My talk from the fantastic Septmeber 2018 BrightonSEO!

1. Izzi Smith
@izzionfire
Sixt rent a car
Practical Insights into
Winning Featured Snippets
http://www.slideshare.net/IsobelSmith10

2. PRACTICAL INSIGHTS
INTO WINNING EPIC
FEATURED SNIPPETS

4. WHY I LOVE FEATURED
SNIPPETS
(AND WHY YOU SHOULD TOO)

5. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
Example: Featured Snippet for „automarken“ (EN: „car brands“)
MORE TRAFFIC

6. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
GA – sixt.de/marken/
MORE TRAFFIC

7. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
+ 233% BOOKINGS
+ 602% REVENUE
MORE CONVERSIONS

8. BRAND
AWARENESS
Small Food Blog

9. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
MOBILE
VOICE
SEARCH

10. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
THEY‘RE COOL AF

11. WHERE DO I START?

12. IDENTIFYING THE RIGHT
QUERIES

13. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
QUESTIONS
42%
Source: Source:- SEMRush

14. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
PREPOSITIONS
18%
Source: SourceSource:- SEMRush

15. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
COMPARISONS
23%
Source: Source:- SEMRush

16. EVALUATE YOUR
CURRENT RANKINGS

17. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
GSC IN GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Google Analytics -> Aquisition -> Search Console -> Queries -> RegEx

18. EVALUATE YOUR POTENTIAL
RANKINGS

19. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
ANSWER THE PUBLIC
AnswerThePublic.com

20. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
ANSWER THE PUBLIC
AnswerThePublic.com

21. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
CUSTOMER SUPPORT & SALES TEAMS

22. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
ASK YOUR PUBLIC
Hotjar Forum Websites

23. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
PEOPLE ALSO ASK BOXES

24. ASSESS THE QUERY INTENT

25. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
INFORMATIONAL
NAVIGATIONALTRANSACTIONAL „Sixt Van
Rental“
e.g. „Sixt login“e.g. „rent a car
in London“
e.g. „what is a car“
Transactional + Informational

26. FOCUS ON KEYWORDS WITH
CLICK-THROUGH-INTENT

27. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
LIMITED NEED TO CLICK:

28. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
HIGHER CLICK INTENT:

29. NOW: THE FUN STUFF

30. LANDING PAGES:
HOLISTIC OR SPECIFIC?

32. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
GO HOLISTIC IF:
CLUSTERSIMILAR,SMALLERTOPICS(e.g.FAQs)
UTILIZEEXISTINGPAGESTRENGTH
BUTMAKESURE:
TOUSECLEARHEADERS&SUBSECTIONS
IT‘SACTUALLYHOLISTIC

33. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
GO SPECIFIC IF:
REASONABLESEARCHVOLUME
TOPICCAN/SHOULDBEEXPLAINEDINDETAIL
POTENTIALFORRELATEDCONTENT
HIGHERTRANSACTIONALINTENT

34. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
DON‘T

35. PROVIDE THE
PERFECT CONTENT

36. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
F-SNIPPET WORTHY CONTENT
FACTUAL
HASSUPPORTINGDATAANDSOURCES
WRITTENFORHUMANS
IGNOREKEYWORDDENSITY(PLS)

37. @izzionfire #brightonSEO

38. GIVE IT SOME STRUCTURE!

39. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
(W) / IS / DO/ COMMON QUESTIONS:
PARAGRAPHS

40. PARAGRAPH SWEET SPOT:
40-60 WORDS

41. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
PREPOSITIONS & COMPARIONS:
LIST ARTICLES WITH CLEAR HEADERS

42. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
PREPOSITIONS & COMPARIONS:
LIST ARTICLES WITH CLEAR HEADERS

43. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
„HOW TO“ / METHODS:
LIGHT HTML <OL> <UL> LISTS

44. WHEN POSSIBLE…
BULK OUT YOUR LISTS

45. @izzionfire #brightonSEO

46. @izzionfire #brightonSEO

47. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
COMPARISONS & DATA:
HTML TABLES

48. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
COMPARISONS & DATA:
HTML TABLES

