The Featured Snippet, SEO and Your Business

Posted by 180Fusion on January 13th, 2020

A featured snippet at the top of search engine results page can show information from a link two or three places down from the top. A Chicago SEO company can help you offset the problems this snippet will cause for your page-view dependent sites, or help you harness the power of the snippet to improve your website's performance if you aren't concerned so much with page views as with selling products.

The Featured Snippet

With search engines implementing the "featured snippet," you may have some concerns if your business depends on actual website visits over just getting information out there. If part of your business plan depends on selling advertising with a certain number of eyes on the page, the featured snippet could certainly cut into that. However, if you are a business that is selling a product, the feature snippet shouldn't adversely affect your business. This bit of text at the top of the search engine page is related to the overall direction that search engines are taking toward search intent.

What Is 'Search Intent?'

When users put in search terms, they are often looking for something specific. If someone types "protein powder" into a search engine query, what is he or she looking for? Is the person researching types of protein powder? Does he or she want to know where to buy protein powder? Or is the person interested in the health implications of protein powder? The intent isn't necessarily clear, and it's what search engines are trying to find out to provide relevant results.

Your Business

If someone types, or more likely uses a voice search to find, "Where does the word 'robot' come from?" His or her intent is clearer. The person is seeking a definition. This will come up in the featured snippet, and the person will never have to visit the website where it's been taken from. If you're an information website dependent on advertising, this is a game-changing development that you need to figure out how to deal with. If you're a business that sells robots, you can harness the snippet to create more trustworthiness and expertise in your area, and because the person isn't looking to buy robots, his or her visit to your site doesn't matter as much and it doesn't clutter your statistics.

The Future of SEO

To truly understand the future of SEO and how it will affect your website, you need to hire a Chicago SEO company. Voice searches, mobile use, and snippets are only some of the changes you'll have to deal with in the near future. Consulting with experts can relieve some of the stress that comes with the uncertainty of search engine algorithms, their ambiguity, and their changes.