In our final episode of 2022, Crystal discusses how featured snippets present up in a number of totally different components of the SERP, providing you with a number of good worth for natural attain, and find out how to declare these alternatives to your current content material.

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Video Transcription

Hello, my title is Crystal Carter. Welcome to my Whiteboard Friday. I’m the Head of search engine marketing Communications at Wix, and right now I’ll discuss to you about featured snippets. Particularly, I’ll discuss to you about how one can get featured snippets for current content material.

Now, earlier than I get into that, I might like to speak to you about why we needs to be fascinated by featured snippets for current content material, and that is as a result of featured snippets present up in a number of totally different components of the SERP. So they offer you a number of good worth for natural attain.

If you happen to’re unsure what a featured snippet is, when you Google one thing like, “what’s a featured snippet,” you really get a featured snippet, and it is a kind of extract of textual content from an internet site. And beneath of it, it will say that it is a featured snippet, and that is how you recognize it is a featured snippet.

Now, the content material from a featured snippet can present in a number of totally different components of search once you’re on-line. So it can present within the neat featured snippet, and it’d embody a picture, it’d embody a paragraph, it’d embody another parts, which I will go into a bit of bit later. However it additionally may present in a featured snippet dropdown. So featured snippets are always altering. All the time they’re including new options and trialing new options. However one of many options that we have seen, as an illustration, when you search for what’s a featured snippet, I’ve seen it earlier than, the place it has the principle paragraph, which says what a featured snippet is, after which it will break it down additional, so find out how to get a featured snippet and find out how to optimize for that kind of factor. So it can break it down into totally different sections, and beneath every part, there’s extra content material, which when you click on on it, leads you to a different featured snippet.

There’s additionally the Individuals Additionally Ask part of Google. So beneath Individuals Additionally Ask, there is likely to be, extra questions on a given matter, significantly when you’re trying to find a head time period, like say, I do not know, sneakers, there is likely to be kind of: What sneakers ought to I purchase? Or the place can I get sneakers? Or is a sandal a shoe? That kind of factor may present up in Individuals Additionally Ask. These typically include featured snippets as effectively.

You may additionally get a featured snippet once you make a voice question. You may additionally get a featured snippet once you search on Google Lens.

You may additionally get the content material from a featured snippet inside the from sources throughout the online accordions, which present up for sure matter queries. So, as an illustration, when you have been to question one thing like “Seven Wonders of the World,” you may get one thing that claims, “From sources across the net,” and has kind of the Pyramids of Giza. After which when you click on on that, there will be a number of little bits of content material, and people will typically be pulled from featured snippets.

You may additionally see a featured snippet beneath a data panel dropdown. So, as an illustration, when you have been to search for, once more, one thing just like the Pyramids of Giza, it may need a bit about totally different components of that specific question, and people will embody totally different dropdowns, and beneath these dropdowns, you’ll typically see featured snippet content material. And, in fact, the data panel will fairly often pull content material from featured snippets.

So, with all of that chance to realize natural attain and to realize natural visibility, it is actually price optimizing content material for featured snippets.

Now, if in case you have content material that you simply suppose has the potential to get a featured snippet, i.e., that it appeals to some good, juicy lengthy tail key phrases, and that it is of top of the range, you might very effectively suppose, “Oh, this specific search end result that this web page is rating for has a featured snippet. Possibly I might get it.” If you happen to’re unsure the place to start out about find out how to get on that featured snippet, then here is a couple of ideas that are inclined to work.

So it is a little little bit of a call tree, and I am simply going to speak you thru a bit of little bit of it. So very first thing you must take into consideration is your formatting, so headers. This is not rocket science. That is traditional search engine marketing tooling. So your headers, your H1s, your H2s, your H3, are they related? Are they current? Are they breaking down the content material in a number of good methods? If they don’t seem to be, then you must replace that. Okay, if they’re, when you do have headers, H1s, H2s, then ensure that they have related terminology in them. We are able to suppose key phrases, but in addition you may suppose extra naturally, like pure language. Pure language processing is turning into much more intuitive inside Google, and so they’re capable of perceive a number of nuances of language. So just remember to’ve together with one thing that is related, that continues to inform the story of regardless of the matter is that you simply’re overlaying.

One other factor which you can take into consideration, and this additionally helps you with Individuals Additionally Ask, is whether or not or not you may phrase the headers as questions. So, as an illustration, when you have been to consider the pyramids, as an illustration, you may say, “When is an efficient time to go to go to the pyramids?” as an illustration. That is likely to be one thing that you simply may need to embody. If you happen to can write it as a query, generally that may assist with queries, like, as an illustration, inside the voice search and likewise with Individuals Additionally Ask.