49. MAKE IT GRABBABLE

50. PROVE YOU‘RE AN EXPERT
ON THE TOPIC

51. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
PROVE YOUR EXPERTISE
E-A-T(EXPERTISE,AUTHORITATIVENESS,
TRUSTWORTHINESS)
PROVIDESUPPORTINGDATAANDSOURCES
ADDITIONAL,USEFULCONTENT
REFERRINGLINKSFROMTRUSTEDSOURCES

52. Question
KW
Structured
Answer
Heading and
Introduction!
Visual aid!
Fantastic additional
content!

53. @izzionfire #brightonSEO

54. @izzionfire #brightonSEO

55. HIGHLIGHT YOUR DATA

57. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
RICH SNIPPETS ARE QUICK-N-EASY*
Data
Schema
Mark up Rich Snippet*+ =

58. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
Data
Schema
Mark up
FEATURED
SNIPPET+ ≠

59. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
Data
Schema
Mark up
Search Engine
Understanding ☺+ =

60. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
"@type": "QAPage",
"@type": “Answer",
"@type": “Question",

61. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
SCHEMA.ORG MARK-UP TO TEST

62. OPTIMIZE YOUR IMAGES

63. @izzionfire #brightonSEO

64. @izzionfire #brightonSEO

65. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
4:3 aspect ratio
<600px
Topic Relevant
Compressed

66. DONE!
NOW WHAT?

67. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
WHERE ARE YOU IN THE SNIPPET QUEUE?
Query –site:featuredsnippetdomain.com

68. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
WHERE ARE YOU IN THE SNIPPET QUEUE?
Query –featuredsnippetdomain.com AND –secondsnippet.com AND –third.com

69. DON‘T LOSE FAITH <3

70. -CESSFUL
CASE STUDIES

71. 1. OVERCOMING LACK OF BRAND
AWARENESS WITH FEATURED
SNIPPETS

72. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
TRANSACTIONAL CAR MODEL KEYWORDS
e.g. rent a BMW 5 Series
Ranking: #1 - #3

73. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
BRAND AWARENESS IN THE UK
Google Trends Data 2013 - 2018

74. SOLUTION?
WE NEED RICHER SNIPPETS!

75. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
BUT…

76. WE NEED OUR OWN CAR RENTAL
RICH SNIPPET

77. WHAT DID WE DO?

78. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
I want
that!

79. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
Heading,
Intro & conversion
copy
Car data +
Car Schema
mark-up
Additional
Relevant content

80. WHAT HAPPENED?

81. yasss

83. @izzionfire #brightonSEO

84. RESULTS

85. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
RESULTSSixt.com
Sixt.co.
ukCar Model Pages
Generating a Snippet:
18%
Bookings:
+41%
Sessions: +46%
Bookings:
+48%
Sessions: +183%
Car Model Pages
Generating a Snippet:
28%
YoY Data from GA Organic

86. 2. RESTRUCTURING CONTENT

87. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
OLD LAYOUT:

88. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
NEW ANSWER LAYOUT:

89. @izzionfire #brightonSEO
BAM.

90. THAT‘S HOW IZZI IT IS
(sometimes)

91. 3. PROMOTING CONTENT TO ITS
OWN LANDING PAGE

93. List
Table
Paragraph

95. GSC data (past 3 months, top 1000 keywords per segment)
0,00%
5,00%
10,00%
15,00%
20,00%
25,00%
30,00%
35,00%
40,00%
45,00%
50,00%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Average CTR vs Featured Snippet CTR (sixt.co.uk)
Average CTR Featured Snippet CTR
CTR%(Secrets)

96. KEY TAKEAWAYS

97. TARGET INFORMATIONAL-TRANSACTIONAL
QUERIES TO DRIVE BOTH CLICKS AND
REVENUE

98. CARRY OUT PROBLEM AND SOLUTION
RESEARCH (NOT JUST KEYWORD
RESEARCH)

99. PROVIDE EPIC, USER-FOCUSED CONTENT
THAT SERVES A NEED

100. ENSURE YOUR CONTENT IS EASILY
UNDERSTANDABLE AND GRABBABLE
(STRUCTURED CONTENT & SCHEMA
MARK-UP)

102. THANKS FOR LISTENING,
AND GOOD LUCK!
Izzi Smith – SEO Manager UK & US @ Sixt
Twitter: @izzionfire
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izzi-smith/