Google Search is testing multiple Featured Snippets to save you wasted clicks

News
By Michael L Hicks
published

Overloading Google Search with relevant results from four sites at once, so you're more likely to get your answer.

The Google Search homepage on an Android phone
(Image credit: Android Central)

What you need to know

  • Google may add multiple Featured Snippets to your Google Search questions in the future. 
  • Some Search users have spotted more than one highlighted answer to their questions, displayed in different formats. 
  • This would allow users to see more data at once, but could also make it confusing which featured answer to believe.

Google Search results often show a "Featured Snippet" on the top of the page, highlighting an answer Google's algorithms have deemed most helpful or instructive to readers. But Google may soon add multiple Snippets to Search results, which you may see as either more helpful or more confusing.

SEO consultant William Álvarez tweeted on June 15 that he had seen multiple "info-cards" in Search results when checking whether to give a dog allergy medicine. Google highlighted different results, some recommending checking with a doctor while others said it was safe and prescribing a dosage.

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Search Engine Land first highlighted these results, which we were unable to replicate on our own Android phones. This suggests Google may be testing Featured Snippets in specific regions, and we don't know when they'll become widely available. 

Another SEO consultant, Brodie Clark, responded that he had seen this in the wild as well, except in multiple formats. Some show square or full-width bubbles highlighting key text from the article, while others look like regular Search results but show Google's emphasized text instead of the usual summary.

Clark also suggested Google has tested these multi-snippet results on desktop as well as on Android phones.

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Websites (like ours) covet the Featured Snippet position because people are most likely to trust and click on that result. Adding three extra Snippets will allow more sites to share that "approved by Google" slot, but could also complicate things for readers. 

In theory, if you ask a question like "what is the recovery time for wisdom teeth," you'll see similar results in all four boxes and know your answer without having to click through. Or, if the results vary, you'll have more options in case some of the results aren't fully relevant or accurate.

On the other hand, multiple Snippets could make results too complicated for users hoping to find one answer; it could end up with users clicking whichever result comes closest to their presumptions rather than the "best" or "right" one. 

We don't know when, or if, Google will implement this feature. In the meantime, Google Search has also tested new Discover widgets on desktop and promised to improve its product review results in 2022. 

Michael L Hicks
Michael L Hicks
Senior Editor, VR/AR and fitness

Michael is Android Central's resident expert on fitness tech and wearables, with an enthusiast's love of VR tech on the side. After years freelancing for Techradar, Wareable, Windows Central, Digital Trends, and other sites on a variety of tech topics, AC has given him the chance to really dive into the topics he's passionate about. He's also a semi-reformed Apple-to-Android user who loves D&D, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings.


For wearables, Michael has tested dozens of smartwatches from Garmin, Fitbit, Samsung, Apple, COROS, Polar, Amazfit, and other brands, and will always focus on recommending the best product over the best brand. He's also completed marathons like NYC, SF, Marine Corps, Big Sur, and California International — though he's still trying to break that 4-hour barrier.