Search engine optimizers often use the terms “answer box” and “featured snippet” interchangeably. Both are quick answers or summaries at the top of Google’s organic search results.
And yet there’s a big difference.
- Featured snippets are short answers pulled from what would otherwise appear in the top 10 organic results. Google moves the page to the top of search results with a link underneath.
- Answer boxes are brief factual replies that Google extracts from its own knowledge base, a decade-long project. Answer boxes usually address known entities — names, brands, places.
For example, search Google for “how tall is the Eiffel tower.” The top result is an answer box — a factual response — with no source citation as it’s a known fact.
Next, search for “how long to climb the Eiffel tower.” The top organic listing is a featured snippet, a short paragraph based on the author’s experience, and linking to the source.
I’m aware of no recent data on the number of clicks from featured snippets, or the number of clicks answer boxes take from regular listings.
But overall, featured snippets are opportunities for publishers. Answer boxes are not.
Featured Snippets
Optimizing featured snippets involves providing concise and factual answers to searchers’ queries. Featured snippets appear as:
- Paragraphs, usually two-to-three sentences, with the answer in bold.
- Lists, bulleted or numbered, in response to a query implying an enumeration.
- Tables, all or part of an HTML table, are...
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Published by: Book Club