What are direct answers or “snippets” on Google?
Direct answers or “snippets” are a relatively new Google addition and crop up in the results of a search. They don’t occur every time you search for something on Google but they are getting more and more prevalent in search results.
But what are they?
Well, say you search for something such as “how do I make pancakes?” sometimes Google will return a direct answer to your question without you having to actually click on a website; providing you with a snippet of the contents. You can see what we mean below.
Some of the time, the snippet will be pulled from the highest ranked result (position 1). In the above example, that’s exactly what Google did, giving us a snippet from bbcgoodfood.com.
However, sometimes this isn’t the case. Google will always deliver the best direct answer to the question, which means at times it will give a snippet from position 2 or 3. This can have an impact in the amount of traffic that certain websites get, because even though the answer to the question has already been given, with no need to click through to the website, most people will actually click through to get extra information. This means that when Google pulls the snippet from a 3rd position result, it takes traffic that otherwise would be going to position 1.
This means that websites and companies really have to tailor their content to try and be included in the direct answer or snippet result, rather than just aiming for position 1. Because as we have said, Google prioritises the best answer, rather than the best ranking.