Understanding Google’s Featured Snippets and Rich Results

Today’s Google Search results include many different types of listings. While most of us are familiar with Google ads and the classic “blue links” of organic results, there are elements known as featured snippets that have become very prominent and even a bit controversial because their eye-catching position and rich visual format draw attention and clicks away from those traditional results.

How can companies in B2B sectors like manufacturing and healthcare benefit from these featured search results? Are there risks to targeting featured snippets with your SEO and content strategy?

We explore these questions and more to help you understand whether featured snippets should be on your radar and what it takes to appear prominently on Google for your targeted keywords.

What are Featured Snippets?

Google presents information verbatim from the source.

When someone submits a query on Google, the search results include a special highlighted answer box at the top of the page, or elsewhere, since Google changes things frequently

This is a featured snippet, and it contains an excerpt of content pulled from a website that directly addresses the search query. Featured snippets nearly always show up above all the other organic search results, in what’s known as “position zero,” since it’s above the usual #1 listing. Now, in some search results, Google also displays an AI Overview (an AI-generated answer) at the top of the page alongside the featured snippet, as part of Google’s growing variety of rich result formats.

Where else do snippets appear in Google’s search results?

Featured Snippets also appear in results found in "People also ask."

Usually, you’ll see a featured snippet as the first result on the page. But Google can also show snippets in other sections of the results. For example, you might notice a snippet answer under the “People Also Ask” question boxes, or even off to the side in a panel along with Knowledge Graph information. What appears on a Google results page at any given time can also vary based on the context of the search.

Factors Affecting Results Layout

Whether you’re searching on a desktop computer or a mobile device
Your geographic location, country. or city.
Your browsing or search history
Many other contextual factors

In every instance, Google is trying to format the results in the most useful way for the searcher.

Where does Google get the information displayed in featured snippets?

Highlighted text for the source of featured snippet

Google’s generation of titles and descriptions for snippets (and other search results) is completely automated. The content is based on the page’s content itself as well as references to that page from elsewhere on the web.

Google’s goal for any snippet is to best represent the result and explain how it relates to the user’s query.

How Can Featured Snippets Help You?

For many companies, targeting Google featured snippets hasn’t always been an obvious strategy. Some assume winning snippets is just a matter of luck, or feel that simply achieving the top organic listing is a more tangible goal.

In truth, everything that appears in Google’s results appears for a reason, and earning a featured snippet is a strategic win that can amplify your marketing results.

H3 Ways Snippets support common marketing goals

Snippets Can Lead to More Conversions – One big advantage of featured snippets is turning the right viewers into customers. A snippet answer can instantly build trust by showing your expertise. Often, visitors who see your snippet will take the next step in their journey (for example, calling your business or signing up for a service) after seeing your information, even if they don’t click through to your site.
Snippets Increase Brand Awareness – Appearing prominently in the search results increases the overall visibility of your brand to a wide audience of Google users. Serving as the answer to popular questions in your industry also lends credibility to your brand’s expertise and trustworthiness in the eyes of potential customers.
Snippets Establish You as an Authority – Winning featured snippets can help position your brand as a topical authority. By attracting more users searching for topics related to your business and keeping them engaged with helpful answers, you signal to Google (and the world) that your site is a go-to resource. Over time, this boost in perceived authority improves your website’s overall SEO strength.
Snippets Help You Capitalize on Voice Search Technology – Virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, and Cortana often use featured snippet content to answer voice queries. A substantial portion of users now perform voice searches, so if your content is the one being read aloud as the answer, your brand becomes the one that searchers hear and trust.
Snippets Reduce Reliance on Paid Ads (PPC) – Winning a featured snippet can give you prime real estate on the results page without paying for an ad. By capturing high-ranking visibility organically, you may not need to bid as aggressively on certain pay-per-click keywords. In other words, owning the snippet spot for a key query can save you budget that might otherwise be spent on PPC advertising for that same term.

A word about Snippet Traffic

Landing in that top spot on Google as a featured snippet does not guarantee more traffic. An analysis by Ahrefs, a marketing intelligence company, found that snippets drive less traffic.

That's only part of the story.

If eyeballs on your site are a primary KPI, then a traffic drop matters.

For a B2B company, attracting high-quality eyeballs it a goal. These are the audiences who need your products or services. They see the snippet as valuable information in their customer journey.

ROI of Earning Google Featured Snippets

Beyond these benefits, what is the return on investment (ROI) of capturing the rich results known as featured snippets? Winning these snippets isn’t just about prestige — it delivers tangible value. Here are some of the high-impact outcomes brands can achieve by securing featured snippets in Google Search.

