<objective> Provides format-specific HTML recipes for winning featured snippets (position 0): paragraph (40-60 word direct answer), list (ordered/unordered, 4-8 items), table (comparison data), and video (embed + timestamps) — each mapped to its trigger query patterns. Explains why featured snippets are primary AI Overview training data (70%+ citation correlation) and lists snippet anti-patterns (buried answer, vague intro, marketing language in the target passage). </objective>

Featured Snippets (Position 0)

Snippet Types

Type	Format	Trigger Queries
Paragraph	40-60 words, direct answer	"what is", "how to", "why"
List	<ol> or <ul>, 4-8 items	"steps to", "ways to", "best"
Table	<table>, comparison data	"X vs Y", "compare"
Video	YouTube embed + timestamps	"how to" with visual benefit

Paragraph Snippet Recipe

<h2>What is <topic>?</h2>
<p>
  <topic> is a <category> that <main function>.
  It <key benefit> by <method>.
  Common use cases include <list>.
</p>

40-60 words, direct answer, no fluff, no marketing speak.

List Snippet Recipe

<h2>How to <task></h2>
<ol>
  <li><strong>Step 1</strong>: <action></li>
  <li><strong>Step 2</strong>: <action></li>
  ...
</ol>

Table Snippet Recipe

<h2>X vs Y</h2>
<table>
  <thead><tr><th>Feature</th><th>X</th><th>Y</th></tr></thead>
  <tbody>...</tbody>
</table>

AI Overviews Connection

Featured snippets are primary training data for AI Overviews. Structured answers ranking in position 0 are 70%+ likely to appear in AI Overview citations.

Anti-Patterns

• ❌ Hiding answer at bottom of article
• ❌ Vague intro paragraph ("In this article we'll explore...")
• ❌ Marketing in snippet target ("our amazing solution")