What is Featured Snippet?

Featured snippets appear above all other organic results (hence "position zero") and are designed to answer a search query directly on the results page without requiring a click. They commonly appear for informational queries — "how to," "what is," "best way to" — and take several formats: paragraph snippets (a text excerpt), list snippets (numbered or bulleted lists), table snippets (data formatted in a table), and video snippets (a YouTube video with a timestamp answering the query).

Google automatically selects which content to feature in snippets — there is no direct application or configuration. However, content can be optimized for snippets by: clearly stating the question being answered (often in a heading), providing a concise direct answer in 40–60 words immediately after the heading, structuring lists and step-by-step content with HTML list tags, and using tables for comparison or data content. Pages that already rank on the first page are most likely to earn snippet positions.

The click-through impact of featured snippets is debated. On one hand, they dramatically increase SERP visibility and branded impressions. On the other, some users get their answer from the snippet without clicking — so organic clicks may actually decrease for the featured page. The overall verdict from most studies is positive: featured snippets increase total traffic because of higher visibility, even accounting for zero-click behavior.