What is a Featured Snippet?
A section of Google search engine results page that tries to answer a question without a person having to click through to another web page. They include Google’s best guess at an answer, the title of the page the answer comes from, the page URL, and an image from the page. While featured snippets are designed to save time for the person searching, they are mostly machine-generated and aren’t fact-checked.
Example
Let’s say you’re a small business owner looking for information on “how to improve cybersecurity for small businesses.” You search for this query on Google, and at the top of the search results, you see a featured snippet that provides a concise answer to your question:
“Steps to Improve Cybersecurity for Small Businesses:
- Conduct a cybersecurity risk assessment to identify vulnerabilities and potential threats to your business.
- Implement strong password policies and multi-factor authentication for all user accounts.
- Train employees on cybersecurity best practices, including how to recognize phishing emails and avoid clicking on suspicious links.
- Keep software and operating systems up to date with the latest security patches and updates.
- Use encryption technologies to protect sensitive data, both in transit and at rest.
- Implement network security measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and VPNs to secure your business network.
- Develop a response plan for cybersecurity incidents, including how to mitigate damage and recover from a breach.
- Regularly monitor and audit your cybersecurity measures to ensure they remain effective against evolving threats.
In this B2B example, the featured snippet provides actionable steps for small businesses to improve their cybersecurity measures. This information is valuable to business owners who are looking to enhance their security practices to protect their company’s data and assets. By providing a concise and informative answer, the featured snippet helps business owners quickly access the information they need to address their cybersecurity concerns.