If you offer quality content and follow best practices for structuring that content, then some of your pages may have earned a top spot in Google as a featured snippet. These informational answer boxes display above the organic search results to help people quickly find what they are looking for.

Featured snippets have long been considered advantageous for SEO. Partly because securing the top spot usually meant your URL was listed twice on page one — in the snippet and then again in the regular organic listings below.

But in January 2020, Google announced that pages earning the featured snippet will no longer repeat as a regular listing on the first page of Google search.

What exactly does this mean? For featured snippet owners, it means the URL that is chosen for a featured snippet will only appear once on the first page of search results, instead of twice.

After the change, featured snippet owner’s could — for a while — find their regular organic listing at the top of page two, but Google pointed out this was not guaranteed.

Why did Google make the change? Google says it is 'decluttering' the first results page.

Why does it matter? The change might impact your clickthrough rate (CTR).

How should you respond? Keep an eye on Google Search Console to watch for any negative impact to CTR. If you experience a significant decline in clicks, you could try improving the page’s title or the content that Google selects for the snippet. Alternatively, Google provides snippet tags as a way to turn off snippets or to control what can be displayed. If you go this route, use the tags carefully to prevent blocking important information.

How to Opt Out of Featured Snippets

To opt out of only featured snippets, Google suggests experimenting with the max-snippet tag. Featured snippets appear when enough text can be grabbed for useful information, so by limiting the number of allowed characters you might stay out of that top position.

1. Add the max-snippet tag

To any page that you want blocked from featured snippets, add the max-snippet tag and set a max number of characters you’d like to allow for a snippet. Example:

<meta name="robots" content="max-snippet:100" />

Note, Google does not provide exact character counts for appearing, or not appearing, as a featured snippet. This is because the length of snippets changes based on things like the platform (mobile, app, or desktop), the language, and the information in the snippet.

2. Ask for a crawl

Next use Google’s URL inspection tool to request a crawl of your page. After the search results update, check your page’s placement.

3. Adjust the character count

If the page still displays as the featured snippet, try updating the value for the character count. Remember, the shorter your max-snippet tag setting, the less likely the page will appear as a featured snippet.

4. Monitor the impact

If you remove a featured snipped, make sure to closely monitor the results. If you don’t see improvement, then reverse your strategy.

Note, the above method does not guarantee that featured snippets won't be shown for your page. If you need a guaranteed solution, you can use the nosnippet tag — but the nosnippet tag blocks ALL snippets (featured and regular) for any tagged page, so use it wisely.

Should you block featured snippets?

Again, evaluate Google Search Console before making any updates. Let the data guide you. The good news: Search Engine Journal reports that — at least initially — there was no major change in Google traffic sent to pages that lost a duplicate listing on page one.

Before giving up a featured snippet consider:

  • Occasionally a page can be selected for a featured snippet, but not rank organically in the top 10 results. In this case, it would be wise to keep the snippet.

  • Wondering where you would rank organically without the snippet? This tweet shows a handy hack for determining what your organic placement would be if you opt out.

  • It will vary across industries, niches, and topics as to whether the top spot on page one will prove advantageous.

Our usual advice to clients is to not overthink Google’s changes and algorithm updates. Google could change course again next month. Just keep creating great user experiences, producing top-notch content, and building out all possible channels.