Glossary
Featured Snippet
A boxed answer at the top of Google's results, extracted directly from a high-ranking page, historically the predecessor to AI Overviews.
By Teeming Chew, Founder Last updated
Featured snippets are Google's direct-answer experience that predates AI Overviews. They display a paragraph, list, or table extracted from a page that ranks in the top 10 for the query.
Are featured snippets still relevant in 2026?
Yes. They overlap with AI Overviews: pages that win featured snippets are disproportionately cited in AI Overviews on the same query. Optimizing for one optimizes for the other.
How do you win a featured snippet?
Rank in the top 10 first. Then structure your answer to directly mirror the query: question as H2, 40-60 word answer immediately after, additional context below.
Part of the Cite Hustle GEO glossary: definitions for generative engine optimization and AI search. See how it fits the bigger picture in the GEO methodology.