What is a featured snippet?

Featured snippet, explained

Google describes featured snippets as special boxes where the usual format is reversed: the snippet comes first and the title link second. They usually appear for question-style queries, like definitions, steps or short lists, and they're drawn from one of the pages already ranking for that query.

You can't apply for one. Google's documentation says its systems decide whether a page would make a good featured snippet for a query and, if so, elevate it. There's no structured data for it. What you can do is make it easy for Google to lift a clean answer from your page.

In practice that means: put a direct answer high on the page, in one or two sentences, right after a heading that matches the question. Follow with depth. Use real lists and tables in HTML for steps and comparisons. This is the same writing pattern that makes a page easy for AI assistants to quote, which is why this glossary leads every entry with a short, quotable definition.

You can also opt out. The nosnippet rule removes all snippets for a page, including featured ones. A low max-snippet value makes a featured snippet less likely. And the data-nosnippet attribute keeps specific text out of any snippet. Some publishers do this when a snippet answers the question so completely that nobody clicks.

Featured snippets now share the page with AI Overviews on many queries. The same qualities help with both: pages that are indexed, eligible for a snippet, and answer the question clearly.

Why it matters for founders

Winning a featured snippet puts a small site's answer above much bigger competitors. The writing habits that earn one, a clear answer first and depth after, also make your pages easier for AI assistants to cite.

Example

Your page on "what is crawl budget" opens with a two-sentence definition under an H2 that asks the question. Google shows that definition in a box above the results, with your page linked below it.

Common mistakes

• Looking for a schema type that creates featured snippets. There isn't one.
• Hiding the answer below long introductions.
• Writing lists as images or with CSS tricks instead of real HTML lists.
• Using nosnippet without realizing it also removes your normal snippet.