Featured Snippet Analysis

Steal rankings & gain traffic

Learn how to use featured snippets to fill gaps in the market and usurp your competitors’ rankings.

What is a featured snippet?

Google says:

“Featured snippets are special boxes where the format of a regular search result is reversed, showing the descriptive snippet first.”

“They can also appear within a related questions group (also known as People Also Ask).”

They can display as a:

• Paragraph

• Numbered list

• Bullet list

• Table

• Video

How are featured snippets chosen?

Google says:

“We display featured snippets when our systems determine this format will help people more easily discover what they’re seeking, both from the description about the page and when they click on the link to read the page itself. They’re especially helpful for those on mobile or searching by voice.”

“Featured snippets commonly contain one listing, but more than one may appear.”

“Featured snippets come from web search listings. Google's automated systems determine whether a page would make a good featured snippet to highlight for a specific search request. Your feedback helps us improve our search algorithms and the quality of your search results.”

Featured snippets can display for:

• Longtail keywords

• Questions

• Directive keywords

• Comparison keywords

• & lots more

Why go for featured snippets?

Rank in position 0

It can be a lot easier to rank in position 0 than position 1.

A featured snippet allows you to circumvent the top positions & get in front of users.

Visibility

You get the lion’s share of visibility.

If a search term has 500msv, the majority of searchers are at least reading your featured snippet result in the SERP, if not clicking through.

Traffic

Increased visibility = increased traffic.

Users who want more information or additional context will click through to your site.

Authority

You’re positioned as an authority on the topic.

As Google has ‘chosen’ your information, you build trust and authority with users.

And with Google!

However…

1. Most searches that return a featured snippet are not transactional.

Featured snippets are (typically) not a way to increase conversions or sales. The majority of results are for informational terms.

Consider this when planning any featured snippet work. It’s a great way to supplement traffic & gain some quick wins, but not a surefire way to get sales.

Top tip: revisit the page once you have won a featured snippet and make edits to convert traffic.

2. Users will bounce

Your page answers the query and provides additional context. Most users will bounce.

Remember, they’re searching for an answer. Once they have it, they will most likely bounce. It’s not a negative but it’s something to keep in mind.

How to perform featured snippet analysis

Initial steps in Ahrefs:

1. Input main KWs
2. Filter for featured snippets
   1. Click the ‘SERP features’ tab then click ‘featured snippet’ to filter for KWs returning a snippet.
3. Get your KWs
   1. Export your list to Excel. Use this list to build out more KWs. You’ll find loads more when digging through.

In Excel:

Create your sheet.

Keep parent KW, KW and volume columns. Delete the rest.

Add new columns:

• Snippet type

• Ranking URL

• Closest URL Match

• New Page

• Suggestion

• Notes

In the “snippet type” column:

Copy a KW from the list and search in Google incognito. Input the type of featured snippet this search returned. This gives you an idea of what type of content you’ll need to create.

In the “ranking URL” column:

Copy the URL of the ranking page and paste it into the ranking URL column. This gives you an idea of the type of sites & pages that are returning a featured snippet.

In the “closest URL match” column:

Paste in any relevant pages you have that match the keyword. These are pages you can re-optimise towards capturing a featured snippet.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a close match URL as this represents an opportunity for you to create a brand new page to capture this featured snippet.

In the “new page” column:

Input if you need to create a new page or not.

In the “suggestion” column:

Explain what update, optimisation, or new page you will need to create to gain the featured snippet.

In the “notes” column:

Input in any things to consider for that term.

E.g. the URL you’re going up against is from another country, is a single-site topic, has appeared many times for similar terms etc.

How to bottle the magic

You’ve now identified keywords and potential pages.

But here comes the magic.

Look out for multiple longtail featured snippet keywords with very similar intent.

When you identify a KW grouping, carry out further keyword research for similar terms and get the total MSV.

You can create a single page targeting all these terms. This should be your main focus.

Check for any other KWs you can do this with.

e.g. we also found: Peugeot 3008 tyre pressure, Peugeot 2008 tyre pressure.

Keep going til you exhaust your KW list.

Get writing!

1. Create a page plan with the longtail KWs included as H2/H3s.

2. Keep in mind the type of featured snippet you’re trying to get (paragraph, list, table) and format your content accordingly.

3. Keep your content concise and to the point. Answer questions directly, provide stats & figures directly below headings etc.

4. Make sure to cover all bases. If you spot a gap, fill it.

The most value and rankings come from answering queries with no satisfactory answer in the SERPs.