#I haven’t been able to grab much more than the basic suspect info

[extravagantmodesty]

At the risk of doxxing myself, my colleagues and I have written *multiple* articles on the ongoing BNSF robberies, and I had NO idea the stolen merchandise were Nikes. That’s amazing.

A story to boost the morale of a broken country.

[edenwolfie]

just wondering if you could elaborate more on the times hua cheng suspected wujin was xie lian, and what his internal turmoil was like while debating this

Hi anon! Thanks for the ask, this is going under a read more because a) p big spoilers for ppl who haven’t read the fic and b) I suspect this is going to be a long answer (spoilers, it ended up being 2k words rip).

I’m basically going to just be walking you through my thoughts of the various steps in the fic where Hua Cheng is having Thoughts (and woohoo for the 21k of Hua Cheng POV I wrote for kicks and getting some thoughts in order lol), so buckle up for way more than you asked for. I hope it makes sense because I am very tired and I think I may have just rambled to myself for a solid hour rip

Initial suspicion!! Chapter 2! Literally the first scene Xie Lian sees Hua Cheng where Hua Cheng is just fucking staring at him for a little bit too long (he had been staring for a while before Xie Lian noticed it). TGCF Ch 192: “However, that black-clad youth replied, “You are. I will never forget your voice and your form.”” Hua Cheng fucking clocked this guy who was very gege shaped (he’s lucky Yanxun has been feeding Xie Lian, might have been a little harder at the start). He realises whoever this is is clearly uncomfortable with the awkward little bow and pointedly looks elsewhere, but quickly picks up Xie Lian again and keeps half an eye on him all night when he can.

Chapter 3! From there you get a couple of scenes of the light stalking because this guy’s pinged his gege radar and Xu Hao was able to tell him a few useful things from Den gossip: he’s taking years for patrons in bets, the other staff really like him as he brings them little gifts, is a cultivator with some kind of abstinence path, and he’s older than he looks, (Mental ticks in the ‘wanting to help others’, ‘kind’, ‘cultivator’, and ‘old’ columns). This section is mainly Hua Cheng seeing if he can get anything useful out of Wujin himself by catching him off guard, see if his behaviours or words don’t match what Hua Cheng remembers of Xie Lian. How old is he, what’s his name, how brave is he, how willing is he to share info, why is he taking years for these people—all the while trying not to be nice about it, because there’s no way after living in Ghost City for 2 years that Xie Lian hasn’t heard of Hua Cheng and his reputation and its too late to use San Lang because Xie Lian’s seen him, and also, if it’s not Xie Lian, he doesn’t want to be friendly to some fucking random asshole. It also seems to put Wujin on edge a little, so unsure if this is because he keeps surprising him or if this person is nervous about such pointed questions (if it’s a spy/trap, are they nervous about Hua Cheng catching them out etc). Xie Lian also moves way too fast when Hua Cheng makes a grab for his mask which, ticks in the ‘great reflexes’ or ‘cultivator’ columns, and out comes daozhang-gege, because he is fun to tease. Also, double tick in the wanting to help people column, and tick in the selfless column. Xie Lian technically also doesn’t disagree about the gege thing, so that’s a maybe on age.

Then you get the scene with the dipshit who curses Xie Lian in Hua Cheng’s presence and gets the afterlife kicked out of him. This is tricky because Xie Lian is very intentionally hedging here because he’s just pinged that Hua Cheng could know him and not be pleased about it. Hua Cheng is in two minds because Xie Lian could be cleaning because it needed doing and he’s a hard worker, or it could be that gege feels guilty to be somewhat part of the ghost’s death, OR an imposter is trying to pretend thats the case. He does seem oddly flustered after the conversation and escapes as soon as Hua Cheng’s questioning becomes pointed which could indicate either Xie Lian is nervous or the imposter is at being caught out. Also, the butterfly was with Xie Lian for much of the night before this moment and Hua Cheng was absolutely watching, so he did notice the way Xie Lian paused at the mention of his name, which annoyingly, could point to either Xie Lian or someone trying to pretend to be him.

Basically, by this point Hua Cheng has settled on this either being Xie Lian or it’s someone very intentionally trying to pretend to be him for unclear but probably nefarious purposes. His common sense is beginning to be outweighed by his desire for it to be real so where he had been flirting to put off guard and mess with him a little, it’s becoming much more genuine and his inner thoughts are very much slipping away from referring to Xie Lian as Wujin.

