Featured Snippet (Position Zero)

A featured snippet is the excerpt Google highlights right at the top of its results, above the first organic link — the famous "position zero". It provides a direct answer to the query, as a paragraph, a numbered list or a table, and gives your page maximum visibility.

How to win a featured snippet

Google picks the excerpt that answers the search intent most clearly. To aim for this position, you need to pose the question in a heading, answer it immediately in one to three sentences, then expand. Structured formats — lists, tables, "X is…" definitions — are favoured. It's the same logic that serves AEO.

A concrete example

For "how long does an SEO strategy take?", a page that answers "An SEO strategy produces measurable results in 6 months on average" at the very start of the section stands a strong chance of being extracted as a featured snippet.

Why it matters

The featured snippet is the direct ancestor of the AI Overview: the same well-optimised page often feeds both. Working on position zero means preparing the ground for AI citation. It relies on solid pillar pages and a strong internal linking. To aim for these positions, see our SEO agency.