Overview
A SERP feature is any result block other than a plain blue link: featured snippets, People Also Ask (PAA), knowledge panels, image and video packs, and AI Overviews. Win them by matching the format Google already shows for the query, not by writing the longest page. Google publishes no selection criteria, so every length and format target below is a practitioner heuristic from observing SERPs. The same short, query-shaped answer also serves AI citation; see answer-first-content.
Drop retired features from the plan
Confirm a feature exists before targeting it. FAQ rich results ended May 7, 2026, HowTo rich results ended in 2023, and the sitelinks search box ended in 2024; the full list is in structured-data. AI Overviews need no special markup; Google says a page only has to be indexed and eligible for a snippet.
Match the featured snippet format the SERP shows
Google picks the passage automatically, so structure each answer to be extractable.
| Format | Page structure | Typical query |
|---|---|---|
| Paragraph | A direct answer of roughly 40 to 60 words directly under an H2 that mirrors the query | ”what is X” |
| List | An <ol> or <ul> right after an H2 such as “How to”, “Steps to”, or “Types of" | "how to X” |
| Table | A real HTML <table> with a header row and a label column | ”X vs Y”, “X pricing” |
## What is a featured snippet?
A featured snippet is a result block at the top of Google's SERP that
extracts a direct answer from a page. It appears above the first organic
link and credits the source with a link.- State the answer in the first sentence and add one specific fact per sentence after it. Skip preamble and filler phrasing.
- Front-load the steps a searcher needs; long lists are truncated with a “more items” link.
- Keep tables compact; large ones are truncated.
Write visible Q&A to win People Also Ask
Google documents no markup for PAA, and FAQPage no longer earns a SERP feature, so write the body as visible Q&A.
- Phrase an H3 as the exact question a searcher types, and mirror real PAA wording from the live SERP.
- Open with a direct answer, as for a paragraph snippet, then one fact per sentence.
Treat knowledge panels as an entity outcome
Knowledge panels come from Google’s Knowledge Graph, which draws on many sources about people, organizations, and places. No markup guarantees one. For concept pages, open with a one-sentence definition; matching DefinedTerm markup helps machine readers but is not a panel lever. See generative-engine-optimization for AI search.
Audit the SERP before writing the page
Search the target query in an incognito window with Google set to the target country, and note every feature: snippet type, PAA, image pack, video carousel, AI Overview, knowledge panel. Copy the structure of the winning result. If the SERP shows only blue links, do not force a snippet block; write for the dominant result type. See keyword-research for upstream query selection.
Opt out per passage or per page when a snippet costs clicks
data-nosnippet on an HTML element keeps that passage out of snippets, max-snippet:[n] caps snippet length, and nosnippet blocks snippets for the page. These controls also limit how the page appears in AI Overviews and AI Mode, so apply them deliberately.
Avoid these snippet mistakes
- Markup that does not match the body, such as FAQPage JSON-LD for questions the page never asks.
- Adding FAQPage schema to win a rich result; the feature is gone.
- Rambling answer blocks that get cut mid-sentence.
- Chasing a snippet the SERP does not show for the query.