Chapter 4! Black Water, point in Xie Lian’s column of standing up to getting absolutely dunked in He Xuan’s aura, though once it happens Hua Cheng gets between them pretty quick cause NOPE, leave gege alone thanks you. Then Xie Lian comes in with the food, and he brings the fucking wine which IS the one that was on the table when they confronted Lang Ying and he’s like ???? Hello? Gege? Of all the wines you pick that one??? Which is a solid point in his head for it being Xie Lian because Hua Cheng doesn't think a spy would be able to connect that event to the two of them, or it could be coincidence :/ … (You may note Hua Cheng pointedly Does Not Drink The Wine because Fuck That Guy lol).

Attack on the Den! More unhelpful hints of Xie Lian/imposter; can fight well enough to protect the place but did get hurt though unclear in what circumstance. Doesn’t have much spiritual energy when checked which either means 1) possibly has a cursed shackle like Yin Yu does (or a good spy network might know they’d need to emulate one), or b) he’s being truthful about the changing paths thing and his current energy store has collapsed. He also gets an exciting look at gege’s leg which, nice.

Because of this, Hua Cheng is like, I GOTTA see this guy fight in person, preferably with me if I can swing it—and he does! Also during that convo Xie Lian brings out another interesting wine choice from somewhere he knows Xie Lian worked once because he’s followed this part of his trail and spoke with the winemaker (now a ghost, hence why so many bottles, bun bonus info), so again, could be legit, could be someone who’s done their research as well as Hua Cheng has. Seems like a stretch, but its possible, gotta be careful. Xie Lian also confesses that his path does not consume alcohol (point in gege column) and that he ‘stopped being used to fine things a long time ago’ which, another tick - but again, if someone’s done their research, :/ . Hua Cheng also gets a new lead he did not have before: Banyue. Which either means Xie Lian was there, or this imposter is setting up a trail which may or may not be legit. Either way, worth looking into to see if anything can be sussed out. Pack sunscreen Yin Yu.

Then we fight! This is where Hua Cheng starts feeling legitimately confident that it’s Xie Lian because so many of the little pieces he’s put together so far point to Xie Lian, and while all the other things could be things a spy or whatever could have learnt about Xie Lian and emulated, this skill would be really fucking hard to fake, and Hua Cheng has seen him fight before, he moves right. Also, Hua Cheng was not going easy on him and Xie Lian kept up, he was just as knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the swords as Hua Cheng remembered him being which, extra ticks. Xie Lian also gets very, very excited and rambles at Hua Cheng about a particular move and my god Hua Cheng is having little flashbacks to being alone with Xie Lian after fighting the binu just before Land of the Tender. So, all round, signs point to gege—and ding ding ding! I hid a little language clue here, as after this point, Hua Cheng never calls him daozhang-gege again and moves to just using gege.

Chapter 5! We get Qiandeng temple! Again, Hua Cheng is still fishing for information just to be sure, but here he wants Xie Lian to trust him, wants to convince Xie Lian that he’d be safe if he wanted to take the mask off. Hua Cheng thinks he gets a little something, when Xie Lian says ““I’m glad he saved you.”” which I feel reads as a more personal/emotionally charged response to the event than compared to what Yanxun might have said to hear such a thing. Then, ““I think we can give up pretences,” Hua Cheng said and anxiety clogged Xie Lian’s throat. A pause, then, “Gege is far older than he appears. Did he ever worship His Highness?”” That pause was intentional, cause he was considering just asking Xie Lian to take the mask off or just saying that he knows its him (cause he wants to, and Yin Yu’s been fucking hounding him about it and its annoying), but deicides to continue with his plan of making sure Xie Lian trusts him and wants to take the mask off on his own terms.

Chapter 6! Main clues were Xie Lian not having siblings (tick) and going into Feng Xin’s temple (frowny tick). Bonus info: This was also a little bit of a test to see if Xie Lian would run if left alone in the human realm for a time (Hua Cheng did not need to go do things, he had all the info he needed, he just changed forms and lurked about for a while), but Xie Lian does not try to escape and Hua Cheng is fucking thrilled. We also get Hua Cheng’s slip up when he nearly calls out Your Highness when Xie Lian falls into the grave, was mainly a clue to y’all that he’s feeling confident enough that he is referring to Xie Lian in his head as such, even if still some doubts. Then of course the chapter goes to hell (poor Xie Lian, I do love to whack him with a stick) and Hua Cheng doesn’t know where he went wrong and he’s fucking torn up about it. At the same time, he hears a little about Xie Lian’s childhood which sounds much like what he’d expect for a prince. Yin Yu thinks its all a ploy to gain Hua Cheng’s sympathies and Hua Cheng is Very Displeased about this suggestion. Hua Cheng doesn’t get much out of Xie Lian for a little while because Xie Lian is obviously fucking Going Through it and he doesn’t know what to do until he finally can’t resist anymore and asks and Xie Lian admits ““This is not even close to the worst thing to happen to me.”” Which oh boy, Hua Cheng knows what that's referencing and he’s so scared that something else almost as awful has happened to him—Anyway, he also learns that Xie Lian was trapped somewhere for a long time and oh man he hopes he’s wrong but he and Yin Yu hit a wall on his trail about 120+ years ago and he’s very scared he’s just learnt why with the addition of the 'worst thing' comment.

