Featured Snippets: How Much Do You Really Know About Them?
There’s been a buzz around featured snippets for at least the last three years, but in 2017 the hype has reached fever pitch. And for good reason. Featured snippets make it easier to rank, putting that coveted #1 spot within the grasp of many who were previously relegated to the SERP backwaters. If you’re like most of us, you probably recognized the opportunity early on and spent the last few years researching and running tests to prove your theories. But how much do you really know? As the evidence mounts, speculation gives way to facts, and myths Read moreare busted. Still, some untruths are likely to persist. As more people jump on the bandwagon, knowing your stuff is going to give you the advantage when it comes to getting results. Start getting the jump on the competition by reading my last column, "How to rank for ‘position 0’ in 3 simple steps: A featured snippets primer." Then take this test to see if you can qualify as a featured snippets expert!
Note: If you're having problems taking the quiz on your Mac, iPhone or iPad, check out our tips.
- 1.
True or False: Featured snippets are part of the Knowledge Graph.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
B. FalseExplanation
According to Google, featured snippets are not part of the Knowledge Graph. A featured snippet is considered "a normal search result, emphasized with special layout."Rate this question:
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- 2.
True or false: Most featured snippets are pulled from the #1 organic listing.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
B. FalseExplanation
Featured snippets are not necessarily pulled from the top organic result. In fact, according to STAT's recent whitepaper, "Rise to the Top with Featured Snippets" (registration required), "the majority of snippets come from websites that don’t even rank number one organically."Rate this question:
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- 3.
There are three known formats for featured snippets. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
- A.
Paragraph
- B.
Carousel
- C.
Table
- D.
List
Correct Answer
B. CarouselExplanation
Currently, there are three types of featured snippets that appear in Google search results: paragraphs, lists and tables. Carousel results are entirely separate from featured snippets.
Paragraph featured snippet:
List featured snippet:
Table featured snippet:
Rate this question:
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- 4.
How do you opt out of featured snippets for a page?
- A.
Meta Googlebot nosnippet tag
- B.
Meta robots noindex tag
- C.
Nosnippet directive in robots.txt
- D.
Disallow directive in robots.txt
Correct Answer
A. Meta Googlebot nosnippet tagExplanation
To prevent your page content from being displayed as a featured snippet in search results, Google recommends using the <meta name="googlebot" content="nosnippet" /> tag on the page.Rate this question:
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- 5.
When might it be useful to opt out of displaying a featured snippet?
- A.
If your syndication partners request it
- B.
If the featured snippet lowers your click-through rate (CTR)
- C.
Both
- D.
Neither
Correct Answer
C. BothExplanation
It should be common sense to that anything that lowers your CTR is bad for your website traffic!Rate this question:
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- 6.
True or False: A "local pack" can be displayed on the same page as a featured snippet.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
B. FalseExplanation
According to STAT's research (registration required), "Local pack results and featured snippets never appear on the same SERP in our data set."Rate this question:
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- 7.
Is the image that appears within a featured snippet clickable?
- A.
Yes
- B.
No
- C.
Sometimes
Correct Answer
A. YesExplanation
You can always click images shown in featured snippets. However, doing so will take you to a larger version of the image -- not to the webpage containing the snippet text!Rate this question:
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- 8.
True or false: A featured snippet can contain content sourced from two completely different websites.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
A. TrueExplanation
As Barry Schwartz reported earlier this year, featured snippets often contain images sourced from a different website than the text -- much to the chagrin of webmasters.Rate this question:
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- 9.
True or False: Subjective queries that include keywords like "best" can trigger featured snippets.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
A. TrueExplanation
This is true now, but it didn’t used to be the case. In STAT’s first study (January 2016), there were no occurrences of featured snippets surfacing for subjective queries. Six months later, in their July 2016 study refresh, subjective queries were the biggest gainer, triggering a featured snippet 18% of the time.Rate this question:
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- 10.
Which site currently owns 15% of all featured snippets with images?
- A.
YouTube
- B.
Pinterest
- C.
Wikipedia
- D.
