Why and how to reach Google’s position zero

Back in the day, the goal of any business producing content as part of its marketing strategy was to be ranked first in search results pages. But now, the definitions of successful SEO have changed!

Now, besides being ranked first, the goal is to reach Google’s position zero, which has a slightly more complicated official name: Featured Snippets.

Position zero? And a featured what? 

Well, in this post we will unveil this mystery. We’ll explain why occupying this position is important, talk about the main types of Featured Snippets and also provide a few tips on how to achieve this goal.

What’s the importance of reaching Google’s position zero?

It’s not news that people use Google to search for answers. They especially want to know “what something is” or “how to do something “.

The search engine has now adapted to consumer behavior and created a way of answering these questions quickly: the answer boxes or Featured Snippets.

Thus, whenever someone asks a question, the Google robot searches for a snippet posted on the internet that shows exactly the information that was searched.

This way, users receive a direct answer, without having to visit the website. 

The Featured Snippet appears at the top of the results page, attracting the reader’s attention.

As you can deduce, achieving this position is very important. For starters, if another website appears in this answer box, the user asking the question might not even visit your page. 

Therefore, position zero is another battle ground that needs to be fought for.

Plus, reaching Google’s position zero provides several benefits.

First of all, your content is seen as a point of reference because it implies that it provides the best answer possible to the question. And this top position can also generate more clicks, more visibility and even more sales.

What are the types of Featured Snippets and how to achieve them

There are three types of answer boxes: 

1. Paragraph, 
2. List,
3. Table.

There is no exact formula to achieve this position because Google has never clearly disclosed the selection criteria.

However, those with SEO experience have detected certain practices that can help you achieve this goal.

Understanding these practices will probably change how you write on your blog in hopes to ensure more clicks.

So, it’s worth it, isn’t it? Check out our main tips below.

Paragraph snippet

The best way of getting a snippet of this type is to answer users’ questions objectively. 

Identify the keywords referring to your business that can generate questions and create a satisfactory, complete and brief answer to the question.

Thus, if the question entered in the search box was, “what is color psychology?” explain it in your post.

Since space for position zero is limited, Google will give preference to answers that have 45 words or 293 characters on average. The largest snippets found in a MOZ survey contained 97 words and 752 characters.

List snippet

In order to get a list snippet, you need to use this format on your blog a ton. 

So, instead of creating a text to explain how to be successful when opening one’s own business, readers need to study the market and what their competitors are doing, identify opportunities, create a strategic plan and get a price estimate on each item required for the company can operate, you can turn these suggestions into a list. 

The result would be:

How to be successful when opening your own business:

• Study the market in which you intend to operate;
• Study what your competitors are doing;
• Identify consumer needs that other companies aren’t meeting;
• Create a strategic plan;
• Get a price estimate of each item required for the business to operate.

See how we provided the same information but in a list format?

This type of content has better chances of getting the snippet when users are searching for “how to do something”. Therefore, it’s good for recipes, step-by-step processes or simply for a sequence of information such as “the world’s most valuable companies.”

You also have to worry about the size of the list here, since the size of the box is limited. Ideally, you shouldn’t exceed 64 words. 

In our example containing the steps for opening a company and being successful, we covered 5 topics in 45 words.

But here’s a trick to lead your readers to your webpage: make a list containing more items.

Google will only display the first steps in the box and under them, the “more items” option is displayed. If readers become interested, they will click on your page’s link.

Table snippet

There are also a few tricks to help you get your table on Google’s position zero. 

The first one is to use this format in your content. Once again, instead of a paragraph or a very long list, turn it all into a table.

Below are a few examples of content that could be turned into tables: 

• Nobel laureates and their categories, 
• Team names and their number of championships, 
• The meaning of each color in marketing, 
• Income tax rates, and so on.

Tables can even be an alternative for those who wish to advertise and place their content at the top. 

If your business uses this format for your products and prices, it an interesting way of appearing in this prominent position.

As to size, tables seen in the snippet hardly ever have more than three columns. 

For the rows, you can use the same logic as with the list. Create a longer table so that when Google displays the “more items” or “x more rows” option, as in the example screen. This yet another chance to lead your readers to your website.

How to reach Google’s position zero?

Despite these tips on content format, there’s an even more important attitude so you can reach Google’s position zero: forget about owning a business and start thinking like a consumer.

Put yourself in their shoes, find out the questions they have and the best way of answering them. 

Identify the main keywords that refer to your business, prefer longer ones and think about the questions that customers might have.

If you can find and answer the right questions, your chances of reaching Google’s position zero will be much higher.

This way, your business will become a point of reference online; it will draw the attention of consumers, attract people to your page and increase your conversions.

And remember: Featured Snippets are a recent feature. Like all new things, they are still being perfected. 

It’s important to “forgive” certain errors that might appear and especially, pay attention to the changes. This way, you’ll be able to optimize your content and benefit from Google’s position zero.

Did you enjoy this post? So how about sharing it on your social media and show these tips to your friends? They can also use them to generate more clicks and conversions. Give them a hand!