Chapter 7! By here, Hua Cheng is p goddamn certain it’s Xie Lian and isn’t really intently fishing for any information, he still does of course, as there is of course a little voice in his head being like you’re wrong you’re an idiot you’re desperate and seeing what you want to see etc. On their Zhongyuan date Ju-er tells him that Xie Lian is a god and very beautiful under the mask (and my dudes, if they had not fucked (up) in the alley, Hua Cheng had full intentions of cornering that lil guy and taking him to the temple for confirmation the next day). Then Hua Cheng’s a sneaky lil fuck and, where in canon Xie Lian is using the palm reading thing to see if Hua Cheng is a ghost, Hua Cheng here is using it to be like, I’ve carved these hands so much, I’m p sure I know how they look and oh boy they look pretty dang close that's fucking great, and they share a meal and a drink and they play street games and he just gets,,,so lost in the happy sauce, and Xie Lian says please like that, then oh fuck, we did an oopsie. We’ll get more into those thoughts in chap 9 so I won’t elaborate beyond what Hua Cheng said in chap 8 :)

Hope that was even vaguely coherent/interesting/helpful???? I’m sure I’ve forgotten shit too (there’s defo a few little heartbeat moments that Hua Cheng can hear, but they’re often not hugely helpful to him) but man I need to sleep, so goodnight all!

[bluekayanite]

Comments/theories: In Dreams - Homeworld Bound

So I kind of missed the SU:F updates for a bit. ^_^;  That said, I'm caught up now, and have some misc. comments that I figured I'd share... before the next eps or two comes out. XD;

...That said, I was actually working on this when I'd heard that Homeworld Bound was out already. -.-;  It's on XFinity Stream, at least - and I suspect other streaming services - so I consider it "officially released."  I've since adjusted to implement the new info.  However, I'm making the comments in an ep-by-ep structure, so if you want to avoid spoilers, you can easily stop once you get here. =3

I'd also like to note that this one's more rambly than usual, so prepare yourself for rambles. XD

EDIT: Some adjustments, mostly additions. EDIT2: Couple more little deets. EDIT3: Few more MAJOR deets. XD;

Just a quick note: my current, primary theory is that, even with everything that seems to be glaringly obvious, White also has the power to alter Gems' memories and such, and Rose was not truly Pink Diamond (or at least, in a sense, not THE Pink Diamond).  Lately, I basically think that she may be a sort of a hybrid, or at least that Pink put a lot of herself into Rose... lately I've even suspected that it might be even more literal than I've previously noted... as in, Pink may have prepped some healing tears and broken off a shard of herself... or something. ._.;;;

But yeah, I figured I'd note this in advance because, well... I realize it sounds crazy.  It's going to be mentioned, so I ask for a bit of open-mindedness - or at least a willingness to entertain the idea, even if you think it's wrong (and I don't blame you if you do).  Frankly, I wouldn't be surprized if a lot of people would have already closed this post before getting to this sentence.  (That said, if you're still here, thank you!)

With that out of the way, let's get going!

In Dreams

Okay, so Crewniverse was definitely being self-aware, and using meta-humor. XD

I've commented here before that previous eps had a building feeling of listlessness and whatnot.  My sister also has commented (not in a place I can link XD; ) that the opening theme gets more and more jarring with each episode.  The both of us think that odds are pretty good that they'll switch to using something the reprise version of the theme. XD;  ("Here we are in the future, and it's wrooooong!")

...That said, while things have been getting intense (not to mention REAL!), I do appreciate that we seem to be moving out of "boredom" eps. XD;

The dreams-being-broadcast thing is more-than-likely a bit of setup for later story points.  I'm thinking "Emergency broadcast."

On an entirely different note, I like the confirmation that Peridot has green eyes. =3

Been sort of a headcanon of mine for awhile now. ^_^

Also, is it just me, or is Peridot getting taller? 83

Anyway, it's nice to have a bit of lighthearted funtimes in the midst of all the seriousness that has been going on. =3

Bismuth Casual

So... those toilet paper jokes certainly ended up being at an ironic time, right? XD;

Anyway, one of the things that stuck out to me is how increasingly obvious Pearl's obliviousness is.

One of my long-standing theories is that Rose saw Pearl more like a daughter, if anything... and didn't realize - or even have a clue that Pearl had a thing for her.

