# Featured snippet

Category: [Structured Data & SERP Features](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/structured-data-serp-features/) › [Rich results & snippets](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/structured-data-serp-features/rich-results-snippets/)

A **featured snippet** is a highlighted answer box in Google Search. Google shows the text excerpt first and the title and link of the source after it, the reverse of a normal result. Featured snippets can also appear inside the related questions group.

## How does Google choose a featured snippet?

Google's systems decide automatically whether a page makes a good featured snippet for a query. Site owners cannot mark a page as one. Google says the minimum length of the displayed text varies with the information, the language, and the platform, so no length is guaranteed.

In practice excerpts often come from paragraphs, lists, or tables. That is an observation, not something Google's documentation states. Clicking a featured snippet takes the user to the matching passage on the page where the browser supports it.

## How can you limit featured snippets?

Google's documentation names three options.

- `nosnippet` prevents all snippets, including featured snippets. It is the only guaranteed opt-out.
- `max-snippet` with a low value makes featured snippets less likely, because they appear only when enough text can be shown.
- `data-nosnippet` excludes marked parts of the text from regular and featured snippets.

## Example

```html
<meta name="robots" content="max-snippet:50">
<p>This paragraph may appear in snippets.</p>
<p data-nosnippet>This paragraph appears in no snippet.</p>
```

## Common mistakes

- **Treating `max-snippet` as a guaranteed opt-out.** A low value makes featured snippets less likely but guarantees nothing. For a guaranteed solution Google names `nosnippet`.
- **Expecting `nosnippet` to affect only featured snippets.** The rule blocks all snippets for the page, including regular ones, and takes priority over `data-nosnippet`.
- **Trying to mark a page as a featured snippet.** Google offers no way to mark a page for it. Its systems decide.

## FAQ

**Do featured snippets still exist?** Google still documents them. Google Search also has AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, which Google documents separately.

**Do I need schema markup for a featured snippet?** Google's documentation names no structured data requirement for featured snippets.

## Not to be confused with

- [AI Overviews](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/ai-overviews/index.md): summarizes the answer with AI and links the web pages it draws on. A featured snippet instead shows the text excerpt of a single page with its title and link.

## Related terms

- [Search snippet](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/search-snippet/index.md)
- [max-snippet](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/max-snippet/index.md)
- [AI opt-out](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/ai-opt-out/index.md)
- [People Also Ask](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/people-also-ask/index.md)
- [AI Overviews](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/ai-overviews/index.md)
- [SERP features](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/serp-features/index.md)

## Sources

- [Featured snippets and your website - Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/featured-snippets)
- [Visual elements gallery - Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/visual-elements-gallery)
- [AI features and your website – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features)

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Last updated: October 8, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/featured-snippet/