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 completely different elements of the SERP, supplying you with numerous good worth for natural attain, and declare these alternatives to 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 web optimization Communications at Wix, and at the moment I’ll speak to you about featured snippets. Particularly, I’ll speak 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 ought to be enthusiastic about featured snippets for current content material, and that is as a result of featured snippets present up in numerous completely different elements of the SERP. So they provide you numerous good worth for natural attain.

For those who’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 form of extract of textual content from an internet site. And beneath of it, it’s going to say that it is a featured snippet, and that is how you understand it is a featured snippet.

Now, the content material from a featured snippet can present in numerous completely different elements of search while you’re on-line. So it would present within the neat featured snippet, and it would embody a picture, it would embody a paragraph, it would embody another components, which I am going to go into a bit of bit later. Nevertheless it additionally may present in a featured snippet dropdown. So featured snippets are continuously altering. All the time they’re including new options and trialing new options. However one of many options that we have seen, as an illustration, 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’s going to break it down additional, so get a featured snippet and optimize for that form of factor. So it would break it down into completely different sections, and below 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 Individuals Additionally Ask part of Google. So below Individuals Additionally Ask, there could be, extra questions on a given matter, notably in case you’re looking for a head time period, like say, I do not know, footwear, there could be form of: What footwear ought to I purchase? Or the place can I get footwear? Or is a sandal a shoe? That form of factor may present up in Individuals Additionally Ask. These usually include featured snippets as properly.

You may additionally get a featured snippet while you make a voice question. You may additionally get a featured snippet while you search on Google Lens.

You may additionally get the content material from a featured snippet inside the from sources throughout the online accordions, which present up for sure matter queries. So, as an illustration, in case you have 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 form of the Pyramids of Giza. After which in case you click on on that, there will be numerous little bits of content material, and people will usually be pulled from featured snippets.

You may additionally see a featured snippet below a data panel dropdown. So, as an illustration, in case you have been to lookup, once more, one thing just like the Pyramids of Giza, it may need a piece about completely different elements of that exact question, and people will embody completely different dropdowns, and below these dropdowns, you’ll usually see featured snippet content material. And, after all, the data panel will fairly often pull content material from featured snippets.

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

Now, when you have content material that you simply 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 of the range, you might very properly suppose, “Oh, this explicit search consequence that this web page is rating for has a featured snippet. Possibly I may get it.” For those who’re unsure the place to begin about get on that featured snippet, then this is just a few ideas that are likely to work.

So this can be a little little bit of a choice tree, and I am simply going to speak you thru a bit of little bit of it. So very first thing it’s best to take into consideration is your formatting, so headers. This is not rocket science. That is traditional web 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 numerous good methods? If they don’t seem to be, then it’s best to replace that. Okay, if they’re, in case you do have headers, H1s, H2s, then make it possible for they have related terminology in them. We will suppose key phrases, but in addition you possibly can suppose extra naturally, like pure language. Pure language processing is turning into much more intuitive inside Google, they usually’re in a position to perceive numerous nuances of language. So just be sure you’ve together with one thing that is related, that continues to inform the story of regardless of the matter is that you simply’re overlaying.

One other factor you can take into consideration, and this additionally helps you with Individuals Additionally Ask, is whether or not or not you possibly can phrase the headers as questions. So, as an illustration, in case you have been to consider the pyramids, as an illustration, you may say, “When is an effective time to go to go to the pyramids?” as an illustration. That could be one thing that you simply may wish to embody. For those who can write it as a query, generally that may assist with queries, like, as an illustration, inside the voice search and in addition with Individuals Additionally Ask.

Now, as soon as you’ve got executed 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 executed 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, enormous information units and like 17 spreadsheets with numerous tabs and VLOOKUPs and all that stuff. I imply lists. For example, in case you have been to say, “Ought to I put on sandals or ought to I put on sneakers,” for instance, that might be one thing that you can evaluate and you can say, “Effectively, 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 knowledge that you can placed on a desk, as an illustration. Or in case you have been to say, “What several types of footwear are there, sandals, heels, trainers whichever,” then that is additionally a kind of information set. So when you have information, when you have a listing inside your content material, you then may wish to take into consideration whether or not or not you can embody extra lists or extra in your content material, and that could be one thing you wish to take into consideration.

If you’re doing that, you then wish to take into consideration together with HTML lists. So not simply listed within the paragraph, but in addition listed out particularly inside lists. These might be as ordered lists or as unordered lists. So an unordered listing inside HTML has an HTML tag of ul, and you then would be capable of make that as bullet factors. For those who’re in a position to put in an ordered listing, one, two, three, 4, like high 10 ideas for XYZ, you then would be capable of put that in as an ordered listing, and that is one thing that you can put in your HTML. What occurs with Google, with their featured snippets is usually they pull out the listing and they’re going to put that onto the featured snippet there. So when you have it in your content material, you then’re extra prone to present for featured snippets.

One other factor you possibly can take into consideration is tables. So I discussed a few of the tables. Google generally inside their featured snippets will present the tables within the SERP. So when you have content material that could possibly be put right into a desk, it is price enthusiastic about that as properly.

So while you’re enthusiastic about your information units and while you’re enthusiastic about the info and the knowledge that you’ve in your content material, take into consideration if there is a means you can make it extra snackable with ordered lists. Take into consideration if there is a means you can make it extra snackable with tables. If you have not executed that but, then it’s best to replace your content material in order that it consists of that. When you have executed that, then you possibly can transfer on to the subsequent step.

So the subsequent step is to consider related photos. Does it include related photos? This may be an illustration, or this may be photographs of no matter it’s you are speaking about. Generally once I converse to individuals about this, they are saying, “Oh, properly, we’re in a vertical that does not have a number of photographs.” That is high quality. 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 enable you to with numerous different elements of the SERP. One of many options that reveals up very usually 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 have the featured snippet, you won’t have all the components of the featured snippet.

Now, in case you do have a picture in your featured snippet, you then’re extra prone to present for each the paragraph and the picture. So if you do not have photographs in your content material, it’s best to add them. For those who’re not in a position to take a photograph, then it’s best to create a diagram that’s related to your content material.

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

For those who’ve executed all of that, you then wish to take into consideration ensuring that you’ve schema markup in your photographs, as a result of that can even provide you with one other component. Now, only a slight sidebar, schema markup will not be part of the factors for featured snippets. You don’t want to have schema markup in your web site to get a featured snippet. However, anecdotally, a number of web sites which have schema markup are likely 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 probably 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 it’s best to add these to your content material as properly. For those who do, then I might say that it is price ensuring that you’re keeping track of your featured snippets and keeping track 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’ve got executed that, it is price checking the place your content material is being distributed, whether or not you are displaying for a featured snippet, whether or not you are displaying for Individuals Additionally Ask, whether or not there’s different elements of the SERP that you simply could be featured on with the intention to probably construct on that with both extra content material or with enriching this content material additional.

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

Video transcription by Speechpad.com