And I mean, really, if Pearl can't tell whether any human - or Gem - is into her, then how could she know for sure whether or not Rose did (or didn't)?  Odds are she's just going by her memories... which I strongly believe to be unreliable, what with how many contradictions they have. ^_^;

Together Forever

(...Does anyone else keep hearing the old Pokémon song by the same name in their head? ^_^; )

...Okay, I'm gonna confess: it actually didn't occur to me that either Steven or Ruby was supposed to be "cute" until it was mentioned in Hit the Diamond and Sadie Killer.  (I didn't count Andy saying it in Gem Harvest because I figured he had a family bias. ^_^;  I mean, he did make a complete and abrupt 180 about the parts of his plane being recycled, once it was Steven who started using them.)

...Cuteness is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. XD;

I guess I can see how Crewniverse was going for "cute" with Steven...  Still, about the only time I've considered "Steven" to be cute - visually or otherwise - was after that last bout of Ultimate Steven tag.

...Yeah, I think that the Gems did the puppy-dog eyes better than Steven did. ^_^;  I mean, I would call Steven "sweet," "silly," and a number of other things.  Just... "cute" isn't typically one of them for me. ^_^;

That said, there are moments when I think that Ruby is being cute. =3  One of them is when she RAEGING.

Another one is when she's being happy... especially when she's super-excited.

So yeah. =3  For me, it was pretty nice to see Ruby spazzing like that.  It's also kind of nice to see Steven eating sweets again... even if it's for unfortunate reasons.

...yeah.

It's also nice to see R+S's new forms. =3

The headband is back! 83

(...Why hasn't there been a mention of Sapphire being cute?  She seems like the most obvious choice. XD; )

On another topic... So it’s not just Pearls that can store stuff in their gems? o.O

Anyway, part of my theory is that [Pink is really trapped in the moon base's observation orb], which she can use to see some of what's going on.  When Pink is watching, the moon might show up, and/or the sky might turn pink (usually around dawn/dusk) - the more intense either of these things are, the more intensely she's watching.

Looking back at when either of these happen, I've noticed that:

She seems to be a 'shipper

She particularly 'ships Steven + Connie

This ep certainly continues with that pattern. 83  Heck, I think that the extra lights on the horizon might even be from Pink - maybe even intentional on her part.

Even after the turn-down, the moon still showed, BRIGHTLY - at least until Garnet got there.

I also noticed the moon at the end of Little Graduation - in general, I'm getting an impression that Pink has been wanting to help Steven... but obviously, she wouldn't be able to.

However, that said, with the way things are looking, I think that she's going to get her chance, shortly... more on that farther down. =3

Side note: The glowstick-bracelet “ring” is a nice touch. =3

Other side note: JAM BUDS REFERENCE! 83

Also: Strawberry. =3

Also-also: it seems like Garnet actually does tend to give some pretty good love advice.

"Your soulmate is your compliment, not your missing piece.  [...]  Whatever hole there is in your life, Steven, I want you to understand that Connie - Stevonnie - won't be able to fill it." - Garnet, Together Forever

...Also-also, my suspicions about Garnet sorta being three people keep growing. XD;

...Incidentally, I’ve mentioned before that I think that Connie is probably ace and/or aro (though I didn’t know the latter term at the time).

Growing Pains

On the funny (at least to me) side, I noticed that Dr. Maheswaren checked for Steven’s heartbeat on his right side (which, ironically, would be the wrong side XD).

There actually is a genetic condition that can flip the positioning of the internal organs, though I’m pretty sure that it’s simply an oversight in this case.  For one, Dr. Maheswaren shouldn’t think to check there unless she’d checked the usual positioning, first.  For another... it’s actually not the only slip up in that shot; Steven’s gem has a hexagonal crown instead of the usual pentagonal one.  (This happens a lot, especially on Quartzes.)  The biggest thing, however, is that Steven actually does grab the left side of his chest later on.

But yeah, just some stuff that I thought maybe some other people might consider interesting. =3

Anyway...

So it's FINALLY established that Steven has PTSD... and appears to be having panic attacks.  Frankly, for a long time, I was under the impression that nothing like this would ever come up. XD;;;  Call me crazy, but in a weird way, this is kind of a relief for me.  It makes things feel more genuine to me.

...Hmm... I wonder if part of why we haven't seen panic in other characters is because they're hiding their own PTSD?  Maybe the reason why so many are just carrying on is as a sort of coping mechanism.  Maybe the also don't want anyone to worry.

...Or maybe this is an effect of this being a cartoon. >.>;  I mean, as much as I can see that Crewniverse is trying to touch on a lot of hard topics (and I appreciate that), we can only expect it to be so realistic.  Plus, a good story needs a bit of balance to it - as nice as it is to see the worrying stuff, it needs a good balance, or else it tends to be overwhelming.

