Definition

A featured snippet is a Google Search result that displays a passage extracted from a single web page — a paragraph, list, table, or video — in a highlighted block, typically at or near the top of the search results page.

Google's documentation says featured snippets are programmatically generated and that there is no way to mark a page as a featured-snippet candidate via meta tags or structured data; pages that already rank well for a query are eligible. A page can be opted out of featured snippets by using the `data-nosnippet` attribute or the `max-snippet:0` directive. The featured snippet itself counts as the page's primary search-result position for that query.

Examples

• List-style featured snippet

  Searching "how long should you boil an egg" surfaces a featured snippet — a numbered list — extracted from a recipe blog. The same blog still appears in the regular results below; the snippet acts as its primary listing for that query.

Sources

• Google Search Central — Featured snippets and your website

Related terms

• Rich Results
  Search results enhanced with visual or interactive elements — review stars, prices, FAQs, recipe images — generated from a page's structured data.
• SERP
  The page a search engine returns in response to a query, including the list of results and any features such as ads, knowledge panels and rich snippets.
• Search Intent
  The underlying goal a person has when entering a query into a search engine — what they actually want to find, do, or know.

Where QueryCatch uses this

• Google Search Performance