How do you make your search result stand out in search results? How do you convince users that your result is the one they’ve been looking for? Today, we’ll explain what snippets are, why snippet optimization is important, and how you go about it.
What is a Snippet and Why Is Optimizing It Important?
Why Is Snippet Optimization Important?
Understanding User Intent And Highlighting USPs
Writing Perfect Snippets with AIDA
Length of Meta Title and Description
Attract Attention: HTML Symbols and Emojis
Snippet Optimization Checklist
What is a Snippet and Why Is Optimizing It Important?
A single search result is also called a snippet. It is comprised of at least three components:
- URL
- Meta-Title
- Meta-Description
Depending on the information provided by the website and the search engine’s understanding of the user intent, many snippets come with added features, such as images, star ratings, clickable site links, and more. As those snippets are enriched with more information, they are called Rich Snippets. We’ll dive into those later.
Why Is Snippet Optimization Important?
In SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages), the snippet is the first impression of your offer a user sees. Think of the SERPs as a mall and of the snippet as a store sign that needs to grab the user’s attention and draw them into your store.
Also, search engines use the meta title and URL to determine a page’s rankings; they’re so-called ranking factors. That’s where snippet optimization comes in.
- It describes the process of creating and formatting copy that attracts attention.
- It is quick and easy to read and convinces users.
- It is important for keyword-optimizing your site. Make sure to include your page’s keyword in the URL and meta title.
With snippet optimization, you also make sure that your copy is within the required length so that neither title nor description gets cut off.
Understanding User Intent and Highlighting USPs
To create convincing snippets, you must understand why users are typing in that specific keyword. Ask yourself:
- What challenges do they face?
- What are they looking for?
- What do they wish for?
- How could you win them over?
The search query and the underlying wishes are connected but are usually not the same. The art is to identify both and combine them in your snippet copy. Show the user that you
- Offer what they’re looking for
- Anticipate and fulfill their wishes
Sounds a little mystic? Let’s clear that up with an example. Imagine the following scenario: Valentine's Day is approaching. Mark wants to surprise his significant other by sending flowers to their office. As he has to be at work himself, he doesn't have the time to buy a bouquet and swing by their workplace. The solution: He orders a bouquet online and has it delivered.
Mark is now searching for suitable offers online using the keyword flower delivery. The search results list florists or flower delivery services who offer what he is looking for: Flowers that can be delivered.
Mark skims the snippets. When every single result offers what he’s looking for (flower delivery), how does he decide on a vendor? Most likely, he will go for the search result that offers the most added value, or so-called Unique Selling Points (USPs). Those are the things aimed to fulfill Mark's wishes beyond having flowers delivered.
USPs are crucial for your snippet to stand out in SERPs and convince the searcher of your product. In other words: you need unique selling points that meet the user's wishes. Ideally, your snippet copy is formatted in a way that makes your USPs stand out.
Let’s compare two snippets from Mark’s flower delivery search results: 18000flowers.com and aceflowershouston.com. Which of the two is most likely to convince Mark?
| 1800flowers.com | aceflowershouston.com | |
| Meta Title |
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| Meta Description |
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| Sitelinks |
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Writing Perfect Snippets with AIDA
What has aceflowershouston.com done right? The florist optimized their snippets according to the AIDA principle. AIDA is a concept in advertising psychology that sums up major advertising goals. AIDA is an acronym for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. The goal of snippet optimization is to trigger these four states – and make sure that your snippet is keyword-optimized, too.
| Intent | Aceflowershouston.com | |
| Attention | Catch the user's attention | Sitelinks, image, and formatting. Icons like checkmarks would increase possible attention |
| Interest | Keeping the user's attention, building relevance | “Same Day Flower Delivery” offers quick problem solving |
| Desire | Make your offer irresistible | USPs such as “Delivered by hand” or “delivered by local florists” add value to your offer. |
| Action | Get the user to perform an action (click snippet, call...) | CTA “Call 281-558-777 Now.” |
Avoid Short Clicks
As tempting as it may be, don't promise anything you can't keep. Your snippet should encourage the user to click it and visit your website. The click rate has a direct influence on your site’s ranking.