In particular, I've been reminded that SU:F does have a number of much-younger viewers - I think we need to bear in mind that they probably aren't likely to handle this stuff as well as the older audiences. ^_^;

But yeah, I'm definitely glad that at least there's something, and the reaction seems fairly realistic (at least as far as having a half-Gem character goes).  Even the fact that there was a delay is fairly realistic... maybe a bit more of a delay than usual, but... I guess Steven is half-Gem?

Also: cartoon. XD;

And of course, it's really fascinating to see the medical aspect of Gems (or a lack thereof).

And of course, the sneaking in of an Amethyst-behavior joke. X3

Also: you can see Steven's chart in two of the transitions. 83

(Assuming Dr. Maheswaren got his height right... I’m actually admittedly jealous that he’s actually taller than me - especially since it looks to me like he should be shorter. XD; )

Also-also: I noticed that a lot of things that had nothing to do with Steven's life being in danger got referenced. ^_^;  Granted, I'm sure they're still important to him, but I thought I'd still bring it up.

I also couldn't help but notice there being a direct reference to Adverse Childhood Experiences, which is an actual term.  I suppose Steven's are unusual... but whatever the form, ACEs can still be pretty impactful. =/

...I do wonder if Crewniverse knows anything about Childhood Emotional Neglect.  It's supposedly an even bigger impact than abuse and whether one recovers from it.  That said, AFAIK it's lesser-known - even the term was coined less than a decade ago (2012, if I've got my dates right).  It's mentioned on the list of ACEs... I think?  But it's not very well defined there, so... it's hard to know.

At any rate, it definitely seems like a thing that could be a factor... more on that farther down.

Mr. Universe

It was nice to see Steven and Greg getting some bonding time in... even if it was short-lived. ^_^;

Can't help but wonder whether or not Steven's eating a veggie burger. XD;

Steven drooling in his sleep... it's been a headcanon/theory of mine that maybe Pink does that. X3

Okay, so maybe this is a cute picture of Steven... now that he's more grown-up. X3

Anyway, It's nice to learn some more about Greg's side of the family.  Especially since - aside from the strictness - they really do seem like they're probably nice people.

I mean, for one, they still kept reminders of Greg - his stuff, pictures of the whole fam, and even his letters... even if they never opened them.

(...Is it just me, or does Greg's mom look an awful lot like Connie's?)

And based on their stuff, I think it's pretty likely that they at least have a gentle side... even if maybe they didn't know how to properly use it with Greg. XD;  (Or maybe they're simply an appearance-conscious family. ^_^;  ...Which is apparently considered a gaslighting type of parenting-style. =/)

In any case, I hope we meet them, later. =3  Maybe they've mellowed out... or maybe they will as soon as they meet Steven. X3

My sis pointed out that Dear Old Dad plays - as in, the song from the last ep Steven and Greg fought in.  Only this time, it didn't end out well. ^_^;  Quoth her, "That's some next-generation foreshadowing!"

But yeah, I can see why Greg might be so frustrated at his parents that he would want to change his surname. ^_^;  ...And I can also see why Steven would be upset at Greg going as far as he did. =/  Pendulum effect: being so upset by one extreme that you go just as far into the other extreme, and it sounds like Steven paid for it. -.-;

This is part of what I mean by Childhood Emotional Neglect potentially being a factor... though in general, Greg's hands-off parenting style could very well fit in as a form of emotional neglect - parents who are just kind of buddies and try to give comfort on everything kind of avoid a lot of the issues, instead of teaching their kids how to deal with them, including on an emotional level. ^_^;

But yeah, the fact that Greg apparently didn't consider whether Steven might still want some of the usual aspects of childhood seems like it could also count. ^_^;  At the very least, it's common for Well-Meaning-But-Emotionally-Neglected-Themselves parents to give their kids what they wish they had in childhood, without actually considering whether it's what the children themselves want.

It's also common for emotional neglect to be passed on through families in ways such as this, so... seems like it could be a thing.

Oh, and you know how Steven also had to be "the adult" for the Gems a lot?  That also counts as CEN. XD;  Heck, that link even mentions the need to care for others that Steven continues to struggle with.

The parts about Steven trying to hide his struggles would also fit in with CEN, though his knowledge of emotions - and vocabulary thereof - does seem to be pretty big.  I can't help but wonder if CEN is something that's being inserted in more as a retcon, but wasn't planned at the beginning.  I mean... CEN was just being figured out around the time that the original SU series came out, so it seems pretty unlikely that it was the original plan.  I could see Crewniverse trying to work it in now, though.

...It's also possible that it's not really what they're going for and that it's sort of included by accident. XD;  I mean, there's often more than one way to arrive at the same conclusion, even coming from the same set of information, at times.

