For many, many years, the goal of website search engine optimization has been to get a page to rank first in search results. From now on it is different: it is more and more about reaching the zero position, the so-called “position zero”. This refers to Google’s “Featured Snippet”.
What is a featured snippet?
A featured snippet is a format that shows the result of a Google search query directly as text without having to click on the website. This text excerpt from a website is thus created directly and automatically by Google from the page linked in the snippet. So it’s is a highlighted search result.The featured snippet works differently than other search engine entries. First of all, it is displayed in a small box separate from the other search results and is at the top. Above all, however, it shows additional, relevant information and tries to answer users’ questions without them having to click it.
Even if it sounds illogical at first, to forego someone clicking on a link to a website. The advantage of being a pioneer outweighs it. In addition, featured snippets can be read aloud by the Google Assistant.
Interestingly, Google decides for which search queries a featured snippet is displayed and which domain is used for it. But websites can be optimized so that the probability of being displayed as a “featured snippet” increases significantly.