Featured snippet
Also called Answer box, Position zero.
A featured snippet is a short answer Google pulls from one web page and shows in a box near the top of the results, with the page's title and link. Google's systems pick the page automatically, and there's no markup or setting that makes a page one. You earn it by answering the question clearly on a page Google already ranks.
Doug's Field Guide · Updated
How does Google pick the snippet?
Google states it plainly: you can't mark up a page to become a featured snippet. Its systems decide whether a page makes a good answer for the search, and if so, they lift the text and show it. That means no plugin or schema tag gets you in.
What you control is the page. Google tends to quote pages that already rank well for the search and that answer the question in a short, self-contained passage. A paragraph, a numbered list of steps, or a short table are the usual shapes.
Snippets are common on question searches: "how to relight a pilot light", "what is a crown vs a filling", "how long does probate take in Texas". For a local business, these are the research searches people do before they pick someone to call.
How do you write a page Google can quote?
Write the question as a heading and answer it in the first sentence or two under it, in a way that makes sense on its own. Then give the detail. If the answer is a process, use a numbered list with one step per line. If it's a comparison, use a small table.
Keep your facts right and your wording plain. Google is showing your text as the answer, so it has to hold up without the rest of the page around it.
A snippet can take a click or save one. Someone who reads "call a licensed electrician if the breaker trips again right after you reset it" may call the business the answer came from. Someone who only wanted a quick fact may not click at all.
If you ever want out, Google supports opting out with the nosnippet rule, or the data-nosnippet attribute on specific text. Most local businesses want the opposite.
Aim one page at a snippet
- Search a question customers ask you often and see which page Google quotes now.
- Open your own page on that topic and put the question as a heading, word for word as people ask it.
- Rewrite the first two sentences under it so they answer the question completely on their own.
- If the answer is a process, turn it into a numbered list.
Common mistakes
- Buying a plugin or adding schema that claims to win featured snippets, which Google says isn't possible.
- Answering in the fourth paragraph after a long lead-in.
- Writing an answer that only makes sense with the surrounding page.
How Doug does it
Doug drafts FAQ answers, service pages and guide pages in your fix queue with the answer first, and he can publish them to your site. Every week he checks how you show up on Google and in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini.
Keep exploring
- People also askThe box of related questions in Google results, each with a short answer.
- FAQ pagesThe questions customers ask on the phone, each with one short, clear answer.
- Google AI OverviewsThe AI summary Google writes above the results, and how your pages get linked in it.
- Title tags and meta descriptionsThe blue link and the two lines under it in Google, written by you for each page.
Sources
Written by Doug's team from these sources and our own work with local businesses. Search engines change their rules, so check the source before a big decision.
