What is a featured snippet
Also known as: position zero, answer box
A featured snippet is the box where Google reverses the format of a result: it shows the answer first, taken from a page's text, followed by the title and link. It also appears inside the People Also Ask group. There is no markup to request it; Google's systems pick the passage that best answers the query.
Someone searches what is CAC. Instead of starting with a list of links, the results page opens with a box: two sentences defining customer acquisition cost, followed by the title and URL of the page they came from.
Clicking the snippet does not land at the top of the page: the browser scrolls straight to the passage shown in the box. If the browser does not support it, or Google cannot locate the passage with confidence, the click goes to the top of the page.
How Google picks the passage
Google's documentation is blunt: you cannot mark a page as a featured snippet. Its systems assess whether the page would make a good featured snippet for that search and, if so, elevate it. Structured data plays no part in that choice.
What a site can do is write in a way that makes the job easier: the question as the section heading, a direct answer right below it in a few sentences, and the detail after. That format serves the reader first, who finds the answer without digging, and it is the same format that makes extraction easy.
Formats that appear
The snippet's format follows the format of the answer on the page. A well built HTML list can become a list snippet; a paragraph lost among others rarely does.
| Type of search | How it appears | |
|---|---|---|
| Paragraph | Definitions and what is questions | A short answer in running text |
| List | Step by step, stages, rankings | Numbered or bulleted items |
| Table | Comparisons, prices, specs | Data in rows and columns |
How to opt out of featured snippets
Some businesses prefer not to appear in the snippet, for example when the short answer becomes incomplete or outdated out of context. Google offers three routes:
- nosnippet: a page rule that blocks all snippets, featured and regular. It is the only guaranteed option.
- data-nosnippet: an HTML attribute that hides only the marked part of the text from any snippet.
- max-snippet: limits snippet length. Low values reduce the chance of a featured snippet but do not eliminate it.
One caution before blocking
To appear as a supporting link in Search's AI features, such as AI Overviews, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet. Using nosnippet to avoid the featured snippet also removes the page from that showcase. In most cases it is better to fix the text Google is quoting than to block it.
Is a featured snippet worth chasing?
The snippet puts the page at the top, above the text results. On the other hand, the answer is already visible on the results page, and some people may not need to click. For short answer questions, such as opening hours or a simple definition, the gain is mostly brand exposure. For topics that need depth, the snippet works as a showcase for the rest of the content.
Frequently asked questions
What is a featured snippet?
The box where Google first shows an answer taken from a page's text, followed by that page's title and link.
How do I get a featured snippet?
You cannot request one. Google picks it automatically. What helps is answering the question directly right after the heading that asks it, then going deeper.
Do featured snippets need structured data?
No. The snippet comes from the page's visible text. Structured data is for rich results, which are a different thing.
How do I stop my page from appearing in a featured snippet?
With the nosnippet rule, which blocks all snippets, with the data-nosnippet attribute on parts of the text, or by limiting length with max-snippet, which lowers the chance without guaranteeing it.
Why is it called position zero?
Because the snippet appears above the first text result. It is an industry nickname; Google does not use it.
Related terms
- Rich snippetsRich snippets are Google results that show more than a title, URL and description: review stars, a product's...
- SERPSERP stands for search engine results page, the page a search engine shows after a query. On Google, it...
- Structured dataStructured data is a block of code, invisible to visitors, that describes a page's content in a standard...
- CTRCTR (clickthrough rate) is the percentage of people who clicked after seeing an ad, an email or a search...
- IndexingIndexing is the stage where Google analyzes the content of a page it has already crawled, works out what it...
Rodrigo Fávaro
Founder of ROO3, a marketing and technology agency in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil. Builds AI products running in production (Tobia, gerar.app, Pense Mercado) and maintains the AI Benchmark, a public ranking of AI models.
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