Now, as soon as you’ve got performed all of that, you need to go to the subsequent factor. So when you go to headers and also you say, “Sure, we have performed all of this,” then we take a look at info and information units. Once I say info and information units, I do not imply like large, enormous information units and like 17 spreadsheets with a number of tabs and VLOOKUPs and all that stuff. I imply lists. As an example, when you have been to say, “Ought to I put on sandals or ought to I put on sneakers,” for instance, that may be one thing that you would examine and you would say, “Effectively, is the climate like this? Or is that this like that? Or is that like that? Or is that like that?” That is a set of knowledge that you would placed on a desk, as an illustration. Or when you have been to say, “What various kinds of sneakers are there, sandals, heels, trainers whichever,” then that is additionally a sort of knowledge set. So if in case you have information, if in case you have a listing inside your content material, then you definitely may need to take into consideration whether or not or not you would embody extra lists or extra in your content material, and that is likely to be one thing you need to take into consideration.

If you’re doing that, then you definitely need to take into consideration together with HTML lists. So not simply listed within the paragraph, but in addition listed out particularly inside lists. These could be as ordered lists or as unordered lists. So an unordered record inside HTML has an HTML tag of ul, and then you definitely would be capable to make that as bullet factors. If you happen to’re capable of put in an ordered record, one, two, three, 4, like prime 10 ideas for XYZ, then you definitely would be capable to put that in as an ordered record, and that is one thing that you would put in your HTML. What occurs with Google, with their featured snippets is usually they pull out the record and they’ll put that onto the featured snippet there. So if in case you have it in your content material, then you definitely’re extra prone to present for featured snippets.

One other factor you may take into consideration is tables. So I discussed a number of the tables. Google generally inside their featured snippets will present the tables within the SERP. So if in case you have content material that may very well be put right into a desk, it is price fascinated by that as effectively.

So once you’re fascinated by your information units and once you’re fascinated by the info and the data that you’ve got in your content material, take into consideration if there is a method which you can make it extra snackable with ordered lists. Take into consideration if there is a method which you can make it extra snackable with tables. If you have not performed that but, then you must replace your content material in order that it consists of that. In case you have performed that, then you may transfer on to the subsequent step.

So the subsequent step is to consider related photos. Does it include related photos? This may be an illustration, or this may be photographs of no matter it’s you are speaking about. Generally after I communicate to folks about this, they are saying, “Oh, effectively, we’re in a vertical that does not have loads of photographs.” That is high quality. That is okay. You may make infographics as effectively. You may make diagrams as effectively. These will help you for featured snippets. They’ll additionally aid you with a number of different components of the SERP. One of many options that exhibits up very repeatedly inside featured snippets is a picture carousel. Generally Google will combine and match the content material in them. So, for a featured snippet, you may see a paragraph from one web site and a picture from one other one. So even if in case you have the featured snippet, you may not have all the parts of the featured snippet.

Now, when you do have a picture in your featured snippet, then you definitely’re extra prone to present for each the paragraph and the picture. So if you do not have pictures in your content material, you must add them. If you happen to’re not capable of take a photograph, then you must create a diagram that’s related to your content material.

The opposite one you need to take into consideration is ensuring that any pictures that you’ve got in your content material embody related attributes, like your alt tags, your title names, your file names, your file codecs to your pictures, in order that they are often listed and crawled appropriately. Additionally you need to take into consideration entities, any pictures in your web site that include related entities, which may additionally aid you with visible search. Shout-out to my final Whiteboard Friday on that.

If you happen to’ve performed all of that, then you definitely need to take into consideration ensuring that you’ve got schema markup in your pictures, as a result of that will even provide you with one other ingredient. Now, only a slight sidebar, schema markup isn’t part of the standards for featured snippets. You do not want to have schema markup in your web site to get a featured snippet. Nonetheless, anecdotally, loads of web sites which have schema markup are inclined to carry out effectively for featured snippets. So what the schema does is it helps Google to grasp your picture higher, which makes it extra doubtless for it to point out a picture search, which makes it extra prone to present in a featured snippet.

So if you do not have this stuff in place, then you must add these to your content material as effectively. If you happen to do, then I’d say that it is price ensuring that you’re maintaining a tally of your featured snippets and maintaining a tally of your content material to see if there’s any of this stuff that may be optimized as you go alongside.

As soon as you’ve got performed that, it is price checking the place your content material is being distributed, whether or not you are exhibiting for a featured snippet, whether or not you are exhibiting for Individuals Additionally Ask, whether or not there’s different components of the SERP that you simply is likely to be featured on so as to probably construct on that with both extra content material or with enriching this content material additional.

These are my suggestions for find out how to optimize current content material for featured snippets.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com