Irresistible promises in the snippet can significantly increase your click rate. But if those promises are not kept, users will be gone again just as quickly. Search engines such as Google notice these short clicks and interpret them as bad user signals, causing your page to be down-graded instead to improve its position in search results.
Include Keywords for SEO
As mentioned, meta title and URL are so-called ranking factors and crucial spots to insert your keyword for keyword optimization. So, make sure to include that page’s keyword in both. Ideally, the keyword is placed first in the meta title.
You can add the keyword and other relevant terms to the meta description, as well, but it is not a must. We recommend focusing on AIDA. After all, SEO is a means to an end and at the end of the day, it is the user who buys your product.
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Learn more about keyword optimization and get a full list of where to include your keyword here. |
Length of Meta Title and Description
The length of the meta title and description depends on the user’s device. A desktop has a much larger display than a smartphone. That is why snippets often are significantly shorter on smartphones than on desktops.
The width of snippets is measured in pixels, not in characters. That’s why there are no fixed limits for the characters displayed within the description or title. For example, a "B" takes up considerably more pixels than an "I".
Nevertheless, there are guidelines you can use to make sure your snippet is completely displayed on all devices:
- The title displays approx. 65 characters.
- The description allows approx. 135 characters.
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You want to use at least 100 characters for a two-line description. A one-line description takes up much less space, making your snippet very easy to overlook in search results. |
Attract Attention: HTML Symbols and Emojis
Emojis and symbols (e.g., checkmarks, phone icons) can help to stand out in SERPs and draw attention to your snippet. Icons such as checkmarks are long-established features in search results and are ideal for highlighting USPs.
Depending on the keyword, Google displays emojis in the meta title and description. However, you might have to experiment with emojis and find out what works and what doesn’t. As a rule of thumb, Google is more likely to display emojis in the meta title instead of the description.
Make sure the emoji fits your overall topic. If you are a florist or run a flower delivery service, a bouquet emoji would fit nicely. Food delivery services would do well with food emojis. If you include a phone number, add a phone icon.
How to Add Symbols and Emojis
There are two easy ways to add HTML symbols and emojis to your snippet:
- You can try to simply copy and paste it. Check your backend’s preview if it is displayed correctly.
- Copy and paste the HEX code. A HEX code always starts with &#, followed by the item’s ID, and closed with a semicolon. A happy face emoji's HEX code looks like this:
😊 HEX-Code: 😊
Here's a helpful list to find emojis and symbols:
Please note that Google decides whether it wants emojis in search results, or not. Including them in your meta title and description does not guarantee that they will be displayed in SERPs.
Snippet Optimization Checklist
- The meta title begins with your main keyword
- Title length does not exceed 65 characters
- Keep your description between 100 and 135 characters
- Include USPs to strengthen your offer and increase desire
- Use icons or checkmarks to draw attention and highlight USPs (use in moderation)
- A CTA increases click rate
- Include fitting emojis. Check if they are displayed in SERPs
For example, the snippet for this post could look like this:
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Try a Snippet Generator to check what your snippet will look like in SERPs. Play around with special characters and emojis. |
How to Get Rich Snippets
As mentioned before, Rich Snippets are snippets that are enriched with images, ratings, site links, dates, questions, and more.
Rich snippets usually:
- Increase the space your search result takes up in SERPs
- Let your search result stand out
- Draw attention
- Increase the informational value of your search result
- Increase the click rate
To enrich your snippets, you need to use structured data (schema.org / JSON-LD). Structured data are like clues that help search engines better understand the content they find on your site and use it in your snippet.
Schema.org has a great Beginner’s Guide if you’re thinking about including structured data in your website (which we highly recommend). They have a useful Structured Data Validator, as well.
Also, make sure to check out Google’s structured data guidelines to follow the search engine’s requirements. Google also has a Rich Results Test you can use to check if your page supports rich results.
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