Short answer: A featured snippet is a box that shows a piece of a page first, above the link, when Google thinks a short passage answers the search. Google picks it on its own: you can’t mark a page for it. You can only keep your pages out of featured snippets, with the nosnippet rule or a low max-snippet value.
Featured snippets in the results
A featured snippet turns a regular result around: the description comes first, then the link. It can sit at the top of the results, inside the People also ask group or next to the Knowledge Graph information.
Google picks the passage by how well it answers the question and how helpful it is. It says these boxes are helpful on phones and in voice searches.
The three controls you have
| What you add | What it does | Effect on featured snippets |
|---|---|---|
nosnippet rule | No snippet at all for the page | Removes them, guaranteed |
data-nosnippet attribute | Keeps that text out of snippets | That text won’t appear in one |
Low max-snippet value | Caps the snippet length | Less likely, not guaranteed |
From Google Search Central, “Featured snippets and your website”, read November 3, 2026.
When a page has both nosnippet and data-nosnippet, nosnippet wins and the page shows no snippet. Google gives no exact minimum length for a featured snippet, because it changes with the content, the language and the device.
The max-snippet value reaches beyond snippets: it also limits how much of the page Google may use as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode.
The nosnippet and max-snippet rules go in the robots meta tag of the page, the same tag that carries noindex. Our guide to noindex shows where it sits. The data-nosnippet attribute goes on the span, div or section element that holds the text.
How to give a page a better chance
- Find the questions people search for that your page already answers.
- Put the answer to each one in a short paragraph right under the heading that asks it.
- Start with the answer and leave the detail and the exceptions for the end.
- Use a list or a table when the answer is a set of steps or values.
- Write a clear, unique meta description, which Google may use for regular snippets.
- Check that the robots meta tag doesn’t carry nosnippet or a low max-snippet by accident.
- Keep the page within Google’s content policies, or its snippet can be removed.
Our guide to the meta description and SEO title covers step 5.
What our own guides send
Between 4:47 and 4:50 AM on November 3 we read our 79 guides in English and 79 in Spanish as a visitor. All 158 pages send the same robots meta tag: index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-video-preview:-1, max-image-preview:large.
The -1 lets Google choose the snippet length it finds most effective, so nothing in our tags holds a page back from a featured snippet. None of the pages uses data-nosnippet.
Every guide but one opens with a short answer under its title: from 38 to 89 words in English, with a median of 61, and from 43 to 106 in Spanish, with a median of 69. The exception is our guide to getting more Google reviews, one of the first we published, which opens with a 45-word summary instead.
Before you publish a page
- The main question has a short, direct answer near the top.
- Steps and values sit in lists or tables.
- The robots meta tag has no nosnippet you didn’t mean.
- Any max-snippet value is a choice, not a leftover.
- The meta description describes this page only.
- The page stays within Google’s content policies.
RememberGoogle chooses featured snippets, and you can’t ask for one. Answer the question early and clearly, keep your snippet rules on purpose, and use nosnippet only if you want the page out.
If you want us to shape your pages for the questions your customers ask, see our SEO services.
Quick answers about featured snippets
Can I mark a page as a featured snippet?
No. Google says you can’t. Its systems decide whether a page would make a good featured snippet for a search and, if so, show it. There is no markup or setting that asks for one.
How do I stop Google from showing my page as a featured snippet?
Add the nosnippet rule, which removes every snippet for the page. A low max-snippet value makes a featured snippet less likely while keeping regular snippets, but Google says it doesn’t guarantee it.
Where do featured snippets appear?
At the top of the results, in the People also ask section and next to the Knowledge Graph information. Usually there is one box, but Google says there can be more.
What happens when someone clicks a featured snippet?
Google takes them straight to the part of the page that appeared in the snippet, with no extra markup from the site. If that isn’t possible, the click lands at the top of the page.
Can Google remove a featured snippet?
Yes, when it breaks Google’s content policies or the policies for Search features. If a site has many snippets that break them, Google stops showing any featured snippets from that site.
Sources
Read on November 3, 2026. Google Search Central: Featured snippets and your website and Control your snippets in search results. Google Search Help: How Google’s featured snippets work. Our own case: the robots meta tag and short answers of our guides, on November 3, 2026.