Google had started testing double featured snippets back in 2018.
Gradually, double featured snippets are starting to show up for most of the searches.
Let’s learn what are double featured snippets and why they are important for SEO.
What Are Double Featured Snippets?
Double featured snippets are two sets of answer boxes that are returned by Google for specific queries. These include:
- Answer quoted from two websites usually in bullet points.
- Page titles and URLs of both the sites.
Double featured snippets are displayed because sometimes our systems favor content that’s strongly aligned with what was asked. A page arguing that reptiles are good pets seems the best match for people who search about them being good. Similarly, a page arguing that reptiles are bad pets seems the best match for people who search about them being bad. We’re exploring solutions to this challenge, including showing multiple responses.
Danny Sullivan
Public Liaison for Search, Google
Double featured snippets consists of two snippets:
- First Snippet: The first snippet contains information that the user has currently searched on Google. This snippet contains the exact information that the user is searching.
- Second Snippet: The second snippet contains information that is more refined and thematic. It presents a different version of the same search.
Showing more than one featured snippet may also eventually help in cases where you can get contradictory information when asking about the same thing but in different ways.
Danny Sullivan
Public Liaison for Search, Google
How Does A Double Featured Snippet Look Like?
An example of a double featured snippet is given below:
For the query “best marketing tips”, there are two snippets displayed in the Google organic search results.
The first snippet presents ten marketing tips that are general.
The second snippet presents a list of marketing tips for small businesses.
Google presents both these snippets because there can more than one answer for the search query “best marketing tips”. People might search for tips for small businesses, for Instagram, for enterprises, for startups, for restaurants, etc.
On Which Queries Does A Double Featured Snippet Appear?
Double featured snippets appear for queries where Google is unclear about the intent of the searcher. If there can be more than one answer to your search then Google will display two sets of snippets for that search and you can choose the one that best matches your search intent.
Related: 8 Hacks To Rank On Featured Snippets
These snippets are helpful because it improves the user experience. Instead of entering two different search queries to find an answer, you enter just a single query and Google does the job of interpreting your intent. It presents two sets of snippets to choose the most relevant one.
For example, in the below snippet, the searcher’s intent is not clear. The search query is: “digital marketing tips”, it could be “digital marketing tips in general” or “digital marketing tips for small businesses”. Hence, Google displays both of them to minimize the time taken by the searcher to enter multiple queries and to present the maximum information in the shortest possible time.
Please note: Double featured snippets are seen in the US. You might not see them if you are searching in a different country. Google might update the search settings and display them in other regions in the future.
How To Display Your Website Under A Double Featured Snippet?
All the factors that apply for ranking as a featured snippet also applies here.
The top ranking factors that are used by Google for featured snippets are:
- The relevance of the content. If your content matches the intent of the searcher then you have higher chances that Google will pick up your content for double featured snippets.
- Depth of the content. If your content is on the exact topic and it discusses only the topic that the searcher is looking for, you are more likely to acquire the double featured snippets rankings.
You cannot mark your pages as eligible for featured snippets. Google does not allow that. Google search algorithm automatically determines whether your page is a perfect fit for a featured snippet.
Related: How Can I Optimize My Site For Voice Search
Final Thoughts
Featured snippets are one of the best ways to acquire more organic traffic to your website. Websites that obtain a position in the featured snippets are often read out loud by Google search assistant. Hence, featured snippets are excellent for branding and voice search.
