Most people reach for their smartphones when they have a question. If you are one of them, you’ve probably noticed the square answer box that sits between the paid ads and organic results. That’s the Google Answer Box. It is commonly referred to as ranking No. 0, SERP or the featured snippet.
This featured information is typically pulled by Google from one of the ranking pages on the first search page, and it doesn’t always pull from the No. 1 ranked website. This is important because the featured snippet often gets more clicks than the website ranked in the first position. This provides a valuable opportunity for marketers to capture the answer box and obtain more clicks.
But how do you utilize this tool and take advantage of the cultural search for answers?
If you answered SEO, then you are partially correct. SEO tactics are used by marketers to get website ranking for search terms. However, once you have some momentum in SEO, targeting the Google Answer Box is the next step to SEO mastery. Here are three vital steps to win a spotlight in the Google Answer Box.
1. Do your research.
Find out which questions and phrases have featured snippets. Roughly 17% of all Google queries have an answer box. Search for the keywords your and your competitors’ sites rank for using tools such as Google’s keyword planner, Moz and SEMrush.
When I search for my company, I will often take a specific keyword phrase and turn it into a question. For example, if I were looking for keywords around the phrase “scheduling laws,” I might search “what are scheduling laws?” or “how do scheduling laws work?” In this scenario, only the second question yields an answer box. Brainstorm the types of questions that your audience would ask about your subject and test those out.
It is also important to understand that Google provides an answer box to many queries that are not questions. Questions only make up 41% of featured snippets. That means there are many other keyword phrases that have snippets. At my company, we have found that the Google Answer Box appears for many of our long-tail keywords such as “dc sick and safe leave act regulations” or “California local minimum wage laws,” as well as questions such as “what is seatac paid sick leave?”
2. Create better information than is found in the featured snippet.
You should start with an article that is already ranking on page one because that’s often where Google pulls its featured answer. Mastery of the Google Answer Box requires successful SEO. If you don’t have articles that rank high for any snippet topics, then work on your SEO and content for that page. Build it out and make it more relevant, updated and visual. Once your page is ranking relatively high for the search term, then follow these steps to improve your page’s chances of being featured:
Go deep into your topic: Answer questions that broaden the scope of the query you are targeting. If you are targeting the phrase “how to sell” and want to beat out WikiHow, you want an article that also defines the act of selling, different styles of selling or other statistics and examples on selling. You will need to have a greater and more in-depth list than the one featured in the snippet.
Use summaries because these are often featured: Paragraphs make up the majority of all answer boxes. Summaries work well because they provide concise, exact information on the main points found in your in-depth article in a format that Google can easily grab for an answer box.
Provide unique information and views: This doesn’t mean that you should twist the truth or make up facts. Google actually prefers information that it deems to be reliable and that matches other trusted sites. However, you can provide additional information not commonly known, put it together in a creative fashion and add interesting visuals to make your point.
3. Customize your page to be snippet and reader-friendly.
Google has spent a lot of money quantifying what makes people happy with their search results. Duplicating these tactics makes your articles more interesting and readable for readers, as well as catches Google’s interest.
Use H2 headers to capture the Google query: Creating an H2 header that says “How To Unclog A Toilet” is a great way to get Google to notice your article when choosing a featured snippet for that exact phrase. That’s because it’s an easy way for readers to know your sub-topic content. You can use multiple H2 headers to capture similar queries along the subject of your article.
Take advantage of truncation: Google has a maximum size for its featured snippets. That size is usually about three to five items in a list format and 50-60 words in paragraph form. If you create content that is longer, then Google will truncate the information. That encourages the reader to click on the answer box to get the rest of the information and provides you with an opportunity to capture more of their attention.
Tap into the power of visuals: Utilize graphs, images, videos, infographics and other visual tools. A.J. Ghergich at SEMrush coined the phrase “featured snippet hub” to describe web pages that ranked in Google’s answer box for 10 or more queries. He found that those featured pages use on average 14 images per page.
This may sound intimidating, but improving even a few aspects will reap huge rewards. Getting featured on a Google snippet may sound impossible, but it is very feasible. Utilizing these tools will help your SEO in general, and they will make you more likely to obtain the coveted spot of ranking No. 0.
