Types of answer boxes
- Featured snippets: a short answer taken from a web page, with a link to it.
- Direct answers: facts Google provides itself, such as the time or a currency conversion. These don’t link to a website.
- Knowledge panels: facts about people, places and organizations from Google’s Knowledge Graph.
- AI Overviews: AI-generated summaries that cite several pages.
How to appear in an answer box
- Rank on the first page for the question.
- Put the question in a heading and answer it in 40 to 60 words right below.
- Use lists and tables for steps and comparisons.
- Keep the page accurate and up to date.
Answer boxes can reduce clicks for simple questions, so aim for questions where the full page offers more than the short answer.
Answer box example
Someone searches “how long to boil an egg”. Google shows a box at the top with “6 to 12 minutes depending on how firm you want it”, the source page and a link. Searching “10 USD in EUR” shows a currency converter instead. The first is a featured snippet from a web page. The second is a direct answer from Google itself.
How to write for an answer box
- Find questions in autocomplete and in the “People also ask” box.
- Use the question as a heading, then answer it in the first sentence in plain words.
- Add detail below: steps, a table, an example.
- Check which format Google currently shows (paragraph, list or table) and match it.
- Keep the facts up to date and cite your sources.
Answer box mistakes
- Long, vague intros before the answer.
- Chasing questions that you cannot answer better than the current result.
- Giving the whole answer so briefly that readers have no reason to visit the page.
- Copying another page’s wording.
Answer box FAQs
Can I choose to appear in an answer box?
No. Google picks the source. You can only make your page the best match. Pages can opt out of snippets with the nosnippet directive, but that removes you from the box.
Is an answer box the same as a featured snippet?
A featured snippet is one kind of answer box. See also answer engine optimization.