Featured Snippet
Also known as: position zero, answer box
A Featured Snippet is Google's selected answer-box result that appears above the standard organic results, a single ~40-80 word excerpt extracted from one ranking page, formatted as a paragraph, list, or table. It captures roughly 28-35% click-through on informational queries when it appears, though its share of SERPs is shrinking as AI Overviews replace it for many queries.
How pages win Featured Snippets
Google selects from already-ranking pages (almost always top-10). Pages that win:
- Direct answer paragraph of 40-80 words near the top
- Heading formatted as the natural question (“What is X?”)
- Existing high ranking for the target query
- FAQ schema or HowTo schema when applicable
- Speakable schema for voice-friendly content
What’s changing in 2026
AI Overviews now fire on 50%+ of SERPs and often replace Featured Snippets. Single-source winning is shifting to multi-source citation in generated answers. The optimization patterns overlap heavily but the measurement frame is different, Featured Snippet ownership vs AI Overview citation rate.
Formats Google selects
- Paragraph, most common, 40-80 words
- Numbered list, for “how to” / “steps” queries
- Bulleted list, for “best X” / “types of X” queries
- Table, for comparison / stat-based queries
Pages can be structured to match the most likely format for a given query.
- Resocial service →
/services/ai-search/answer-engine-optimization/ - Read on the blog →
/blog/ai-overviews-vs-featured-snippets/