Data-backed insights on highlighted bit optimization

Around one-fifth of all keywords trigger a featured bit

99 percent of all featured bits tend to appear within the first natural position and take control of 50% of the screen on mobile devices, driving higher-than-average click-through rates (CTR).

The secret to included snippet optimization lies in a couple of particular areas: long-tail- and question-like keyword strategy, date significant content that comes at the ideal length and format, and a succinct URL structure.

Google has always been quite hazy on any details about winning highlighted snippets. This held true when they were first presented, making them something services considered to be the cherry on top of their SEO efforts, which is still mainly the case. Having first-hand understanding about the worth and power of highlighted snippets, Brado partnered with Semrush to carry out the most detailed research study around included snippet optimization to uncover how they really work, and what you can do to win them.

Revealing the highlights from an Included snippets study that evaluated over a million SERPs with highlighted snippets present, this post unwraps actionable recommendations on amping up your optimization technique to lastly win that Google reward.

General patterns throughout the included bit landscape.

With billions of search queries go through the Google search box every day, our study found that around 19 percent of keywords set off a featured bit. Why does this even matter? Featured snippets are known to drive greater CTR-- as another study revealed, they are responsible for over 35 percent of all clicks.

More proving the immense power of highlighted bits, our study showed that they take up over 50 percent of the SERP's property on mobile screens.

Integrate this with our findings that 99 percent of the time included bits take over the first organic position, which they are in most cases triggered by long-tail keywords (indicating specific user intent), and you'll get the factor behind exceptionally high CTR numbers.

Are some industries more likely to activate featured bits?

In the study, we defined industries by keyword classifications, finding that, certainly, included snippet volume is inconsistent across different segments.

The leading industry, seeing a featured snippet in 62 percent of all cases, is Travel and Computer & Electronics, followed by Arts & Entertainment (59 percent), and Science (54 percent), while Real Estate keywords lag behind all the rest with just 11 percent of keywords triggering an included bit.

included bit optimization insights on keyword categories that trigger.

On a domain level, the market breakdown varies a little, with Health and News sites having similar featured bit volumes.

You can discover the complete market breakdown within the research study.

Featured bits are all about earns, not wins.

Just hoping your content will win you a featured snippet isn't enough-- as our research study revealed, it's all about hard-earned material optimization results.

1. Optimize for long-tail keywords and concerns.

When it concerns optimization and keywords, utilize 'the more the better' reasoning.

Our study discovered that 55.5 percent of featured bits were triggered by 10-word keywords, while single-word ones just appeared 4.3 percent of the time.

One thing even better than long-tails is concerns. In truth, 29 percent of keywords setting off an included snippet start with question words-- "why" (78 percent), "can" (72 percent), "do" (67 percent), and in the fewest cases, "where" (19 percent).

featured snippet optimization insights on question keywords that activate.

2. Utilize the best material length and format.

The SERPs we analyzed consisted digital marketing applications of four kinds of featured bit: paragraphs, lists, tables, and videos:.

70 percent of the outcomes revealed paragraphs, with an average of 42 words and 249 characters.

Lists can be found in as the second-most-frequent featured snippet (19 percent), with approximately 6 product counts and 44 words.

Tables (6 percent) typically featured five rows and two columns.

Videos, whose typical period stood at 6:39 mins, appeared in only 4.6 percent of all cases.

Obviously, don't blindly follow this information as the principle, rather see it as a great starting point for featured-snippet-minded content optimization.

Plus, remember that content quality always prevails over amount, so if you have a high-performing piece that features a 10-row table, Google will merely suffice down, showing the blue "More rows" link, which can even enhance your CTR.

3. Do not overcomplicate your URL structure.

As it ends up, URL length matters in Google's choice of a site that should have a featured snippet. Try to adhere to neat site architecture, with 1-3 subfolders per URL, and you'll be more likely to win.

Simply for reference, here is an example of a URL with 3 subfolders:.

xyz.com/subfolder1/subfolder2/subfolder3.

4. Make frequent material updates.

In the "to add or not to include a post date" problem, based on our included snippet analysis, we 'd recommend that you release date-marked material.

The majority of Google's featured snippets include a short article date, with the following breakdown: 47 percent of list-type highlighted bits come from date-marked material, paragraphs-- 44 percent, videos-- 20 percent, and tables-- 19 percent of the time.

While fresh-out-of-the-oven content can be favored by Google, 70 percent of all content making it into the featured snippet was anywhere from 2 to 3 years of ages (2018, 2019, 2020), meaning as soon as again that content quality matters more than recency, so you shouldn't worry that putting a date on it will work versus you.

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Pub: 20 Feb 2024 06:56 UTC
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