Search Snippets

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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 and URL. This is a snippet in its most basic form.

screenshot standard snippet tm lewin shirts - search snippets

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 which means increased traffic, higher conversion rates and higher ranking.

screenshot rich snippet banana bread recipes - search snippets

3. Featured Snippet

Featured snippets are selected by Google and appear at the top of SERPs. 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
screenshot featured snippet why do we yawn - search 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 unique and around 55 characters. Ensure your meta description accurately represents your site, optimised with keywords, without 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.

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 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 where you can find lots of our very best SEO techniques ready for you to learn and implement today.