Google’s Rich Answer Boxes are now considered to be “position zero” on Page One of Google’s organic search results. Position 0 = Mystifying position. It’s a great place to have your content featured and drive more traffic to your site. 0th Position can help greatly in increasing brand awareness, and building your audience base. But how to get it?What is a featured snippet?
A featured snippet is a direct answer to a user's query, which is displayed on top of Google's organic search results. It usually includes the page's Title and URL. Depending on the query, there are three types of snippets - Paragraph, List or Tables.What is Google Answer Box / Quick Answers?
"Answer box" is a coveted SERP feature. It is a highly-visible rich snippet - Answer and Link placed at the top of organic search results. Answer is a text snippet that directly answers the user's search query. The link is the destination address from where the answer text is pulled.Rich search results snippets improves the search experience for the users. For search users, it’s a blessing because it can provide direct answers to their questions without additional clicks through to a website. For the websites, getting a featured snippet for key pages is a good thing because it can provide a huge boost in organic traffic.
Pages that Google selects for Quick Answers on our site are most likely high authority pages with quality, well-structure content that is theme-relevant, optimized for a great user experience and answer specific questions closely matching the query.
How to optimize for Google's Answer Box?
Follow these 5 easy steps to get your article featured on Google Rich Answers.- 1. Find the most searched query.
- 2. Compose a real direct answer.
- 3. Add extra relevant information.
- 4. Implement some essential SEO.
- 5. Ensure easy access to the content.
- * Most Searched Query? The first part of this plan is to know and understand which keywords are triggering an Answer Box. 50% of Search Queries are 4+ Words. So start with long tail keyword research. Identify all the basic questions your target audience might type on Google, especially for “how to” queries. Find out three/four keyword phrases that are very, very specific to the topic.
- * Simple & Direct Answer - The concept of providing a simple, clear, direct answer is one that adds a lot of value to users. So create a piece of clear content that directly answers the common question. Remember Google prefers logical and well-structured answers (lists, step by step instructions, or the like) over your site's relevance and authority.
- * Value Added Info - Beyond the direct optimized answer, provide value added information on the matter. The more information a search result snippet can provide, the easier it is for users to decide whether that page is relevant to their search. Hence this step is really essential in enticing your page more clicks. The more information a search result snippet can provide, the easier it is for users to decide whether that page is relevant to their search.
- * Essential SEO? Carry out required SEO practices to achieve higher rank. The commonly searched question should show up as a heading (H1, H2, H3, H4) on your page. The answer to the search query should be placed in a <p> tag (i.e. <p>Precise Direct Answer</p>) and be located directly under the heading. If possible, introduce a related long-tail keyword in the title tag. An answer length of 40 to 58 words is ideal for rich snippets.
- * Easy Access? Make your content easily available to People and Google. Do share it on the social media like Facebook, Twitter and others. Do not forget to submit it to the Google search console.
How to optimize Images for Rich Snippets?
In some instances, Google also adds an image from the page, in the top right corner of the rich snippet. So it is essential to have an optimized image that helps the reach of your content.Give your Images detailed Filenames
A filename can give Google clues about the subject matter of the image. Try to make your filename a good description of the subject matter of the image. The more descriptive your filename is the more useful the image is. For example, whatsapp-font-style.jpg is more informative than IMG00922.JPG.Make your Image ALT text informative
- An alt attribute is generally used to describe the contents of an image file. It is important to provide alt text for several reasons.
- 1. Google gets useful information to determine the best image to return for a user's query.
- 2. Descriptive alt text helps Google provide useful information to visually impaired users. For example, <img src="whatsapp-font-style.jpg" alt="Different Whatsapp text formats"> is an apt example of alt attribute.
Place Images nearer to relevant text
The page the image is on provides search engines with a rough idea about the image content. The content around the image provide search engines with important information about the subject matter of your image. Providing good, descriptive titles and captions for images is hugely recommended.
