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What are featured snippets and how do I get featured?

Featured snippets are those ‘answer boxes’ that are presented on top of Google or Bing’s organic results under the ads. They are designed to be quick answers to questions someone might ask.

If you want your website to appear in a featured snippet, it usually has to rank in the top 10 for a particular search keyword. If your business scores one or several featured snippets, it will boost your digital marketing and drive traffic to your website.

Here are four tips on creating content that might get featured:

1. Provide more helpful information

The more FAQs on your website, the more likely it is that one of those answers will be featured.

A way to provide a lot of information but still keep your website uncluttered is to write more educational and informative blogs.

So think of the questions your clients ask and write blogs answering them.

For example, if you’re an accountant, and you have clients who struggle with costing, you could write a blog titled: ‘How to calculate how much you should charge’.

If you’re stuck for ideas, search for a question you’ve answered and check out the ‘People also ask’ box in the search results to find new ideas to write about. Or ask Hunter & Scribe. Not only can we write the blogs, we can also suggest topics to write about.

2. Include Keywords Matching The Search Criteria

When you write content, you should include the keywords people will use when searching. For example, someone wondering about the pros and cons of refinancing a property will probably ask: “Should I refinance my home loan?” If you’re a mortgage broker and you’ve answered the question in a blog, you can check you’re using the relevant keywords throughout the article. For example, your opening sentence might be: “Are you wondering whether you should refinance your home loan?” You could also include the entire phrase, for example: “People often ask me: ‘Dale, should I refinance my home loan?’ This is what I tell them …” You would also try to repeat the keywords a few times during the article and even in your call-to-action. For example, “If you’re still wondering whether you should refinance your home loan, contact us at …”

3. Use Headers That Match The Questions People Ask

You should break up your content into the questions people ask. For example, if someone wants to know what a buyer’s agent is, they will type a search query: “What’s a buyer’s agent?” If your website has a heading ‘These are the services we offer’, your website probably won’t be matched to the query, even though it answers the question. But if you write the information in the way people ask questions, you could increase your chances of being featured. For example: A buyer’s agent is someone who:

Helps owner-occupiers buy their dream home

Helps investors buy profitable investment properties

Uses their market knowledge and negotiating skills to get you a good deal

If you feel your clients already know what a buyer’s agent is, you might not want to include that information on your homepage. Instead, you might think it would be better mentioned in a blog, which might have a title like: ‘What is a buyer’s agent?’ (Hunter & Scribe can help you with this.)

4. Create Your Own Snippets Of Information

People have different skills and knowledge, so don’t assume they know what you’re talking about. If you’re a lender and use the acronym LVR, some people will know what it means but others won’t. If you don’t explain the term, those who don’t understand it will be confused. But if you do explain the term, you might annoy people who already understand it. To make everyone happy, you could create an on-click pop-up block with the explanation – so if someone didn’t understand the term, they could click on it for more information. You could then write the explanation like a featured snippet: What does LVR stand for? LVR stands for loan-to-value ratio. It’s the value of the home loan stated as a percentage of the total value of the home. For example, if your home loan is $400,000 and your home is valued at $500,000, your LVR is 80% (as $400k is 80% of $500k). Now you’ve created a really helpful piece of content and given the information in the exact format that search engines need for their featured snippets. This might increase the chances of your website being featured. If you don’t know how to create an on-click pop-up on your website, you could create a separate page with all your terms and link to that page. (Hunter & Scribe can help you write the page or on-click pop-ups – we’ll even provide the definitions ourselves.) Winning snippets is hard, because thousands of websites compete for them. But even if you’re not featured, the helpful information on your website should boost your search engine ranking and drive more traffic to your website.

Want search-engine-optimised content? Talk to Hunter & Scribe about writing your website text and blogs. Contact us for more information.

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