More Marketing-Qualified Leads – Featured snippets tend to attract visitors who are actively researching a topic related to your business, making them more likely to become qualified leads. By providing a direct answer, a snippet helps filter for users who have a genuine interest or need, which means more marketing-qualified leads entering your funnel.
High-Intent Traffic – The traffic gained from a featured snippet often has strong intent. Snippets usually appear for question-based or problem-based queries, so the users who click through are highly interested in that specific question. This means they arrive on your site with a specific need, and such high-intent visitors are more likely to convert compared to general browsing traffic.
Top-of-Funnel Visibility – Even when searchers don’t immediately click your featured snippet, your brand is still getting prominent top-of-funnel exposure. Appearing at the very top of Google for a relevant question plants a seed in the user’s mind. This increased visibility supports greater brand recognition, trust, and even future searches for your brand as users move along the buyer journey.
Exposure on Action-Oriented Queries – Many featured snippets are triggered by queries that imply the user is looking to take action or make a decision (for example, “how to print on metal cans with inkjet printing ___” or “best software for ___”). Owning the snippet for an action-oriented query puts your solution front and center when people are actively seeking what you offer. It’s a prime opportunity to be part of the consideration set at the exact moment of intent.
Pre-Screened Audience Interest – If someone engages with your featured snippet by reading the answer or, better, clicking it, they’ve essentially self-identified as interested in that topic. By the time they arrive on your site, they are already somewhat informed and interested — a pre-screened audience. This often leads to higher conversion rates, since those users have effectively “pre-qualified” themselves by engaging with your snippet content.

What Concerns Should You Have About Snippets?

Google’s featured snippets draw attention, but there are some strategic considerations to keep in mind.

To be fair, it’s not always beneficial to win a featured snippet for every keyword or query. The reasons are nuanced and tie back to understanding search intent for each keyword, the role Google wants to play in answering those queries, and how snippets fit into that plan. In short, everything that appears on Google serves Google’s goals, too.

Go back and read that again.

Google Didn’t Do This Just for Your Site

We assume Google updates its results to improve the user’s search experience, and often that’s true, but Google also has business incentives behind changes to the search page.

One likely reason Google implemented snippets was to increase the time searchers spend on Google’s own pages. The longer someone stays on the Google SERP, instead of clicking through to a site, the more opportunities Google has to show ads or keep users within its ecosystem.

In other words, for certain queries, Google is effectively using content from your website for Google’s benefit. Google’s stated goal is to give users quick answers to their questions to save them time, and featured snippets do serve that purpose.

But it’s definitely something to think about from the perspective of the traffic you might be giving up.

Snippets Can Reduce Click-Throughs

In some cases, winning the featured snippet may result in less traffic to your site than if you had simply ranked #1 organically. Studies have shown that the click-through rate (CTR) of a featured snippet can be lower than that of the top organic result in some scenarios. This is because users might get the answer they need directly from the snippet and not feel the need to click for more details.

One intention behind Google’s creation of snippets was indeed to keep users on the Google page longer.

Just as any website owner likes to increase “time on site,” Google benefits from keeping users on the SERP. If the searcher’s question is answered immediately by the snippet, they may not click through to your site at all.

Snippet or Listing, No More Double Dipping

In 2020, Google updated its algorithm, a “deduplication” update, to ensure that a webpage that earns a featured snippet will not simultaneously appear as a normal organic listing on the first page. Previously, it was possible to occupy the snippet and still have your page listed again in the top 10 results below it.

Now, that’s no longer the case, which can make the featured snippet a bit less valuable in some situations since your site only appears once on the page instead of twice.

The Data Is Changing as Snippets Grow

It’s worth noting that the performance data around snippets continues to change. The statistics about snippet click-through rates and traffic impact are based on how Google’s results looked in the past, and Google is always tweaking its interface.

As featured snippets have become more prevalent, their formats and impacts have shifted. For some brands, the benefits of winning a snippet, visibility, branding, and authority outweigh the potential traffic loss.

They gain a great deal of brand awareness as people see their name associated with answering questions. In other cases, particularly where a snippet fully satisfies a query, the risks might outweigh the benefits. This balance requires critical thinking on a case-by-case basis.

AI Overviews (AEO) Are Changing Search

In the last year or so, Google introduced AI overviews. These are AI-generated summary answers that appear at the top of some search results. These are similar to featured snippets in that they show up prominently, often above all other results, but instead of quoting a single webpage, an AI overview compiles information from multiple sources.

In practice, that means no one website gets full credit or a guaranteed click from an AI overview result, unlike a traditional featured snippet that directly highlights one site’s content. Google’s goal is to provide a quick, conversational answer right on the results page, powered by generative AI.

