Featured snippet

Sometimes Google shows a highlighted box at the top of the search results with a short answer to your question, taken from a website, with a link to the source underneath. That box is called a featured snippet. It can be a short paragraph, a numbered list of steps, a bulleted list or a small table. For the website in question, it's a prominent spot: your answer is literally in the spotlight.

Google decides for itself whether to show a snippet and which one. So you can't "request" or set up a featured snippet. You can, however, structure your content so that it's a good candidate.

What types are there?

• Paragraph: a short definition or explanation, typically for questions such as "what is…" or "why…".
• List: numbered steps or a bulleted list, often for "how to…" questions.
• Table: comparisons, prices or overviews.
• Video: sometimes Google shows a clip from a video as the answer.

How do you increase your chances of a featured snippet?

1. Start from real questions. Look at which questions your customers ask and which questions appear in People Also Ask.
2. Put the question in a subheading and answer it straight away in the first sentence or paragraph below it.
3. Keep the answer concise: short and complete; you can go into more detail afterwards.
4. Use proper structure: real HTML lists for steps and clear headings for the layout.
5. Make sure you already rank well. Featured snippets usually come from pages that are already on the first page for that search.

Is a featured snippet always good news?

Not always. Because the answer is already visible in the search results, some people no longer click through. For simple factual questions, that can lead to a zero-click search. For more complex questions, a snippet works more like a teaser: it shows that your page has the answer, and anyone who wants to know more clicks through. So the effect on your clicks varies by topic. Keep an eye on it in Google Search Console.

Featured snippets and AI answers

You can think of featured snippets as a forerunner of AI Overviews. Whereas a featured snippet quotes one source word for word, an AI system puts together an answer from several sources and lists them as links. The underlying principles overlap: clear questions, direct answers and well-structured content. What works for featured snippets probably also makes your content more usable for ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. This approach is closely related to AEO, optimising content for answer engines.

An example: a landscaper in Surrey

A landscaper from Guildford writes a page about laying a new lawn. Under the subheading "When is the best time to lay turf?", he first gives a two-sentence answer covering the best times of year. A numbered list with the steps for laying it follows. That structure makes it easy for Google to show a snippet, and for visitors to quickly find what they're looking for. If you want to prepare question-led pages like this faster, the AI content feature helps you structure questions and work out clear answers.