SEO For Answer BoxHow to Optimize Web Page for Google Featured Snippet

What is Featured Snippet?According to Google, When a user asks a question in Google Search, we might show a summary of the answer in a special featured snippet block at the top of the search results page. This featured snippet block includes a summary of the answer, extracted from a webpage, plus a link to the page, the page title and URL.

Featured Snippet is known as answer box too.

Let’s take a look Featured Snippet

Answer Box: Statistic DataThis* foray into the search engine came up with about 10 000 queries (10 353 to be more precise). Of those, only 1792 returned answer boxes, which is roughly 17% of the total number of searches.

*About Sample Keywords: The algorithm did automatic searches for phrases such as “what is…” and “who is…”, adding just one letter after the phrase ( “what is a”, “what is b”, and so on up to “what is z”) and taking into account the autocomplete suggestions (since those are supposed to be most popular searches, therefore the ones most likely to elicit answer boxes). To have a standardized cutoff point, we only took into account the first 10 autocomplete suggestions for each generated keyword. Using this method to extract the keywords we selected a sample of keywords that are most likely to return answer boxes.

Type of Answer BoxAnswer boxes comes in many shapes and sizes. Most of the answer boxes included definitions or descriptions that were the result of various website extractions; they were 1 236, which amounts to almost 69% of the answer boxes. Which means that all the other types of answer boxes – Web Definitions, Video Widgets, Google Widgets (conversions, maps) or Google Dictionary Definitions.

Why Should You Care?Google has made so many changes in the past couple of years So, Why are Featured Snippets important?

1 . They occupy the "#0" position: What beats #1? Now #0 .

2. They're surprisingly prevalent: Featured Snippets results constantly increasing

3. They often boost CTR: According to Hubspot Research, CTR to the HubSpot website for high volume keywords increased by over 114%, even when they ranked #1 already.

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3 Key to Help You Rank in the Featured Snippet Section.

1. Find Out Which Questions User Asking

The key to getting into the featured snippet position is to understand which questions people are asking in your niche and how to answer them with your content.

What and Implied-What QuestionsA good starting point is "What...?" questions, such as our "What is Page Authority?" experiment. This is especially effective for industry terms and other specialized knowledge that can't be easily reduced to a dictionary definition.

A good starting point is "What...?" questions, such as our "What is Page Authority?"

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Why Questions"Why... ?" questions are good fodder for Featured Snippets because they can't easily be answered with factoids. They often require some explanation, such as this snippet for "Why is my internet so slow?"

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How Questions"How...?" questions often require more in-depth answers. An especially good target for Featured Snippets is "How to... ?" questions, which tend to have practical answers that can be summarized. Here's one for "How to make tacos"

2. Identify QueriesThe idea of the Answer Box is to save a user time when they are looking for a description, definition, or answer on Google.Try to identify more complex questions your audience is asking that could lead them to your site.

Keyword Research When carrying out keyword research, look for questions that you will be able to answer in great depth. Keyword Planner can be used to find a range of queries relevant to your industry—simply pick out your product category and include keywords such as “what”, “how”, “why,” and “where”.

A good starting point is "What...?" questions, such as our "What is Page Authority?"

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Google Suggestions and Related SearchesAnother good way to find queries around a certain keyword or phrase is to look at other suggestions that Google automatically generates when searching for a term. You can look at the drop down that appears when you start typing Or in the “Related Searches” box at the bottom of your search results:

Related Searches

Google Suggestions

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By “People also ask” box:For some queries, you may see a “People also ask” box: Let’s take a look at search query “ Making Pizza”.

People Also Ask

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Investigate Your Current ReferralsIn most cases, pages that get into the featured snippet are those that already rank high for that query (1-5 top positions), so explore your Webmaster Tools “Search Analytics” section as well as Google Analytics top search referral landing pages reports to identify your site pages with the highest potential to get featured in the quick answer box.

Ask Real People What Question They Would Ask on your TopicMyBlogU is a good place to get the community to help: Simply create a new project, describe your topic and ask the users to submit their questions.Track Questions Peoples ask on twitter or QuoraUser-generated content is one of the best sources of “how-to” content inspiration. Use Cyfe to monitor several phrases and related questions people tweet.

3. Directly Answer the Question

Whether you are providing a definition for a certain term or answering a query, you need to be clear cut with your content. Do not manipulate the answers.

Start by using the query or key phrase in your headline, then explicitly answer the question somewhere in your content. Write your answer as a complete sentence near the top of your page, then use variations of your keyword or answer throughout the rest of your copy.

Key Takeaway

1. Start by finding out if there is a Google Answer Box that relates to content on your website or content that you could create for your website, as shown in the previous slides.

2. Create content that matches the Google Answer Box, goes into more depth, and make sure it is using the correct markup.

3. Make sure your page’s SEO completely done. 4. Build links to your Google Answer Box content using anchor text that matches the Google Answer Box call to action or

the query the person would search to find the Google Answer Box.

It’s a great place to have your content featured and will drive traffic to your site, increase brand awareness, and build your audience base.

These simple tips should help you on your way to dominating Google’s Rich Answer Box with relevant content that directly answers a user’s query, and may ultimately drive them to your website.

Questions?