In November 2019 we saw Google testing removing the normal snippet from the Google search results when Google shows a featured snippet for that site/URL. Well after numerous tests, Google has launched this yesterday and is no longer showing a featured snippet and at the same time the same URL in the main web search results.
Danny Sullivan from Google confirmed this on Twitter saying "If a web page listing is elevated into the featured snippet position, we no longer repeat the listing in the search results. This declutters the results & helps users locate relevant information more easily. Featured snippets count as one of the ten web page listings we show."
If a web page listing is elevated into the featured snippet position, we no longer repeat the listing in the search results. This declutters the results & helps users locate relevant information more easily. Featured snippets count as one of the ten web page listings we show.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 22, 2020
This was a response to this tweet:
Not sure if you've been tipped off yet @rustybrick but big changes recently to featured snippets. If you own the featured snippet, you only get that one listing and your 'normal organic' ranking is pushed to be the number one result on page 2. So instead of 2 listings, just one.
— Mark Barrera (@mark_barrera) January 22, 2020
This rolled out fully on Wednesday, January 22, 2020:
Today, 100% globally.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 22, 2020
Like I said when Google was testing this in November, "I don't think the SEO community would be happy if Google did this. However, it might feel redundant to the searcher, so I can see why Google would do this."
Here is almost everything said about this change from Google:
If your image is displayed in the featured snippet, then this does not count. It is only if your content is displayed in the featured snippet. And no, this doesn't include people also ask or or related features:
1) Image didn't have a web search listing, so there's nothing to deduplicate.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 22, 2020
2) No.
When featured snippets show images from another site, those sites weren't in the web search results to begin with. So no change. That works independently of each other.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 22, 2020
Google now shows 10 results, well, Google always showed 10 results (sometimes they don't but you know). The featured snippet was position zero, not position one, so it is not part of the 10 results:
If there's a featured snippet, it was 11 net listings, 10 unique. Now it is 10 net and unique. If there wasn't a featured snippet, it was 10 net and unique listings. That's unchanged.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 22, 2020
This is a deduplication effort - which is what I felt Google was testing months ago:
I would expect so. To be a featured snippet, you had to rank in the top results. Then we elevated. And now we deduplicate. If you don't get featured, deduplication ends.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 22, 2020
Nothing I've shared says you can't have duplication happen beyond the first page of results. Deduplication is only about what happens on the first page. As things evolve, the whole "it's showing up on page two" might not happen. So I wouldn't say that's how it works.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 22, 2020
No, it is not. We are simply deduplicating on the first page of results. There's no guarantee that the listing will then show up on the second page in position "11" or any spot like that. We haven't said that. It might happen. Might not.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 23, 2020
I still don't understand, sorry. The odds of being a featured snippet are entirely unchanged because of this. If you are a featured snippet, you won't be duplicated again further down in the first page of results. But that's not impacting the ability to be a featured snippet.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 23, 2020
Mobile and desktop changes:
We appreciate that concern. Hopefully this will ease it. This format is likely to appear in the main column as regular features snippets do within a month. And we're likely to stop deduplication within it until that happens, maybe later this week.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 23, 2020
Related to the knowledge panel:
That's not a Knowledge Panel. It's featured snippet-like variant. We are deduplicating there. On mobile, where most people search and these are inline, it especially makes sense.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 22, 2020
There should have been a bit of warning about this (but hey, we saw Google testing it):
That's good feedback.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 23, 2020
Things may change again in the future:
Suffice to say, I'm not a fan of the mix format when it happens nor that implementation. I've also shared those concerns other have raised with the search team. They also heard directly at our recent summit. So I wouldn't assume it's always going to be that way.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 23, 2020
Top stories are not dedupped:
Top Stories don't get deduplicated.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 23, 2020
SEOs are upset about this, as we expected. Google doesn't seem to understand why?
I just don't understand how you think this would somehow be bad. To be a featured snippet, you already had to appear in the regular search results. If you think you weren't relevant as a featured snippet for those results, you don't get more relevant if you're not featured....
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 22, 2020
The webmaster is punished because they were featured at the top of the search results? That's generally what webmasters consider to be the ultimate reward.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 22, 2020
Also, some are saying you will get the normal snippet on page two, this is not the case according to Google:
It's not guaranteed to show there. I wouldn't expect it to long-term. People who have been saying this are making assumptions. That's not how it works.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 23, 2020
Finally, if you do not like it, you can opt out of featured snippets for your site, if you want.
That is much, not all, of what Google communicated on this change.
Again, I am not surprised Google made this change. I am honestly surprised it took Google this long to do it. I do understand why SEOs are upset.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Update: Here is now more from the official Google account on Twitter:
This change launched yesterday for 100% of our search results globally. There’s no change to the overall set of web results we are showing. There are still ten unique listings, as before. Deduplicating simply means we’re no longer showing any of those unique listings twice....
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) January 23, 2020
Deduplication does not happen with other features, such as Top Stories or Interesting Finds. Deduplication also only happens for the exact URL in the featured snippet and only within the first page of results....
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) January 23, 2020
If there are more answers to common questions that come up from this change, we'll add to this thread.
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) January 23, 2020
For those asking, this causes no change in Search Console performance reports. We only log the topmost appearance of a URL as its position. Featured snippets were already counted, duplicate appearances were not. See also: https://t.co/7nR7CfWd2S
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) January 23, 2020