But yeah, CEN is important to me, and it's nice to see that it might be a part of the show. =3

Fragments

Okay, so that first convo was chock-full of examples on what NOT to say to someone who’s panicking. ^_^;

And those are just a few of them. ^_^;

I think that this is probably foreshadowing, and/or a setup for something coming shortly.  More on this farther down.

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only one who was thinking back to Why So Blue? XD;

(Or, belatedly, Strong in the Real Way.)

I do think Jasper has kind of a point about learning to control anger by using it.  All-in-all, though, I think she's only about half-right. ^_^;  The parts about using it solely in violence... yeah

I see Steven’s eating fish, again. =3

It’s also neat to see him chopping wood with his hands. X3

...Not to mention Jasper’s new helmet. 83

It looks to me like Pink might have noticed some training, or at least may have been looking around the area.

...I suspect that she doesn't know about all the details, though. ^_^;

Homeworld Bound

Okay, first off, I think that Garnet may have said the family thing for Future Vision reasons - probably related to what the Diamonds said, even if she doesn't know that.

And now that that's out of the way, I was really glad to see Spinel again. =3

It does seem a bit weird that she's around as tall as Steven when she was shorter than him in the movie.

And I'm pretty sure that Steven's gotten even taller since the movie. XD;  Though maybe Yellow made Spinel taller...?

EDIT: I remembered that she probably wouldn’t be the first.  Could be a pattern.

Anyway, I also like the confirmation that Yellow's and Blue's powers seem to be about affecting the forms of Gems, and their emotions, in general - I've made a little spreadsheet (vaguely) touching on stuff like that, before.

Also, Blue getting a full song of her own.  Plus, the implications that Blue's powers are probably water-related. =3

(Who wants to try one of Blue's happy clouds? *raises hand* =D)

Not to mention Spinel doing the hammock hair thing. X3

*ahem* However... this is the second time one of the eps has felt like it's been full of Gems that are more-or-less hypnotised (the first one being Familiar).  A little too happy and/or nonchalant, and a little too conclusion-jump-ish. =/  (Especially Yellow for that last one. XD; )  Steven's even pointed stuff like this this out.

Which... White acted also that way.  If she really does have mind control powers, I think that this might be a sign that she's still using them, even on Blue and Yellow. ^_^;

Another thing that I think is odd is that the Diamonds were all taking initiative in doing good stuff.  In the movie, it seemed pretty clearly like they were only doing good things in order to try and please Steven and get him to stay with them.

White in particular was still disgusted at the idea of thinking of others as “equal.” XD;

They were even willing to move to Earth, leaving all those hurt Gems behind, instead of trying to do anything for them. =/

And yet, despite all that, Spinel in particular felt a little too weird to me (somehow XD; ).  A little too unconcerned about Steven's feelings, a little too relaxed and... blissful? ^_^;  She actually handwaved the "embarrassing" issue of having tried to kill Steven.

This is the second time we've seen something like this. =/

In a way, maybe Spinel's a little too close to her original personality, in general - as in, maybe less "healed" and more "reverted." =/

I mean, it's only been... a few months?  If I understand correctly?  Difficult thoughts and such do not just evaporate like that - ESPECIALLY if they're more-or-less intrusive ones. =/

And a lot of the time, it seems like her voice and intonation is closer to what she had with her original personality.  ...It does seem kind ambiguous, though I suspect that that’s on purpose. XD;

Here's what I think to be the kicker, though: you know the song she started singing when Steven asked how she stopped having vengeful thoughts?

It's the same song that Spinel said had said would NOT make everything better. XD;

"Just can it, won't ya?!  You can't just make everything better by singing some STUPID SONG!" - Spinel, SU Movie

(Incidentally, I noticed that the moon actually did show up - rather obviously - during said song.  Whoops. ^_^;  It looks like Pink has probably seen Spinel’s “evil” form, after all.)

Also... Quite honestly, the way Spinel mentions not getting vengeful thoughts anymore makes her seem... "drugged" to me. ^_^;

Possibly-similarly... this line seems odd to me.

For Spinel to tell Steven that White's powers work in reverse, she'd have to know:

How White's powers worked in the first place

That Steven knows how White's powers worked in the first place

I mean, I guess it's not impossible that White's powers are/were common knowledge, but... I dunno. XD;  It would have to mean letting Gems know that White could control them outright... and that White had used her powers on Steven's friends. ^_^;  I guess it's also possible that this was told to Spinel as a way of trying to bond over/help with the "tried to kill Steven" thing but... yeah, again, I dunno. ^_^;  If that were the case, it's possible that Spinel would mention it, rather than bursting out into song.

At any rate, I'm not ruling out mind-affecting as a possible reason for her knowledge.

