Featured snippets and People Also Ask
Featured snippets are the boxes at the top of some Google results that show an extract from a page above the usual link. They are the closest pre-AI ancestor of answer engines. Google documents how they are generated, what controls apply and how they connect to related questions (often called People Also Ask) and to spoken answers.
What Google's documentation says
Google describes featured snippets as a special type of result in which the snippet comes first and the page link follows. The documentation says featured snippets can also appear in the related questions group.[1] Asked how to mark a page as a featured snippet, the documentation answers "You can't": Google's systems decide whether a page would make a good featured snippet for a search and, if so, elevate it. Clicking a featured snippet takes the user to the section of the page that appeared in it, scrolling automatically without any annotation from the site, or to the top of the page if the browser or Google's systems cannot place the position.[1] Vendor-documented
Google's own feature explainer from January 30, 2018 adds background: Google introduced featured snippets in January 2014, generates them differently from regular snippets so that they are easier to read, and calls them especially helpful on mobile and for voice search. When a snippet is read aloud, the answer cites the source page.[2] The article reports that about 15% of the queries Google sees each day are new, and that a third-party test by Stone Temple found a 97.4 percent accuracy rate for featured snippets and related formats. It also acknowledges mistakes, and says that if a query is detected as prone to low-quality content Google may opt not to show a featured snippet.[2] Vendor-documented The 2018 figures are historical, not current performance.
Controls that stop or limit snippets
| Control | What Google documents |
|---|---|
nosnippet robots meta tag | Blocks all snippets for the page, featured and regular. Takes priority if data-nosnippet is also present.[1] |
data-nosnippet attribute | Text marked with the attribute will not appear in featured or regular snippets.[1] |
max-snippet robots directive | Keeps regular snippets while making a featured snippet less likely as the value gets shorter. Google gives no exact minimum length and says only nosnippet is guaranteed.[1] |
Snippet controls also matter beyond classic snippets. Google's AI guide states that a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet to appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews and AI Mode.[3] A site that blocks snippets to avoid featured snippets therefore also limits its eligibility for those AI features. Apple documents a similar control: nosnippet opts a page out of web answers in Siri, Spotlight and Safari.[4] Vendor-documented See snippet controls.
Related questions and fan-out
Google's AI guide says its AI features may run several related searches to build an answer, a technique it calls query fan-out.[3] Related questions and fan-out queries overlap in practice because both cover the neighboring questions around a topic. This site's fan-out planner turns a topic into those neighboring questions so that a page can answer each in its own section. The overlap is an observation about the two features, not a Google statement that they use the same system. Practitioner practice
Writing for snippet eligibility
Google gives no formula for winning a featured snippet, and the documentation says there is no markup that selects one.[1] The following habits come from practice and fit Google's general advice on helpful content:
- Put a direct, self-contained answer immediately under a heading phrased like the question.
- Follow it with detail, examples and sources, so the page serves a reader who clicks as well as one who reads the snippet.
- Keep one question per section so each heading maps to a single answer. See content structure.
- Check the live result for your query instead of assuming. Snippets can differ by phrasing, device and location, and Google's 2018 article notes near-match behavior where a query is answered from a snippet for a similar question.[2]
Practitioner practice Pew found that 60% of searches that begin with a question word produced an AI summary in its March 2025 panel, which is a reminder that question-style queries are where answer features concentrate.[5]
Frequently asked questions
Can I mark up my page to become a featured snippet?
No. Google's documentation says you cannot mark a page as a featured snippet. The snippet is generated from the page content.
How do I stop a featured snippet?
Use a nosnippet robots meta tag, or data-nosnippet on specific page sections. Google says a very low max-snippet value may reduce snippets but is not guaranteed to prevent one. Blocking snippets also affects eligibility for AI Overviews and AI Mode supporting links.
Are People Also Ask boxes the same as featured snippets?
Not exactly. Google's documentation says featured snippets can appear within the related questions group, so the two features are connected, but they are separate parts of the results page.
See also
References
Pages accessed October 31, 2026. See all sources and our editorial policy.
- ^ "Featured snippets and your website". Google Search Central. Last updated December 10, 2025.
- ^ "A reintroduction to Google’s featured snippets (Danny Sullivan)". Google (The Keyword). Published January 30, 2018.
- ^ "Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search". Google Search Central. Added May 15, 2026; last updated July 10, 2026.
- ^ "About Applebot". Apple Support. Page dated September 4, 2026.
- ^ "Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results". Pew Research Center. Published July 22, 2025; March 2025 browsing data.