Data-backed insights on featured snippet optimization
Around one-fifth of all keywords activate a featured bit
99 percent of all featured bits tend to appear within the first natural position and take over 50% of the screen on mobile phones, driving higher-than-average click-through rates (CTR).
The key to included bit optimization depends on a couple of particular areas: long-tail- and question-like keyword method, date marked material that comes at the ideal length and format, and a concise URL structure.
Google has constantly been pretty hazy on any details about winning highlighted snippets. This held true when they were first introduced, making them something services considered to be the cherry on top of their SEO efforts, which is still mainly the case. Having first-hand understanding about the value and power of featured snippets, Brado teamed up with Semrush to conduct the most comprehensive research around featured bit optimization to discover how they really work, and what you can do to win them.
Revealing the highlights from a Featured bits study that analyzed over a million SERPs with featured bits present, this post unwraps actionable ideas on amping up your optimization technique to finally win that Google reward.
General patterns throughout the featured bit landscape.
With billions of search queries go through the Google search box each day, our study found that around 19 percent of keywords set off a highlighted bit. Why does this even matter? Included bits are known to drive higher CTR-- as another research study revealed, they are accountable for over 35 percent of all clicks.
Additional showing the enormous power of featured snippets, our study showed that they take up over 50 percent of the SERP's property on mobile screens.
Combine this with our findings that 99 percent of the time featured bits take control of the first organic position, which they are in a lot of cases activated by long-tail keywords (implying particular user intent), and you'll get the factor behind extremely high CTR numbers.
Are some industries more likely to set off featured snippets?
In the research study, we defined industries by keyword classifications, finding that, undoubtedly, included snippet volume is inconsistent across different sectors.
The leading industry, seeing an included snippet in 62 percent of all cases, is Travel and Computer & Electronics, followed by Arts & Entertainment (59 percent), and Science (54 percent), while Realty keywords lag behind all the rest with just 11 percent of keywords triggering a featured bit.
featured bit optimization insights on keyword categories that activate.
On a domain level, the market breakdown differs a little, with Health and News websites having similar highlighted snippet volumes.
You can discover the full market breakdown within the research study.
Featured snippets are everything about makes, not wins.
Just hoping your material Check over here will win you an included snippet isn't enough-- as our study showed, it's everything about hard-earned content optimization results.
1. Enhance for long-tail keywords and questions.
When it comes to optimization and keywords, employ 'the more the much better' reasoning.
Our study discovered that 55.5 percent of featured snippets were activated by 10-word keywords, while single-word ones just appeared 4.3 percent of the time.
One thing even better than long-tails is questions. In fact, 29 percent of keywords triggering an included bit start with concern words-- "why" (78 percent), "can" (72 percent), "do" (67 percent), and in the least cases, "where" (19 percent).
included bit optimization insights on question keywords that set off.
2. Utilize the best content length and format.
The SERPs we examined included four types of highlighted snippet: paragraphs, lists, tables, and videos:.
70 percent of the results revealed paragraphs, with an average of 42 words and 249 characters.
Lists was available in as the second-most-frequent highlighted bit (19 percent), with approximately 6 item counts and 44 words.
Tables (6 percent) typically included 5 rows and two columns.
Videos, whose typical period stood at 6:39 minutes, showed up in only 4.6 percent of all cases.
Obviously, don't blindly follow this information as the principle, rather see it as an excellent beginning point for featured-snippet-minded content optimization.
Plus, keep in mind that content quality always dominates quantity, so if you have a high-performing piece that features a 10-row table, Google will just suffice down, revealing the blue "More rows" link, which can even boost your CTR.
3. Do not overcomplicate your URL structure.
As it ends up, URL length matters in Google's option of a website that should have a highlighted bit. Try to stick to neat site architecture, with 1-3 subfolders per URL, and you'll be most likely to win.
Just for reference, here is an example of a URL with 3 subfolders:.
xyz.com/subfolder1/subfolder2/subfolder3.
4. Make frequent material updates.
In the "to add or not to include a post date" dilemma, based upon our featured snippet analysis, we 'd recommend that you publish date-marked material.
The majority of Google's highlighted bits consist of a short article date, with the following breakdown: 47 percent of list-type featured snippets come from date-marked material, paragraphs-- 44 percent, videos-- 20 percent, and tables-- 19 percent of the time.
While fresh-out-of-the-oven content can be preferred by Google, 70 percent of all content making it into the included snippet was anywhere from two to three years old (2018, 2019, 2020), suggesting when again that content quality matters more than recency, so you shouldn't stress that putting a date on it will work against you.