If you’re a “featured snippet” on Google’s search results, at this point you’ve been allowed to effectively double-dip when it comes to being visible on Google’s search results page. But soon, this is going to change.
Typically, if there is a site that has been selected as a features snippet, it will appear at the top of the search results in a special box, and then again as one of the 10 web search listings below. It’s been spotted that Google is dropping that web listing if a site is already featured.
It’s been confirmed by Google that this is an experiment to Search Engine Land. If you’re worried that this is permanent, don’t worry. They said that this isn’t something that will stick around. They had this statement to say:
We’re always experimenting with ways to create the best possible experience for our users but have nothing to announce at this time.
Of course, the experiment could become permanent down the line. But at the moment, that’s not the case.
Barry Schwartz posted screen shots of Google’s tests that remove the featured snippets listings from the core web results. Below, you’ll see how it’d normally be:
Here is where the featured snippet is removed:
