keep up with the latest trends and updates on featured snippets, such as:

• Google’s Webmaster Central Blog: This is the official blog from Google that provides news and updates on Google Search and its features, including featured snippets. You can use it to learn about the latest announcements, changes, tips, and insights from Google regarding featured snippets.
• Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines: This is a document from Google that provides guidelines for evaluating the quality of web pages and search results, including featured snippets. You can use it to understand how Google defines and measures quality, relevance, authority, trustworthiness, etc. for featured snippets.
• Google’s Featured Snippets Help Center: This is a help center from Google that provides answers to frequently asked questions about featured snippets. You can use it to learn about the basics of featured snippets, such as what they are, how they work, how they are generated, etc. You can also use it to troubleshoot any issues or problems that you may have with featured snippets.
• SEO Blogs and Podcasts: There are many SEO blogs and podcasts that provide valuable information and insights on featured snippets and other SEO topics. Some of the ones that we recommend are Ahrefs Blog, Moz Blog, Backlinko Blog, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, The Search Engine Show, The SEO Podcast, etc.

Conclusion

Featured snippets are one of the most coveted and powerful SEO opportunities today. They can help you dominate Google with massive amounts of traffic, authority, and conversions.

To target and win featured snippets for your website, you need to follow these six steps:

• Understand the types and triggers of featured snippets
• Find and prioritize featured snippet opportunities
• Create and optimize content for featured snippets
• Monitor and measure your featured snippet performance
• Test and experiment with your featured snippets
• Keep up with the latest trends and updates on featured snippets

We hope that this blog post has given you a complete guide on how to target and win featured snippets for your website.

If you need more help with featured snippets or any other aspect of SEO, feel free to contact us. We are a team of SEO experts who can help you dominate Google with featured snippets and other SEO strategies.

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