It’s an uphill battle for any brand to get to the number one spot for Google’s organic search. And simply because it’s challenging doesn’t mean you can’t win. And even though you don’t occupy the number one rank, you always have a chance to outrank it.Are you thinking, how is that possible? Can that be even done? The answer is yes, through a featured snippet.
In this article, we will delve deep into the subject and will also show how to rank for featured snippets.
Understanding featured snippets
Simply put, featured snippets are the short snippets that come right at the top of Google search results for answering the searcher’s query fast. The content that appears within the Featured Snippet gets automatically pulled from the Google index’s web pages. The standard featured snippets include lists, definitions, steps, and tables.
How can you rank for a featured snippet?
If you are an online brand, you should know the ways to rank for featured snippets. Here are a few rules that you can opt-in for.
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You should add the “what is” heading
In order to start the featured snippet optimizations, it’s essential to search for a place in the content, where you can add the “What is” heading tag. It sends a distinct sign to Google that the texts need to get used for the upcoming featured snippets. You must have seen several instances of the pages showcased in the featured snippet using a heading format. When you use this strategy, you will get amazing success rates.
You need to add this close and atop your content in an ideal scenario. When you are writing a blog post, you can add it beneath the introductory paragraph. It is usually an amazing place to add it, as it goes correctly with the content when enabling it to add close to the page top.
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Completely outline the topic within a few sentences
It is one of the most crucial rules to follow. The featured snippet provides the users relevant data concerning the topic as its essential within a limited time. It indicates that your content you intend to optimize should be described in the topic as much as possible within 2 to 3 sentences. Hence, being concise is essential. Here are a couple of guidelines to follow:
- Use the first sentence to define the topic
- The second and third sentences must describe two to three must-known facts concerning the topic
- Try to avert using any added phrasing in the definition
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Match the format of the featured snippet
There are multiple kinds of featured snippets, like paragraph, table, numbered and bulleted list. This rule is highly simple. Any featured snippet that you see on the SERP, should match to your content type. For instance, in case you look at a paragraph featured snippet appears for the phrase or term you intend to optimize, you should find a place for adjusting 2 or 3 sentences of the text. However, if you are coming across a bulleted list, you should add a somewhat similar bulleted list to the page’s content.
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Refrain from using the person language
Making use of the first-person language might be an error because of the voice search ramifications. For instance, let us take the following sentence:
“Our oranges have several health advantages. We have oranges which are a great source of potassium and Vitamin C”. Just imagine if this sentence got read from the voice search. It can confuse the user and make them wonder:
- Who is getting referred as we?
- Does the data apply to only this product?
It might sound like the data that might apply to a specific kind of orange and not the generic ones. Restricting these kinds of phrases can enable you to enhance your scope to get a featured snippet.
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Iterate the optimizations
So, you have written a great on-page content that correctly describes your topic beneath the highlighted “what is” heading at the top page. And you have also steered clear from the first-person and brand terminology. Hence, you have to push the optimization to production and wait for Google to re-index the content. The moment Google gets down to index the new changes, you will find that your page might not be generating the featured snippet. It has often happened to many brands, which made one feel disappointed and not take any further initiative. Remember that it’s not the time when you should stop optimizing. Instead, you should try and iterate the approach and try once again. At times you might have to try a couple of times. And for several of the featured snippets that we get. So, keep trying.
These are a few ways to rank in the Google snippets that will add more visibility to your online brand and enhance its online awareness.
