The significance of a high website’s rank in the google results dictates that every website owner should strategize on facilitating a rise. A high-rank status denotes improved website visibility, and it influences several other aspects such as website traffic. The most effective method that helps in improving the website’s visibility is optimization. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves several special techniques that render it fruitful.
Google has continuously improved its features on the outcomes of the search results. Currently, Featured Snippets have gained popularity with their effectiveness causing a significant rise in the traffic rate of a website. Usually, the top-ranked site in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), enjoys the pleasure of the featured snippets.
What are Google’s featured snippets?
While performing searches over the internet using google search, you might have noticed that the first site in the results list has a different style of appearance. Besides the website’s URL and the meta description below it, there is an outline of information scrolling above them. The content in this section is supposedly relevant to whatever you are searching for on the internet.
Let’s say you have performed a search for a product in Singapore. Google will automatically discover websites that are relevant to your search. On top of the results, a context extract displays, and below it is the link to the specific site containing the entire information. The information section above there is what is known as the featured snippet. It might appear in varying formats such as a list, a paragraph or a table, depending on the kind of information in the site. Since the snippet appears on top of the other google results, the rank is usually referred to as position 0.
So, when internet users perform searches in Singapore, your site should appear as first ranked to benefit from Google’s snippet feature. A featured snippet provides information to the searcher immediately. Many users will hence click on the link alongside the snippet rather than going through other anonymous sites, thereby generating traffic for the website. In this article, we shall provide guidelines on how to secure position 0 as the rank for your website.
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Choosing exceptional keywords
For your site to be considered on the top of the search results, you have to optimize the content as per the SEOs standards. Among the requirements of optimization is the inclusion of suitable keywords. So, the first thing you need to do is to carry out a lite research on some of the trendiest keywords.
Moreover, you should have a properly structured content for your website to enhance the effectiveness of the keywords. Unlike other ordinary content in the site, information featured in the snippets requires remarkable incorporation of content structure and keywords. Therefore, while selecting a keyword, you should consider the structure of your information in regards to the following aspects.
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- Featured snippets aim at providing first-hand information related to peoples’ searches. Most internet users in Singapore and other regions in the world will pose queries in a bid to get answers. It means that for your information to appear pertinent, it should preferably be responding to such questions. Therefore, while selecting a keyword, keep in mind that any content in a response mode would boast an approval in the featured snippets position. Rather than considering content that features actions such as creating, developing, making, among others, you should consider information that reflects on questions based on; why, what, who, where and how.
- The length of the question determines the possibilities of getting your site into position 0. A longer question will have a higher likelihood of displaying snippets than a shorter one. Therefore, you should ensure that the question statement in your content contains more than five words.
- The format of the content is determined by the most likely kind of searches performed on the internet. Usually, searches in questions form will result in a list type of a featured snippet, while a general topic will lead to a paragraph form of the featured snippet.
- Rich keywords in regards to relevance have higher possibilities of being ranked in position 0. Therefore, it is not a matter of just inserting keywords rather than finding rich terms and phrases.
Apart from strategizing to acquire the top position in the search results, the ‘People Also Ask’ section features snippets as well. The section provides other probable sites of interest besides the one on the top rank. In case a searcher finds the top positioned information inadequate; they can click on the provision on the ‘people also ask’ section to try and find more relevant results.
Typically, the ‘People also ask’ section involves a series of questions people tend to ask mostly on the subject matter. Therefore, for your site to acquire a chance in this section, you must come up with an appropriate question on a particular topic you wish to cover. Google has developed a tool to help you generate a suitable question by providing some of the commonly searched ones.
answerthepublic.com is a powerful tool by Google that is based on the Application Programming Interface (API) for communicating with search engines. It helps find questions related to a particular keyword. This tool separates the questions it finds based on categories of question formats such as who and why.
Moz Keyword Explorer and Keyword Finder can as well generate questions for you. Even though these tools do not search for other related questions on the internet, they can help suggest the most relevant questions to you.
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Identifying your site’s development chances
Variations in the industry categories determine the kind of marketing you will assume for your website. Promotion methods are unique for different websites since owners have different target markets. For instance, if the industry of your concern involves collection and analysis of data, it may be applicable to present information in the form of tables. Conversely, if the sector of your concern involves queries, then presenting your information in list form is most appropriate.
