Featured snippets are an organic search feature that now take significant search traffic from the search results below them. These snippets run on a separate algorithm than Google's traditional 200 ranking signals. To understand these signals, HubSpot’s SEO team ran a series of experiments and, together with the blog and web teams, developed a process for featured snippet optimization. The result: a guide with best practices for optimizing your content for Google's featured snippet. Want to learn how HubSpot ranks #1 in Google search results? Take this free HubSpot Academy lesson: https://academy.hubspot.com/lessons/google-seo-tutorial?utm_source=slideshare&utm_medium=how-you-can-win-googles-featured-snippet

1. HOW YOU CAN WIN
GOOGLE’S
FEATURED SNIPPET
A Guide to
Featured Snippet Optimization

2. What is a
Featured Snippet?

3. Let’s ask Google…

4. Where Do Featured
Snippets Typically
Show Up?
Featured Snippets can appear
in three main forms…

5. 1
A paragraph-formatted answer to the searcher’s query
Paragraph Featured Snippet

6. 2 A bulleted or numbered list that answers the searcher’s
query (typically shows up for process-driven, step-by-step,
and list queries)
List Featured Snippet

7. 3 Less often, Google uses a table featured snippet to answer
the search’s query
Table Featured Snippet

8. Alongside featured snippets, there are several other significant
search features that have been frequently appearing in SERPS:
Beyond
Snippets
People
Also Ask

9. Alongside featured snippets, there are several other significant
search features that have been frequently appearing in SERPS:
Beyond
Snippets
Carousel

10. Alongside featured snippets, there are several other significant
search features that have been frequently appearing in SERPS:
Beyond
Snippets
Quick Answer
/Tools

11. Alongside featured snippets, there are several other significant
search features that have been frequently appearing in SERPS:
Beyond
Snippets
Top News
Stories

12. Alongside featured snippets, there are several other significant
search features that have been frequently appearing in SERPS:
Beyond
Snippets
Knowledge
Card

13. Why Should We Care
About Featured Snippets?

14. If you manage to attain the
featured snippet, you can
expect even more clicks
than if you ranked #1 with
no snippet on the SERP.
Featured Snippets Affect
Your Web Traffic
HOWEVER, if you’re not in
the snippet, you will actually
see decreased traffic to
your web page.

15. This is a traditional “10 blue links” SERP with no featured
snippet. On a page like this you can expect:
An
Example

16. This is a traditional “10 blue links” SERP with no featured
snippet. On a page like this you can expect:
An
Example
33%
of total clicks
will go to the
first result

17. This is a traditional “10 blue links” SERP with no featured
snippet. On a page like this you can expect:
An
Example
18%
of total clicks
will go to the
second result

18. This is a traditional “10 blue links” SERP with no featured
snippet. On a page like this you can expect:
An
Example
11%
(or less) of the
total clicks
will go to the
remaining
links

19. But add a featured snippet to the SERP, and this ratio changes.An
Example
cont…

20. But add a featured snippet to the SERP, and this ratio changes.An
Example
cont…
The featured
snippet result will
claim a greater
portion of the total
click pie
YUM!

21. But add a featured snippet to the SERP, and this ratio changes.An
Example
cont…
Leaving crumbs for
results that didn’t
claim the #1 spot

22. And to make matters worse, Google is shrinking the size of
the pie. According to Moz data, almost half of searches today
result in no clicks at all.
An
Example
cont…

23. And to make matters worse, Google is shrinking the size of
the pie. According to Moz data, almost half of searches today
result in no clicks at all.
An
Example
cont…
A side effect of
serving complete
answers directly on
the SERP.

24. Featured Snippets Are
More Prevalent Than Ever
As of late 2017, the number of featured snippets on
SERPs had grown 328% since summer 2015.
By some estimates, approximately 1 in 3 Google
searches now returns a featured snippet.

25. How to Optimize
Your Content for
Featured Snippets

26. 1. Identify your target keywords for your piece of
content, as well as Who, What, When, Where, Why,
and How queries that related to your content
2. Open a new window on incognito and navigate to the
Google search domain you are creating the content
for (Google.com/Google.de/Google.fr etc). Type in
each of the keywords one at a time and see if there is
a featured snippet present
First Steps

27. By using clean and consistent
code throughout your web
page, Google will be able to
more easily read and pull from
your copy for a featured
snippet. The code you should
use varies slightly depending
on the type of snippet
(paragraph or list) you’re trying
to capture.
At the top of your post, add this
clean HTML, filling in the query
question and snippet answer
where appropriate:
Use Clean Code

28. Format Matters
Since Google uses an algorithm to extract content
for the snippets, if something isn’t formatted cleanly
(so it can understand what’s going on), it will skip
that result. You can clean up your header format and
code by doing the following:
• Make sure each post’s hierarchy is h1 (overall page title)
-> h2 (subhead) -> h3 (list items)
• Making sure all numbered lists read “1.” instead of “1)”
• Remove any extraneous or unnecessary tags from the
headers (like <span>, <strong>, etc.)

29. Conclusion
A Recap on How to Optimize
for the Featured Snippet

30. Key Takeaways
• Check if there is a snippet on the SERP and
whether it’s a paragraph or a list
• Add the appropriate featured snippet code to the
top of your page
• Include the query within the answer when possible
• If you’re optimizing for multiple snippets, add
additional code throughout the content (or in a
FAQ at the end)

31. WANT TO
LEARN MORE?
Click for the Full Report
on Featured Snippets