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What are Snippets? (SEO Guide + Definition)

ByNina Clapperton Updated on

When you type something into Google anything you get a page of search results. Each one of those is called a snippet. Specifically, it’s a regular ole text-based snippet.

It’s a valuable piece of online real estate that all the bloggers are vying from. It’s a single search result amongst a sea of search results.

And, for most bloggers, winning front page snippets is what it’s all about because when your snippet ends up on the page, readers actually have a chance of clicking through. 

So, what are snippets in SEO exactly? And, most importantly, how can you optimize to win them? Let’s dig in:

🤩 Find keywords for snippets with my favourite keyword tool!

Types of Snippets

There are three types of snippets you’ll come across on google:

Regular Snippets

Regular snippets are what you most often find on Google. These are the simple text-based snippiest that feature a:

  • Title (H1)
  • Short summary of the post (meta description)
  • Link to the post (URL)

When you work on SEO for a single post, you’re hoping that Google will pull a snippet just like this for your chosen keyword. Then furthermore, that your reader will click through to your site!

Rich Snippets

Rich snippets are essentially regular snippets with added information. These days there are rich snippets for everything:

  • Shopping snippets might feature a product rating, pricing and stock availability
  • Numbered steps in a how-to guide
  • Bulleted lists built from headings

Google builds these rich snippets itself, but with the right tools you can make it easier for them to choose you.

Example of snippet for the keyword "how to boil an egg". This is a featured snippet on Google search that shows one way snippets can appear.

Featured Snippets

Featured snippets are the top position, sometimes referred to as “position zero.” It’s essentially what Google determines to be the answer to the query typed in. These are most often seen when questions are asked. A sentence or two comes up, usually with the keyword bolded.

Why are Search Snippets Important?

Snippets are an important part of blogging for those looking to make passive income. They can be the difference between someone clicking on your site or going with a competitor’s.

An appealing snippet makes it more likely that the searcher will pick your site, so it is important to make sure yours stands out from the crowd. Crafting catchy and accurate snippets can help bring in more passive income by increasing traffic to your blog.

But Won’t Click Throughs Be Lower?

It tracks to think that if there’s a search snippet right there that answers the question, why would anyone click through? Doesn’t getting that top spot mean people move right down over your site and onto the next?

As it turns out, snippets do actually steal clicks. The number one spot on Google usually received around 26% of clicks, but when there’s a snippet that drops to 19.6%. Snippets are also great because if Google is pulling your site for one, they know that you’re an expert on that topic. 

Optimizing for Snippets in Google

Using RankMath 

RankMath and Yoast perform the same task, though I personally find RankMath to be the more comprehensive of the two. If you don’t use either yet, or you’re starting a new blog, I recommend you give it a try (the basic version is free!).

To optimize for the basic front-page-of-Google snippet, you open up the snippet window and fill out the following information:

  • SEO title: as close to the front as possible 
  • Meta description: which should include your primary keyword, as close to the beginning as possible
  • URL: Have it simply be your primary keyword

You should be able to see a simple visual of this structured data how it should appear on Google. Though, full disclosure, Google can change your information before it appears too. 

Using Yoast

Yoast works very similar to RankMath, and you’ll be updating the same information in their Google Preview. You want to aim for: 

  • SEO title: as close to the front as possible
  • Meta description: which should include your primary keyword, as close to the beginning as possible
  • URL: Have it simply be your primary keyword

Check the preview and make sure it looks like what you want it to!

How to Rank for Featured Snippets with SEO

1. Identify the Type of Snippet

The first step on the road to winning a website snippet on Google is to identify what kind you want to get. There are a few to choose from – and you can aim for more than one in a single post. 

Paragraph text snippet for the Google keyword search "how many eyes does a horse have". It shows larger text that says "two eyes" and then a paragraph answer explaining this result.

