How to Optimize Existing Content for Featured Snippets — Whiteboard Friday

In our final episode of 2022, Crystal discusses how featured snippets present up in a number of totally different components of the SERP, supplying you with plenty of good worth for natural attain, and methods to declare these alternatives in 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 optimization 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 plenty of totally different components of the SERP. So they provide you plenty of good worth for natural attain.

When you’re unsure what a featured snippet is, in case you Google one thing like, “what’s a featured snippet,” you truly 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 already know it is a featured snippet.

Now, the content material from a featured snippet can present in plenty of totally different components of search once you’re on-line. So it’s going to present within the neat featured snippet, and it’d embrace a picture, it’d embrace a paragraph, it’d embrace another parts, which I will go into a little bit bit later. But it surely 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, for example, in case you lookup 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 methods to get a featured snippet and methods to optimize for that kind of factor. So it’s going to break it down into totally different sections, and beneath every part, there’s extra content material, which in case you click on on it, leads you to a different featured snippet.

There’s additionally the Folks Additionally Ask part of Google. So beneath Folks Additionally Ask, there could be, extra questions on a given matter, significantly in case you’re looking for a head time period, like say, I do not know, sneakers, there could 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 Folks Additionally Ask. These usually comprise featured snippets as properly.

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

You may also get the content material from a featured snippet throughout the from sources throughout the net accordions, which present up for sure matter queries. So, for example, in case you had been to question one thing like “Seven Wonders of the World,” you may get one thing that claims, “From sources across the internet,” and has kind of the Pyramids of Giza. After which in case you click on on that, there will be plenty of little bits of content material, and people will usually be pulled from featured snippets.

You may additionally see a featured snippet beneath a information panel dropdown. So, for example, in case you had been to lookup, once more, one thing just like the Pyramids of Giza, it may need a piece about totally different components of that individual question, and people will embrace totally different dropdowns, and beneath these dropdowns, you’ll usually see featured snippet content material. And, after all, the information panel will fairly often pull content material from featured snippets.

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

Now, when you’ve got content material that you just 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 quality, you might very properly suppose, “Oh, this specific search consequence that this web page is rating for has a featured snippet. Perhaps I may get it.” When you’re unsure the place to begin about methods to get on that featured snippet, then here is a number of ideas that are inclined to work.

So it is a little little bit of a choice tree, and I am simply going to speak you thru a little bit little bit of it. So very first thing you need to take into consideration is your formatting, so headers. This is not rocket science. That is basic search engine optimization tooling. So your headers, your H1s, your H2s, your H3, are they related? Are they current? Are they breaking down the content material in plenty of good methods? If they aren’t, then you need to replace that. Okay, if they’re, in case you do have headers, H1s, H2s, then ensure that they have related terminology in them. We will suppose key phrases, but additionally you may suppose extra naturally, like pure language. Pure language processing is changing into much more intuitive inside Google, they usually’re capable of perceive plenty 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 just’re overlaying.

One other factor you could take into consideration, and this additionally helps you with Folks Additionally Ask, is whether or not or not you may phrase the headers as questions. So, for example, in case you had been to consider the pyramids, for example, you may say, “When is an effective time to go to go to the pyramids?” for example. That could be one thing that you just may wish to embrace. When you can write it as a query, typically that may assist with queries, like, for example, throughout the voice search and likewise with Folks Additionally Ask.

Now, as soon as you have finished all of that, you wish to go to the subsequent factor. So in case you go to headers and also you say, “Sure, we have finished all of this,” then we have a look at details and information units. After I say details and information units, I do not imply like large, large information units and like 17 spreadsheets with plenty of tabs and VLOOKUPs and all that stuff. I imply lists. As an example, in case you had been to say, “Ought to I put on sandals or ought to I put on sneakers,” for example, that will be one thing that you may evaluate and you may say, “Nicely, 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 data that you may placed on a desk, for example. Or in case you had been to say, “What several types of sneakers are there, sandals, heels, trainers whichever,” then that is additionally a kind of information set. So when you’ve got information, when you’ve got an inventory inside your content material, then you definately may wish to take into consideration whether or not or not you may embrace extra lists or extra in your content material, and that could be one thing you wish to take into consideration.

In case you are doing that, then you definately wish to take into consideration together with HTML lists. So not simply listed within the paragraph, but additionally listed out particularly inside lists. These could be as ordered lists or as unordered lists. So an unordered listing inside HTML has an HTML tag of ul, and then you definately would be capable to make that as bullet factors. When you’re capable of put in an ordered listing, one, two, three, 4, like prime 10 ideas for XYZ, then you definately would be capable to put that in as an ordered listing, and that is one thing that you may put in your HTML. What occurs with Google, with their featured snippets is usually they pull out the listing and they’ll put that onto the featured snippet there. So when you’ve got it in your content material, then you definately’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 typically inside their featured snippets will present the tables within the SERP. So when you’ve got content material that might be put right into a desk, it is price fascinated by that as properly.

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

So the subsequent step is to consider related photos. Does it comprise related photos? This may be an illustration, or this may be photographs of no matter it’s you are speaking about. Generally once I communicate to individuals about this, they are saying, “Oh, properly, we’re in a vertical that does not have numerous photographs.” That is fantastic. That is okay. You can also make infographics as properly. You can also make diagrams as properly. These might help you for featured snippets. They’ll additionally aid you with plenty of different components of the SERP. One of many options that exhibits up very recurrently 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 when you’ve got the featured snippet, you won’t have all the parts of the featured snippet.

Now, in case you do have a picture in your featured snippet, then you definately’re extra prone to present for each the paragraph and the picture. So if you do not have photos in your content material, you need to add them. When you’re not capable of take a photograph, then you need to create a diagram that’s related to your content material.

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

When you’ve finished all of that, then you definately wish to take into consideration ensuring that you’ve schema markup in your photos, as a result of that may also provide you with one other component. Now, only a slight sidebar, schema markup just isn’t part of the factors for featured snippets. You do not want to have schema markup in your web site to get a featured snippet. Nonetheless, anecdotally, numerous web sites which have schema markup are inclined to carry out properly for featured snippets. So what the schema does is it helps Google to grasp your picture higher, which makes it extra possible 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 these items in place, then you need to add these to your content material as properly. When you 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 these items that may be optimized as you go alongside.

As soon as you have finished 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 Folks Additionally Ask, whether or not there’s different components of the SERP that you just could be featured on so that you could doubtlessly construct on that with both further content material or with enriching this content material additional.

These are my suggestions for methods to optimize current content material for featured snippets.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com