Identification of the kind of the industry you are involved in is a crucial step towards the growth and development of your site. A new site requires more elaborate strategies before considering acquiring a position for featured snippets. For example, let’s say you just created a site for a newly established business that people have not yet learned about. It would be wiser to emphasize the search results for directions rather than for information delivery. After your business has significantly flourished, then you can focus on the content delivery which would call for consideration in the featured snippets.
Particular topics are highly considered for the featured snippets than others. Google records a high rate of featured snippets’ searches on topics such as mathematical, health, financial, DIY processes, and time. Also, reviews and content involving providing best solutions to particular issues have secured continuously positions in the featured snippets over a while.
It is also essential to continually evaluate the performance of your sites as well as any of your online campaigns. You can perform an evaluation process by obtaining its Click-through rate (CTR). This data will give a clear definition of the chance your site stands in attaining and maintaining a position on featured snippets. Furthermore, when you are aware of the rate of progress you have been making, you can perceptibly recognize and grab the chance when it presents itself.
Rankings either in position 0 or the “people also ask” section requires regular tracking since it might drop with time. Factors such as changes in the systems and processes over a particular period might lead to a ranking drop due to changes in information searched over the internet. You must frequently update content in your website to ensure that you catch up with the trending issues. Following the trend in the industry of your concern might require you to embark on practices such as snooping your competitors’ sites to follow their extant trend.
Besides, there are tools developed by Google to assist you in finding keywords that have lately achieved featured snippets’ position. Some of such tools include Stat Search Analytics (SSA). For this tool, you have to type and upload your chosen keywords. SSA will then automatically find and compare your keywords with other similar keywords. It will then give details on which keywords among the ones you have generated are performing better in Google’s SERPs. Once you have selected the top-ranked keywords, you can use SSA to continue tracking the performance of the left ones.
The other useful tool is the SEMrush; it automatically runs a search for your desired keywords. All you do is click on the Organic Research on its dashboard, then the Positions. Under this section, you can filter the kinds of featured snippets keywords you want. You can filter the keywords to only get those existing on featured snippers by selecting on the Featured Snippets under the SERP Features button.
Once you have a clear picture of where your site stands in regards to securing a presented opportunity, you can efficiently strategize. Your intentions will now be guided by the requirements you have already recognized rather than mere assumptions.
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Boosting the site’s development chances
You now recognize the kind of potential your website holds by identifying its current performance, compared to if you had integrated the required parameters perfectly. By identification, it means that you can tell what aspects you need to change in your site. It is then the time to implement some of the strategies you decided on, in a bid to exploit the potential in the site.
To begin with, you certainly want to achieve objectives such as precise responses to searchers’ queries, and explicit gestures to guarantee a reliable relationship with clients. It is always essential also to maintain an uncorrupted code so that Google will approve your site. But besides all other factors, you must ensure the quality of the content you deliver.
Quality content means clear instructions and responses that users will comprehend without struggling. To ensure that you provide the most relevant information on your website, you should follow the following steps:
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- Include the question you identified as highly ranked in your web page. You can even rephrase it into a title sentence.
- Give a precise and direct description in response to the query.
- After the short response, give more in-depth and relevant details regarding this question and attach images where appropriate to accompany the descriptions.
Besides improving the quality of the content in your page, you should also consider an appropriate structure of the content. First of all, the mode of presentation of information can be guided by the Inverted Pyramid structure. It states that your content should begin with the most significant information presented briefly. An extensive overview of the subject should then follow where you can conclude with a relevant example.
A promising content structure should also ensure the most appropriate format. Your headings should be formatted into heading tags to enhance content order. If a question requires a series of short answers, you can present them in a lost format with number or bullet tags alongside them. If you are presenting any data in tables, you should not organize them using Cascading Style Sheets format but rather use the HTML Table Tag.
Conclusion
Featured snippets increase the traffic of your website concurrently increasing the lead conversion rate. Eventually, your business makes more sales hence maintaining a significant growth. Maintain consistency in the quality of the content you upload plus observe the mentioned guidelines. With the proper implementation of these strategic measures, your Google rank will eventually rise above other Singaporean sites. After you have achieved a higher rank, you should continually ensure you heed to maintenance requirements. Attaining the top level is demanding while maintaining the top position is even tougher.
Continued monitoring of your site’s progress can help keep your site on track. A featured snippet is worth maintaining as it contributes significantly to your site’s development. Despite features’ changes Google regularly makes, featured snippets have become so popular that there is a high possibility of their continued dominance. Therefore, ensure you work towards increasing the performance of your site and if you already have attained that top position, ensure to maintain it. We hope that this article will contribute greatly to your online campaigns.
