AI-featured snippets are among the most notable examples of how AI is changing the face of search. These brief but useful excerpts appear in position #0 of your Google search engine results page (SERP) before the first “official” result. The next stage in evolution after the regular featured snippets Google introduced in 2014, these snippets draw upon a range of available sources to provide a quick and easy answer to your query.
Featured snippets increased the number of “zero-click searches” on Google, which allows users to find the results they’re looking for without having to click a single link. Yet, while most snippets allow for one link at most, AI snippets can feature multiple. The question for marketers is whether or not users are clicking on these links and whether or not they are helping drive traffic and conversions. If so, brands and marketers need to adopt the practice of featured snippets optimisation.
Are people clicking the links in these AI-generated snippets? How do you optimise your website to appear in them? As a digital agency that has helped many brands to succeed, Anchor Digital has the answers.
What Are AI-Featured Snippets?
For over a decade, featured snippets have been helping brands and websites gain visibility and traffic. These snippets come in four main varieties: a short text description, a table of information, a list of instructions or tasks presented in a specific order and a list of items and instructions in no particular order.
In 2022, Google announced that it was making improvements to snippets to bring you more relevant information. Using its AI model, the Multitask Unified Model (MUM), it taught its bots to understand the concept of consensus. This is when multiple quality sources on the internet can all agree on the same facts. Google said this would improve the quality of its snippets and make previously unhelpful search results more useful.
Google’s AI snippets (also known as ‘AI overviews’) are designed to provide information faster and more effectively while still keeping information accurate. At a time when both search engines and user behaviour are evolving, these AI-generated titbits help busy people find information faster. They’re designed to provide answers in a straightforward, conversational way that feels like a conversation with someone knowledgeable and down-to-earth.
Are People Clicking Links In AI Featured Snippets?
Detailed and informative content helps brands appear in AI-featured snippets, but brands won’t see results unless users click the links in those snippets. The available research and reporting indicate that’s exactly what’s happening. People who read the quick summaries provided by ChatGPT and Google Gemini also click on the links these results provide.
When period care brand Viv saw their website traffic increase by 400%, marketing director Kelly Donohue noticed a connection between these results and AI-driven referrals. A study in Environment International that reported harmful heavy metals in popular tampon brands sent web users searching for non-toxic period care recommendations. These AI recommendations drew upon content from Viv’s blog posts about period safety, leading to web users clicking through to the brand’s website.
Anecdotally, other brands reported similar results from being picked up by AI – including Joe & Bella. This adaptive apparel brand gained more visitors when its blog content ended up in ChatGPT recommendations.
As of January 2025, almost 31% of SERPs feature AI overviews. Five-word queries trigger an AI overview most frequently, and 33.4% of AI overview links rank in the top 10 organic search results for the query.
For a long time, brands that appeared in Google’s snippets have consistently ranked higher than even the SERP’s number-one website. Now that AI has entered the picture, it’s important for brands to learn the art of featured snippet optimisation.
How to Optimise For AI Featured Snippets
With new developments in AI and other technology changing the digital landscape, marketers need to stay flexible with their SEO strategies. Success in this field now depends on understanding how AI perceives relevance and user intent.
Here are some methods and techniques for brands looking to optimise their content and website for AI search results:
Understand the technical aspects of AI snippets
AI search algorithms do more than match keywords; they use natural language processing (NLP) to grasp the intent behind the words. Google looks at the big picture and prioritises content that provides the answers users are looking for. In-depth information and structured data make it easier for Google to grasp the relevance of your content. Two schema types that you can use to attract the algorithms are how-to guides and FAQs.
Create people-first content
The timeless principle of creating content designed to meet the needs of human readers still applies. Start with an understanding of what’s driving user queries, then create content that meets Google’s guidelines of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). Incorporate search terms and phrases that reinforce the broader context and make sure it’s clear, readable and mobile-friendly. Revisit your older content to keep it fresh and relevant, adjusting the publication date when fresh changes are made.
Yet optimise your content to appear in featured snippets
While human readers should always come first, there are many ways to optimise your content to make sure it appeals to the algorithms as well. Keep relevant sections brief and direct, and use descriptive headings and subheadings. Also, use lists and tables when you can—both readers and AI algorithms love them. Text fragments, which link directly to specific portions of text on a webpage, can help guide Google to the most important information.
Optimise for mobile
With most searches happening on mobile devices now, it’s always important to make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Working on the usual factors like page speed and image optimisation will improve your site’s mobile experience and increase your rankings all around.
Optimise for voice search
You can benefit from the rise of voice searching by optimising your content for conversational-style queries. Incorporate long-tail keywords that reflect natural human speech.
Adapt and test
Conduct regular content audits and stay on top of AI and SEO developments. If your workload is already too full to keep up with the trends, a digital creative agency can take on the task for you.
Increase Clicks and Conversions with Anchor Digital
As a creative digital marketing agency, Anchor Digital brings together under one roof every approach necessary to help your business grow. We can increase your clicks and conversions and help you optimise your content for both AI-driven and regular snippets.
If you’re looking for SEO in Brisbane, Anchor keeps on top of industry developments in fields like artificial intelligence while staying true to timeless principles that have always worked. We deep dive into your website with a level of keyword research you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere and take an integrated yet straightforward approach aligned with your business goals. Through best-practice SEO, testing and refinement, we aim to get you where you want to be, including in Google’s snippets.
To get started on increasing your featured snippets optimisation, contact the Anchor Digital team.
