Here's my Pubcon presentation on how to optimize for Google's featured snippets listing tools, tips, and screenshots which will hopefully help you get featured as well as improve your overall content

1. HOW TO OPTIMIZE
FOR GOOGLE’S
FEATURED
SNIPPETS
By Ann Smarty
@seosmarty
Brand & Community Manager at
Internet Marketing Ninjas
#Pubcon

2. @seosmarty
#Pubcon

3. @seosmarty
AHREFS study: ~12%
Mozcast: ~15.5%
Semrush: 12.4%
#Pubcon

4. @seosmarty
Featured snippets have been around since 2013
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5. @seosmarty
#Pubcon

6. WHY CARE?
@seosmarty
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7. @seosmarty
Should I say more?
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8. @seosmarty
David Kutcher of Confluent Forms
#Pubcon
Ben Goodsell:
• Traffic increased by 505%
• CTR increased from 2% to 8%
• Revenue increased by 677%

9. @seosmarty
 Higher traffic (+ having two listings in one SERPs)
 Higher cconversions
 Brand recognizability and trust (which comes with
better conversions)
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10. @seosmarty
#Pubcon

11. Friend or Foe:
@seosmarty
#Pubcon

12. Friend or Foe:
@seosmarty
#Pubcon

13. Friend or Foe:
@seosmarty
It’s either your page that’s being
featured or your competitor’s
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14. HOW TO GET
FEATURED?
@seosmarty
#Pubcon

15. @seosmarty
AHREFS study: 99% already rank in top 10
#Pubcon

16. @seosmarty
AHREFS study: 30% rank #1
#Pubcon

17. Research those
“long-tail” keywords
where you rank or
can rank in top 10
@seosmarty
#Pubcon

18. …the more words are
typed in a search box, the
higher the probability
there will be a featured
snippet…
@seosmarty
AHREFS study
#Pubcon

19. @seosmarty
Serpstat.com
#Pubcon

20. @seosmarty
Competitor research with Serpstat
#Pubcon

21. @seosmarty
Ahrefs
#Pubcon

22. @seosmarty
Competitor research with Ahrefs
#Pubcon

23. @seosmarty
SEMrush
#Pubcon

24. @seosmarty
Competitor research with SEMrush
#Pubcon

25. @seosmarty
Google “People Also Ask”
#Pubcon

26. @seosmarty
Search Console: "Search Traffic" and then "Search Analytics."
#Pubcon

27. @seosmarty
Search Console: "Search Traffic" and then "Search Analytics."
#Pubcon

28. Go Beyond
Traditional Keyword
Research Tools: Ask
People
@seosmarty
#Pubcon

29. @seosmarty
Buzzsumo Question Analyzer
#Pubcon

30. @seosmarty
MyBlogU.com
#Pubcon

31. @seosmarty
Search and Monitor Twitter [Keyword ?]
#Pubcon

32. Organize those
keywords
@seosmarty
#Pubcon

33. It turns out that a single page
can also "be featured" for
thousands of search queries…
@seosmarty
#Pubcon

34. @seosmarty
• A generic keyword => a section or a category of the blog
• A more specific search query => the title of the article
• Even more specific queries => the subheadings of the article and thus define its
structure
#Pubcon

35. @seosmarty
Sample structure
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36. @seosmarty
Serpstat “Cluster”
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37. Answer questions
concisely
@seosmarty
#Pubcon

38. The average length of a
paragraph snippet is 45 words
(the maximum is 97 words)
@seosmarty
A.J. Ghergich
#Pubcon

39. It’s not about the length of the
article itself, it’s about
answering a specific question
concisely
@seosmarty
#Pubcon

40. @seosmarty
Optimizing for a particular featured box
#Pubcon

41. @seosmarty
For an exclusive
insight into more in-
depth featured
snippet optimization
tools, come to Jim
Boykin’s session
tomorrow
OCTOBER 18
11:10 am
Salon D
#Pubcon

42. Takeaways
By Ann Smarty
@seosmarty
Brand & Community Manager at
Internet Marketing Ninjas
#Pubcon

43. @seosmarty
 You'll discover hundreds of new content ideas (=>
diversify your rankings)
 You'll learn to research each topic thoroughly (=>
improve your rankings)
 You'll learn to structure your articles better (=> lower
bounce rate and higher conversions)
Being featured in Google search results is your
incentive to work harder on your content
#Pubcon

44. THANK YOU!
By Ann Smarty
@seosmarty
Brand & Community Manager at
Internet Marketing Ninjas
#Pubcon