Google Snippets and their impact on search

What are Google snippets?

Google snippets have been featuring in Google SEPRs for a number of years now.When you type in a search term in the Google search bar,  you may sometimes notice a highlighted search result at the top most block. This contains a summary of the answer to
the search term, and includes the URL and links to the site from where the answer was extracted. This is Google’s attempt at making the SERPs more user friendly and relevant.

Google recently announced some changes in the length of snippets. The featured snippets are now much longer, more descriptive, and even more relevant.

An example of a featured Google snippet:

What do I need to do for my site to be featured as snippet on Google?

Featuring as a snippet is largely dependent upon Google’s algorithm. Google determines and extracts the closest, and the most relevant answer to be featured as snippets.

Will snippets impact the popularity of my site?

Snippets will certainly impact your site’s popularity. Some of the key reasons being:

1. The featured snippets are highlighted and enhanced in the SERPS thus drawing the attention of searchers.
2. Snippets provide direct answers to the questions or queries raised by the searchers.
3. Searchers instantly get the answer to their query without having to click any further.

Can SEO help with featuring as a snippet?

If you are an authority site on a subject, and have optimized your website, the likelihood of your site getting featured as a snippet is certainly there, however, as mentioned earlier, it depends on Google’s algorithm, and what Google deems as the most relevant answer.