For SEO professionals and content creators, this shift means that simply ranking high isn’t the only game in town now. You also want your content to be among the sources that Google’s AI draws upon for these overviews. However, AI overviews raise new challenges: the AI might present information inaccurately or out of context, and it often does so without clear attribution to your site.

From a user experience standpoint, the AI-generated answers can be convenient, but inaccuracies could mislead users. This makes it more important than ever to ensure your content is authoritative, well-structured, and accurate. Doing so increases the likelihood that your content will be recognized and correctly incorporated as part of Google’s rich results strategy, whether as a featured snippet or as part of an AI-generated overview.

What Google Snippets Should You Target?

Featured snippets tend to gain a level of trust from searchers because Google is essentially vouching that the information is correct by placing it in the coveted “position zero.” Google can display featured snippets in several formats.

“Answer Box” or Paragraph Snippets

This is the first and most common kind of featured snippet. A paragraph snippet includes a short excerpt of text, usually about 40–50 words in length, from a webpage, often accompanied by a thumbnail image. These tend to appear for searches that are phrased as a question or definition, when a user is looking for a descriptive answer to a “what is/are” or “who is” type query.

Local Packs

For location-based queries, like looking for a nearby service or store, Google may show a Local Pack featured snippet. This snippet features a mini Google Map and a list of businesses relevant to the search, often with addresses, phone numbers, and reviews. It’s essentially a snippet for local results, highlighting businesses in proximity to the user.

Video Snippets

A Video snippet appears when Google’s algorithms determine that a video clip might directly answer the query. These often appear for how-to questions, tutorials, music, or entertainment queries. The snippet features an embedded video player, usually from YouTube, with a highlighted segment that answers the question, along with a text excerpt. Often, the text is taken from the video’s description or transcript, and Google may even cue the video to start at the specific part that answers the question. To optimize for these, it helps to include relevant text in your video description and utilize chapters or timestamps for key moments.

How to Win Google Snippets

Winning a featured snippet (the “#0” spot) requires targeted SEO efforts.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to guarantee that Google will use your content as a featured snippet. Google’s algorithms continuously evaluate which content provides the best answer for a given query. A snippet that appears one day might be replaced by a different snippet, or a different format, like a video snippet, the next day if Google’s systems find a better answer or update the result page layout.

However, there are a number of SEO tactics you can use to maximize your chances of being chosen for a featured snippet:

Perform Robust Keyword Research

Effective keyword research is crucial. It helps you discover what questions and terms your audience is searching for – and specifically, which queries already show a featured snippet (so you can target them). If your goal is to attain featured snippets, look for long-tail, question-based queries in your keyword tools. These often signal opportunities for snippet content.

Keep your content clear and straightforward when answering those questions. Snippets favor concise answers using common language over long-winded, jargon-heavy text. Also, examine related queries, like the People Also Ask questions, for your target keywords – answering those on your page can improve your chances of earning Google snippets. Did you know? The presence of “People Also Ask” boxes has grown dramatically since they were introduced in 2015, expanding ~40% year-over-year on both desktop and mobile.

Implement Technical SEO

Technical SEO is an important foundation for winning snippets, because Google rewards pages that are well-structured and fast. A few technical optimizations to focus on.

Structured Data

Add structured data (schema markup) to your pages to help search engines better understand your content.

This can improve how your site appears in search results and increase your chances of earning rich snippets on Google.

Implementing schema is a key rich result strategy.

Schema Examples
- FAQ schema
- Product schema
- Event schema
- Review schema
- Article schema
- Video schema
Faster Page Speeds

Speed up your website.

Faster-loading pages improve user experience and also boost your SEO.

Page speed is a significant part of Google’s Page Experience criteria, including Core Web Vitals metrics, and is a ranking factor.

A fast site is more likely to rank well and, by extension, is better positioned to earn featured snippets.
Images with Keyword-Optimized Alt Text

Use descriptive, keyword-focused alt text for your images.

Alternative text helps Google understand what an image contains and can improve the image’s chance of appearing in snippet results or other rich results.

Additionally, be mindful of your image file names and the captions or text surrounding the image.

Google uses those signals to help discern the image content as well.

Observe Your Snippet Competitors

Sometimes your competitor may already own the featured snippet for a query you’re targeting. If you’re working hard on SEO and climbing the rankings, but a competitor still consistently holds the snippet, you need to investigate what they’re doing.

Identify which queries show your competitors’ content as the snippet. Study how they’ve structured their answer, and then optimize your own page to provide an even better answer.

This could involve formatting your content similarly, using a clear list, table, or paragraph that directly answers the question, or expanding on the answer in a way that adds more value. Essentially, treat the snippet result as a competitor and aim to outperform it with relevance and clarity.