Paragraph

Paragraph or text snippets are common for answering questions like those found in FAQ snippets. To win these, you want to provide the immediate answers to the questions asked, but still include enough (relevant and) enticing information that someone wants to click through.

numbered list featured snippet steps

Numbered List

Numbered list snippets are derived of ordered lists (that HAVE to be completed in a certain order). These can be recipes, how to guides or other like content that – anything that requires a step-by-step process. That process is gathered from the post and brought to the front page. 

featured bullt list snippet

Bulleted List

Bulleted list snippets are ranked or unranked content from listicles. Primarily derived from best of and featured lists, Google gathers up all of the relevant headings and drops them into a bulleted list that it pulls onto the search page. 

milk cost canada table snippet

Table & Charts

Google loves to gather data in to tables and charts to display. It gathers information from published posts and compiles it into an easy-to-understand piece of information that is read in a table or chart. A search of something like “US auto sales by brand in X year” is likely to bring up a table or chart example.

youtube snippet

YouTube

YouTube featured snippets are a great way to capture user attention and Google loves its optimized videos. Any query that merits a feature snippet will have YouTube videos, except tables, as the main source of information. YouTube is making sure its content is seen by users searching for answers, giving it an edge over its competitors.

google carousel snippet

Carousel

Carousels are made up of mini snippets that get rotated through at the top of the search page. It’s estimated that these are made up of 2/3 content from spots 2 to 10, and 1/3 of content that’s not even in the first page running. This means that even if your website isn’t on the first page, it still has a chance!

double featured snippet
Screenshot from this tweet .

Double Feature Snippet

On occasion, Google features two snippets for the same search term. This most often happens when search intent isn’t clear – like Google’s own search dictionary. It allows Google to get a better understanding while giving the searcher (hopefully) what they want. 

2. Use Schema

Google needs specific information to identify different pieces of content. For example, listicles usually come numbered or as bullet points, and recipes often have a list of ingredients and numbered steps.

You can format these yourself, but there are specific schema tools to help make it easier. Using these properly can help Google understand and identify the important content. Here are some tools you might find useful:

  • RankMath (recommended) for FAQs and other simple schemas
  • Create by Mediavine for the Recipe Schema
  • WP Table Builder for tables

You also want to remember to add (descriptive) Alt Text to your images. Don’t just copy-and-paste your keyword, that helps no one!

3. Use the Target Keyword

Snippets are based on keywords, popular questions, and other things people search on Google. If you want to snag a snippet for something specific, you need to do good keyword research. 

Keysearch is an affordable paid tool to help you do this. You can use it to find the best word, see who’s currently ranking and see what you can do to steal their spot!

4. Offer More Value

There are A LOT of bloggers competing for the same snippets and you want to stand out. You do that by creating good content that answers the questions and provides more value than your competitors. Google wants to pick out the BEST piece of content, and you need to make that yours. 

5. Stick to 50-60 Words

Short and sweet is the aim. Text-based snippets on Google are between 50 and 60 characters. When you’re answering snippet questions, keep that in mind, and keep it short. 

6. Don’t Muddy the Waters

You want your snippet to be as clear and descriptive as possible, but you don’t want to muddy the waters with non-important information. The data needs to remain clean and uncluttered, so readers (and Google) has a clear understanding of what is being said. 

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Conclusion: Snippets + SEO

Snippets are the golden goose in the SEO world. Of course, there’s so much more to it than just filling out a schema or making sure your keyword is in the right place in your Google preview — but it’s incredibly important that you do those things too.

It doesn’t matter if you’re brand new to the blogging world or you’re on your 13th blog, if you don’t have a handle on snippets, you need to get on it stat.

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Nina Clapperton is the founder of She Knows SEO.

She started blogging in 2018 and spent years doing everything “right” while earning $0. Then she stopped guessing and learned how search actually works. She rebuilt her travel site around audience intent and structure and grew to 50,000 sessions in 6 months. Within a year, the blog was bringing in $30,000 months and later crossed 243,000 pageviews.

She took the same audience first SEO approach and built her education business into multiple $100,000 months.

Now Nina teaches bloggers and online business owners how to build search powered businesses grounded in strong positioning, clear structure, and monetisation that actually supports their audience. She covers traditional SEO and AI driven search without the tech bro noise, and she’s known for explaining complex strategy with analogies you won’t forget.

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