Featured Snippets are the direct-answer boxes that appear at the top of Google's results (position zero). They can be paragraphs, lists or tables. Winning a Featured Snippet can dramatically increase visibility and organic traffic.
The best practices for winning a snippet are:
- Answer the question directly: use a heading with the question and answer it in the paragraph immediately below, in 40 to 60 clear, objective words.
- Use lists and tables: for questions that call for steps or comparisons, structure the answer as lists (ol/ul) or tables.
- Be on the first page: most snippets come from pages that already rank in the top 10 positions.
- Cover the search intent: Google selects the passage that best answers the user's intent, not necessarily the most technically optimized one.
Winning Featured Snippets also helps with GEO, because the direct-answer format is exactly what AIs look for when selecting sources to cite.