So... yeah.  I suspected that White acted the way she did when seeing Spinel because Spinel knew (or otherwise had) something that White wanted to be kept hidden.  I kind of suspected that poor Spinel would get hit by White's powers pretty much right away, and to me, it looks like she did, and was placated a la mind-control. =(

Speaking of White... I'm guessing that the "pink-colored White" in the intro was actually Steven controlling her, or something. ^_^;

If so, then that's interesting twist on what's considered a "danger"...

...though that said, it looks like White managed to shed the pinkish tinge she had in the movie.

Now it seems to depend on the lighting, and is a fair bit fainter.

(Upper pic: purple.  Lower pic: brown.)

So... that said, I wouldn't rule out that maybe she found a way to keep the pink from getting worse - heck, maybe that's even one of the reasons why she's letting Gems control her, briefly.  Maybe it somehow keeps the pink from growing more saturated, or something.

So... yeah, while I think there's a good chance that the foreshadowed "Pink White" is already touched on, I'm not entirely ruling out that it might still be coming.  I mean, the theory that I was going with was that [Rose's gemstone had a virus in it], that Pink made specifically for White.  Possible circumstances to trigger the virus include:

Removing Rose's gemstone from whoever Rose’s child would be

Touching Rose's gemstone, in general

Trying to remove Rose from her gemstone - especially if from her child

Mind- and memory-manipulation on Rose's gemstone, in general

It's also possible that more than one trigger was programmed in.

Possible reasons for a virus include:

Trying to force White to learn empathy

Exposing White

In case the worst more-or-less happened

Prankage

Though yeah, if Rose's/Steven's gemstone really does have a virus in it, or something, I think odds are that White letting Steven control her is going to accelerate it. XD;

Also thought I'd note: while Spinel!White accurately reflects the colors of Spinel, Steven!White seems to better resemble Pink Steven than Pink Diamond, or Rose.

...Don't wanna dig up comparison pics, but I still thought I'd bring it up. XD;

Anyway, I can't help but wonder if there's some sort of deeper meaning to the scene with giant!Steven controlling little!White - like if there's something from Pink slipping in there, and her frustrations with whatever White did to her in the past.

I mean... Steven mentioned "everything" she did to him, and there were only flashbacks of stuff from Change Your Mind.  Which... yeah, sure, a lot happened in a short period of time, but... I still wonder. ^_^;

Aaaand it's becoming pretty evident that whatever traces of Pink are in Steven are coming out pretty strongly.

...On another note, the softer "Pink" hairstyle that Steven is getting might be a hint that the more-solid, five-lump "Steven" style that Pink is sometimes shown with is not her actual style. ;3

(My personal belief is that her appearance in Jungle Moon accurately reflects what she looks like - everything else is probably tainted by memory-alteration a la White.)

...anyway...

My guess(es) on what's next

Okay, I was previously assuming that Steven would first fight the worm-thing (which I thought might have been a mutated Jasper, after getting all that essence-of-Diamond in one dose XD; ).  I was also speculating about White having turned a much-more-intense shade of pink, accusing Steven of it, and a fight breaking out between the two (with a note that it might be a good thing that Steven's learned to better control his Diamond powers =D; ).

Now it’s looking like the “Pink White” may have already been covered... or maybe it’s still being foreshadowed.  Hard to say at this point.

That said, I think there's still a good chance that White will still try to follow Steven for one reason or another, despite his plea not to.  I mean, it looks like she may have genuinely been impacted by what happened with Steven controlling her... or at least terrified. XD;

She still asked him to wait, despite that.

Steven did leave his shoe behind, a la Cinderella.  This could be a hint about someone following him and returning it to him.  Maybe there'll be something about it fitting after he's calmed down? =3

Though... yeah.  Maybe letting Steven puppet her will result in her turning pink and coming after him for it.  Or maybe White will still try to follow out of more a compassionate reason - or just to “fix him, like she’s apparently done with so many other Gems XD - and Steven will try to keep her away.

In any case, I’m thinking that odds are that Steven will end up getting in a fight with What, and that it will end up being on Earth, at least at some point during the struggle.  If so, I tend to imagine something like this happening:

If Pink observes a fight between the two, it might be enough for the moon + sky thing to trigger in broad daylight.  If so, then the fact that there's someone on the moon who can turn the sky pink will be impossible to miss. XD  Even if it's not a fight that does it, I think odds are good that something like that will be how Pink being up there would be revealed, as well as working as a quick explanation that the moon + sky color are actually important.

If something like that does happen, then I think that White will finally fess up about messing with Gems' memories + thoughts and imprisoning Pink in the orb.  I mean... she'd basically be backed into a corner.  It also seems like she's getting to a point where she'd consider telling Steven anyway - just maybe she'd freak out and back out first, and/or the sky would beat her to it. XD;

I've also considered that maybe Steven's powers would get strong enough that he could be contacted by Pink in his dreams, anyway - they're not mutually-exclusive, so maybe both will happen?

