Term
Featured snippet
Updated · 2 min read · By The ParSEO team
The short answer
A short answer Google shows above or within the results, taken from one page and credited with a link.
A featured snippet is a highlighted answer Google sometimes shows for a question, quoted from a single page with a link to it. Google chooses the page and passage automatically; there's no markup to request one.
Pages that win snippets usually put the question as a heading and a direct, complete answer right below it, then the detail. You can stop your content being used with nosnippet or limit it with max-snippet, which also affects your normal snippets.
In practice
In practice, look at the searches where your page already ranks on the first page; those are the ones where a snippet is within reach. Make sure the page states the answer plainly near the top, in a sentence or two, and then gives the steps or details. Lists and short tables can help when the question asks for steps or a comparison.
Sources
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