Data-backed insights on highlighted snippet optimization

Data-backed insights on highlighted snippet optimization

Around one-fifth of all keywords activate a featured snippet

99 percent of all featured snippets tend to appear within the first natural position and take control of 50% of the screen on mobile devices, driving higher-than-average click-through rates (CTR).

The secret to featured bit optimization depends on a few specific locations: long-tail- and question-like keyword method, date marked content that comes at the ideal length and format, and a succinct URL structure.

Google has actually constantly been quite hazy on any details about winning featured bits. This held true when they were first presented, making them something services considered to be the cherry on top of their SEO efforts, which is still mostly the case. Having first-hand understanding about the value and power of featured bits, Brado coordinated with Semrush to carry out the most extensive research around featured snippet optimization to discover how they actually 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 suggestions on amping up your optimization technique to lastly win that Google prize.

General patterns across the featured snippet landscape.

With billions of search queries go through the Google search box every day, our research study discovered that around 19 percent of keywords set off a highlighted bit. Why does this even matter? Included bits are known to drive greater CTR-- as another research study uncovered, they are responsible for over 35 percent of all clicks.

Additional showing the tremendous power of highlighted bits, our research study showed that they take up over half of the SERP's realty on mobile screens.

Combine this with our findings that 99 percent of the time included snippets take over the first organic position, which they remain in many cases set off by long-tail keywords (implying particular user intent), and you'll get the factor behind incredibly high CTR numbers.

Are some markets most likely to set off featured snippets?

In the study, we specified industries by keyword categories, discovering that, certainly, included snippet volume is irregular throughout numerous sections.

The leading industry, seeing an included snippet in 62 percent of all cases, is Travel and Computer & Electronic devices, followed by Arts & Home entertainment (59 percent), and Science (54 percent), while Real Estate keywords drag all the rest with only 11 percent of keywords activating a featured snippet.

featured bit optimization insights on keyword classifications that activate.

On a domain level, the industry breakdown varies slightly, with Health and News websites having equivalent featured bit volumes.

You can find the complete market breakdown within the study.

Featured snippets are everything about makes, not wins.

Just hoping your content will win you a featured snippet isn't enough-- as our study showed, it's all 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 research https://controlc.com/f9030c97 study found that 55.5 percent of featured bits were activated by 10-word keywords, while single-word ones just showed up 4.3 percent of the time.

One thing even better than long-tails is questions. In fact, 29 percent of keywords setting off a featured snippet start with question words-- "why" (78 percent), "can" (72 percent), "do" (67 percent), and in the fewest cases, "where" (19 percent).

featured snippet optimization insights on question keywords that activate.

2. Utilize the right content length and format.

The SERPs we analyzed consisted of 4 types of highlighted bit: paragraphs, lists, tables, and videos:.

70 percent of the results showed paragraphs, with an average of 42 words and 249 characters.

Lists was available in as the second-most-frequent highlighted snippet (19 percent), with approximately 6 product counts and 44 words.

Tables (6 percent) generally featured 5 rows and 2 columns.

Videos, whose typical duration stood at 6:39 mins, appeared in only 4.6 percent of all cases.

Naturally, do not blindly follow this information as the principle, rather see it as a great starting point for featured-snippet-minded material optimization.

Plus, bear in mind that content quality always prevails over amount, so if you have a high-performing piece that features a 10-row table, Google will simply suffice down, showing the blue "More rows" link, which can even boost your CTR.

3. Don't overcomplicate your URL structure.

As it turns out, URL length matters in Google's option of a site that is worthy of a featured snippet. Try to stick to cool website architecture, with 1-3 subfolders per URL, and you'll be most likely to win.

Simply for recommendation, here is an example of a URL with 3 subfolders:.

xyz.com/subfolder1/subfolder2/subfolder3.

4. Make frequent content updates.

In the "to include or not to add a post date" problem, based on our included bit analysis, we 'd suggest that you release date-marked content.

The majority of Google's highlighted snippets include a short article date, with the following breakdown: 47 percent of list-type highlighted bits originate from date-marked content, 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 bit was anywhere from 2 to 3 years old (2018, 2019, 2020), meaning once again that content quality matters more than recency, so you shouldn't fret that putting a date on it will work versus you.