## What Is a Search Snippet?
A search snippet, or Google snippet, is a generated extract of content from a web page that is presented in SERPs, drawn from a search term and collated from stored meta data.
## What Are the Different Kinds of Search Snippets and How Do They Appear?
Snippets can appear in a few different formats, each having a different impact.
### 1. Standard Snippet
A standard snippet is typically made up of your title, [meta description](https://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/meta-description-seo) and [URL](https://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/seo-friendly-url). This is a snippet in its most basic form.
### 2. Rich Snippet
A rich snippet includes the basic information of a standard snippet, but also integrates ratings, pictures and extra information like location and availability.
Rich snippets usually produce a higher [click-through-rate](https://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/click-through-rate-ctr) which means increased traffic, higher [conversion rates](https://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/website-conversion-rate-metric) and higher ranking.
### 3. Featured Snippet
Featured snippets are selected by Google and appear at the top of [SERPs](http://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/serp). They are chosen to answer specific questions entered into the search bar. You have to work for this one.
These kinds of snippets come in a few forms including:
- Paragraph featured snippets
- List featured snippets
- Table featured snippets
- Video featured snippets
## Why Are Search Snippets Important?
Search snippets are important because they can be the difference between a searcher clicking on your website, or moving on to a more enticing one.
If your snippet is visually appealing and contains relevant information with bolded keywords matching the search term/s then the searcher is much more likely to click.
## How to Optimise Search Snippets
The techniques used to optimise search snippets vary depending on the type of snippet you are trying to optimise.
### 1. Optimising Standard Search Snippets
Optimising standard search snippets is pretty simple. Make your [title tag](/marketing-glossary/meta-title-seo) unique and around 55 characters. Ensure your meta description accurately represents your site, optimised with keywords, without [keyword stuffing](https://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/keyword-stuffing) and a maximum of 160 characters.
Create a URL that is both readable and hyphenated, with no capital letters, and include your [target keyword](/marketing-glossary/target-keyword).
### 2. Optimising Rich Snippets
Rich snippets are taken from structured markup in a page’s HTML. There are a few different types of rich snippets which website’s must choose from.
Some of the accepted data types include:
- Products
- Reviews
- Event details
- Recipes
- Prices
### 3. Optimising Content to Appear as a Featured Snippet
Getting your content to appear as a featured snippet is not easy. Essentially, you must be the best of the best, but there are somethings that you can do to increase your chances.
Excellent [keyword research](http://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/keyword-research) will be helpful here, as well as social media research to find out what questions are regularly asked.
Also, remember the key to appearing as a featured snippet, is providing a comprehensive but concise and easily digestible answer.
Stick to the facts, and utilise images for an added edge.
### Tools to Help You With Search Snippets
Some tools that can help with the creation of your search snippets are:
- SEOMofo
- Yotpo
- Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool
- WordPress’s Schema App Structured Data
- Portent
### How Can We Help?
Aiming to get some of your content into Position 0 but struggling to get there? Get in touch and we’ll match you with a team that can help you achieve your goals.
In the meantime, why not check out [our training courses](https://growhackscale.com/academy) where you can find lots of our very best SEO techniques ready for you to learn and implement today.
