Featured Snippets

Featured snippets are highlighted answer boxes at the top of Google's search results, where Google pulls an extract from a website straight into the SERP. The box answers the query on the spot and links to the page the answer came from. Sitting above the regular organic results, the slot picked up the nickname "position zero". Formats follow the query: a short extract, a bulleted list, numbered steps, or a table.

How Google picks the extract

The extract almost always comes from a page already ranking on page one, so a snippet promotes an existing result rather than adding a placement of its own. The system looks for a self-contained passage that answers the query directly, usually a short paragraph under a descriptive heading, or a genuine list or table. The questions in People Also Ask show which phrasings Google connects to the same topic.

The slot counts as the page's only appearance in the results, and it guarantees no traffic. When the box answers the query in full, the click can disappear entirely, the pattern known as zero-click.

AI Overviews now share the same space, and both formats reward a clear answer that stands alone. The passage that wins a featured snippet is often the passage an AI summary cites as its source, which makes the mechanic doubly relevant in modern SEO. Winning a citation at the top of the results is what the guide to Google AI Overviews is about.