Google Images
Correct Answer
C. WikipediaExplanation
In their July 2016 follow-up study on featured snippets, STAT found that Wikipedia owns 15% of all snippets with images (slide 17). Images are present in over a third of Wikipedia's featured snippets.Rate this question:
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- 11.
What percentage of featured snippets are tables?
- A.
4%
- B.
17%
- C.
29%
- D.
42%
Correct Answer
C. 29%Explanation
Research from STAT presented at SearchLove London 2016 (slide 52), showed that as of July 2016, 29% of all featured snippets are tables. If you have page content that would work well as a table, consider this format!Rate this question:
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- 12.
True or False: On average, a link in a featured snippet gets more clicks than the #1 organic result.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
B. FalseExplanation
According to a "Ahrefs’ Study Of 2 Million Featured Snippets," released in May 2017, a featured snippet in "position zero" (the top of the page, above the first organic listing) only receives ~8.6% of clicks on average; meanwhile, the top organic listing receives ~19.6% of clicks on average.Rate this question:
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- 13.
Do featured snippets use “keywords in context”(i.e. bolded keywords)?
- A.
No
- B.
Yes
- C.
Yes, but only for lists and tables
Correct Answer
B. YesExplanation
The STAT Featured Snippets Whitepaper (registration required) notes, "We did ... spot bolded answers and bolded titles alongside paragraphs, tables, and lists, and occasionally these posts would include additional titles or text. This occurred in 2.1 percent of the snippets that we observed."You can also see bolded answers in the search result for "how does SEO work" below:Rate this question:
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- 14.
True or False: Structured data markup (also known as "schema.org markup") is required for featured snippets to display.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
B. FalseExplanation
Structured data markup is not required to obtain a featured snippet -- in fact, the website with the most featured snippets (Wikipedia) doesn't use this kind of markup at all! However, many SEOs believe that markup from schema.org, when applied correctly, can increase your chances of getting a featured snippet.Rate this question:
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- 15.
How do search results pages (SERPs) that contain a featured snippet compare to those without a featured snippet in terms of overall clicks?
- A.
SERPs with featured snippets get more clicks overall.
- B.
SERPs without featured snippets get more clicks overall.
- C.
Both SERPs perform roughly the same in terms of clicks.
Correct Answer
B. SERPs without featured snippets get more clicks overall.Explanation
According to Ahrefs' 2017 study, featured snippets do appear to reduce the overall number of clicks on search results -- which isn't too surprising, since many users are getting the answers they need without having to click.Rate this question:
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- 16.
True or False: In order to have your page content display a list-style featured snippet, you need to use HTML lists (<ol> or <ul>).
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
B. FalseExplanation
In some cases, Google can look at your page content and create a list featured snippet when appropriate. For example, this featured snippet, which appears for the query, "top sneakers 2017," is pulled from the page's h3 tags.Rate this question:
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- 17.
Approximately what percent of search queries produce a featured snippet?
- A.
25%
- B.
7%
- C.
36%
- D.
12%
Correct Answer
D. 12%Explanation
According to Ahrefs data for ~112 million keywords, around 14 million -- or 12.29% -- returned featured snippet results.Rate this question:
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- 18.
True or False: Featured snippets always display above the top organic listing.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
B. FalseExplanation
According to Ahrefs' featured snippets study, "only 30.9% of featured snippets rank at the very top."Rate this question:
-
- 19.
True or False: Featured snippets are more likely to appear for high-volume search queries.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
B. FalseExplanation
According to Ahref's 2017 featured snippets study, long-tail keywords (which naturally have lower search volume) were far more likely to trigger a featured snippet result than more popular, highly searched keywords.Rate this question:
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- 20.
True or False: Webmasters can get analytics about their site's featured snippets in Google Search Console.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
B. FalseExplanation
Unfortunately, as Google's Gary Illyes confirmed recently at SMX Advanced 2017, Google is not actively working to bring data about featured snippets into Google Search Console. Perhaps one day!Rate this question:
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Mar 21, 2023Quiz Edited by
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Jul 25, 2017Quiz Created by
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