Plan Content Clusters According to Search Intent

Understanding search intent is key to writing content that wins featured snippets. In fact, modern search algorithms, especially with the rise of AI and large language models, increasingly favor content that directly addresses the user’s intent in a clear, conversational way.

After all, users go to Google or Bing because they need something, whether it’s a product, service, or expertise. That represents intent.

One effective approach to align with search intent is to organize your site’s content into content clusters around key topics and subtopics.

Content clusters are an SEO content strategy that goes beyond just sprinkling keywords in your text and hoping for the best.

With a cluster strategy, you create a pillar page that comprehensively covers a broad topic, then create multiple cluster content pages that dive into subtopics or common questions related to that main topic, interlinking them all together.

This approach improves the user experience because it’s now easier for readers to navigate all your related content.

The cluster strategy sends strong signals to Google that your site has depth on that topic. As a result, Google may be more likely to consider your site authoritative and feature your content in snippets.

There are three main components of a content cluster to prioritize for search performance:

Pillar pages – A pillar page is a broad, comprehensive resource that serves as the “hub” of a topic cluster. It provides an overview of the main topic and links out to more detailed subtopic pages.
Cluster content – These are the supporting pages that each cover a specific subtopic or question in depth. They all link back to the pillar page (and often to each other when relevant).
Internal linking – The network of hyperlinks that connects your cluster. Internal links point from the pillar to each cluster page (and vice versa), as well as between related cluster pages. These interlinking signals to Google which pages belong together and help users easily navigate your content.

When executed well, a content cluster creates an organized, high-quality collection of information that is extremely user-friendly and easy for Google to crawl.

This helps your pages rank better in general and builds momentum for earning featured snippets.

Google can more readily identify that your site offers authoritative answers on the topic, increasing the likelihood that one of your pages will be chosen for the snippet when people ask that question.

Winning Featured Snippets Requires a Strategic Approach

Securing featured snippets isn’t just about great content—it’s a multi-layered process that demands precision in content production, site structure, technical optimization, and speed to fire the signals that matter to search engines. It brings together SEO, UX design, structured data, and AI readiness, requiring a well-coordinated team that many companies may struggle to assemble in-house.

Partner with an Agency That Wins Snippets

Being featured in Google Search and capturing featured snippets is a crucial way to gain organic visibility, build authority, and even outrank competitors. Partner with DBS SEO experts to optimize your site for Google’s “position zero,” ensuring your content is primed for featured placement and maximum visibility.

Contact us Take the lead in AI search and snippet optimization.

FAQs

AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization, which relates to Google’s new AI Overview feature in Search. AI Overviews are the AI-generated answer summaries that Google began introducing in 2024. They appear as a highlighted synopsis at the top of the results page, much like a featured snippet – but the information is aggregated by Google’s generative AI from multiple sources, rather than quoted from a single webpage. This development is shifting SEO strategy toward optimizing not just for traditional snippets, but also for being included in those AI-driven results (all while ensuring the content you produce is accurate and authoritative).

Featured snippets are highlighted answer boxes that appear at the top of Google’s search results, displaying a direct excerpt from a relevant website to quickly answer a user’s query.

B2B companies can gain increased brand visibility, establish authority, attract high-intent leads, and potentially drive more conversions by appearing in featured snippets for industry-relevant queries.

They usually appear above all organic results (“position zero”) but can also show up in “People Also Ask” sections or side panels alongside Knowledge Graph information.

Google’s algorithms automatically pull content from web pages that best answer the search query, using both the page’s content and external references.

Not necessarily. Featured snippets boost visibility and authority, but users often get answers without clicking through, leading to lower traffic. The clicks you do get are typically higher quality. Consider your goals before targeting snippets.

Key benefits include higher brand awareness, authority in your field, more marketing-qualified leads, and reduced reliance on paid advertising for visibility.

Yes. You may see less site traffic if users get answers without clicking, and since Google’s “deduplication” update, your page won’t appear twice (as both a snippet and a regular listing) on the first results page.

AI Overviews are Google’s new AI-generated answers that can appear above snippets, pulling from multiple sources. This can reduce direct attribution and clicks to your site, making content quality and authority even more critical.

Focus on paragraph and answer box snippets for question-based queries, “People Also Ask” boxes for related questions, and Local Packs for location-based searches relevant to your business.

Not necessarily. The value depends on your business goals, the type of queries, and whether visibility, authority, or traffic is your top priority. Evaluate on a case-by-case basis.

Featured Snippets highlight a direct excerpt from a single website at the top of search results, giving clear attribution and a link. AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that aggregate information from multiple sources and display it above all results.

Google first started rolling out featured snippets around 2014. Over the next few years, they gradually became a regular part of the search results as Google continued evolving the look and functionality of its results pages.

Understanding Google’s Featured Snippets and Rich Results

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