But yeah.  There's plenty of evidence of a moon prisoner, and plenty of that evidence highly suggests that it's Pink.  I know I always say this, but I think it's time - maybe even well-past-time XD; - for Pink to be released.

A few possible roles of Pink (plus rambles)

Think about it: just about everyone that Steven knows - or is close to, at least - has been failing him in one way or another.  No one seems to know what's the best way to help him, or even fully understand just what exactly he might be going through - even White said that no one would be able to relate to him... but I don't think that's fully true.

Sure, maybe nobody could easily, and/or fully relate to the half-human thing, but I think there's a chance that, say, Lapis, Peridot and Bismuth could at least help with the "vengeful thoughts" thing.

But Pink, Pink could probably help with the powers, and maybe a few other things.  I mean, they're probably her powers - or at least a variation of them.  Heck, she may be even more powerful than Steven is. XD  If anyone could help Steven get things under control, Pink can.

Heck, maybe Pink even knows how to help calm down somebody who’s having a panic attack - or at least knows how to help Steven with his panic.  Given that nobody else seems to know about this, it seems pretty likely that it might be what Crewniverse is going for. =3  And hey... if nothing else, maybe it’s something she picked up just from watching the Earth for so long.  (I mean... if she’s really been stuck for 5,000 years, odds are that she’s picked up on a few things.  Not like she’d have an awful lot else to do, anyway. XD; )

I admit... it’d be a little extra cool to me since I’ve had the idea that it might be something that Pink would do. 83  Sort of a headcanon/fanfic idea that I never really got to or anything. XD;

But yeah, at this point, I think odds are good that Steven will more-or-less beg Pink to stay with him for awhile. XD

I mean... maybe they could ask Pink Pearl (I really don't like the name "Volleyball," sorry XD; ) about Steven’s powers, but I think she might still have too much trauma of her own over Pink's powers to really be able to help. ^_^;

...Though that said, I've suspected that White placated her, too.  If her traumas can still show through... I think odds are good that others' traumas will end up resurfacing - and thus being addressed - too. =3

...But yeah, it seems like White's MO involved making everyone just forget about things, and/or suddenly become happy. ^_^;  ...Another form of emotional neglect, I suppose.

I also it's possible that part of the reason why Steven is having trouble is because White did something to him. =/  I mean, if White really did remove whatever was left of Rose, then she may have removed an important part of Steven... and if she added something to him, it might be a big part of why he's so... unstable. -.-;

...Heck, maybe the reason why Steven's been getting white Diamond-pupils is because White did something to him. o.O  Maybe that why Steven!White has them, too, despite Spinel!White having black pupils.

At any rate, maybe the real Pink could shed some light on that, too.  ...And/or maybe White will fess up. XD;  I think the latter is much, much more likely in this case, though.

I do think that, once Pink is released, it's likely to result in a lot of chaos, on account of Gems learning that things aren't how they thought they were - just one of many reasons why I think that White has still left her in there. ^_^;  However, that said, maybe Pink could end up being a catalyst in bringing those problems to the surface, so that they can be addressed. XD;

But yeah.  Overall, I think one of her roles would be in healing... just like with Rose, Steven, and their powers.  I think she'd also be good for helping uncover the truth of what really happened, along with other things.

Could be ironic; it's Steven Universe: Future, but there might end up being a lot of looking at the past.  Granted, maybe that's the point: look to the past to better understand the future. =3

[beckybuildscosplays]

3D Printing Mega-Post (with links!)

Being a member of the maker community means I am surrounded by people who are totally in love with 3D printing. There’s no other group with whom I can have a 30 minute discussion about bed adhesion, lol. While the cosplay community is also generally supportive of the technique, every now and then I will come across somebody who thinks it is akin to cheating. Most recently it happened on a blog I really enjoy. When I read posts like that, I can only shake my head and assume that person must not really understand all the work that goes into 3D printing. Even in the best case scenario where you find a ready-to-print model and own a printer large enough to accommodate it, there is still tons of work that goes into taking a raw print from... well, a raw state to something beautiful. Hence I have decided to type up an overview of 3D printing; what it is, how it works, and all the steps it takes to create a cosplay prop. This is not a detailed tutorial; rather, it’s a high level scope of all the steps. Without further ado, here’s 3D Printing 101!

*12/20/17: Updated with new information on the latest printing technology plus even MORE links!

How does 3D printing work?

3D printing is an additive manufacturing process used to create three-dimensional objects; think of it as the opposite of sculpting where you start with a block of material and cut parts away (subtractive manufacturing). There are actually many types of 3D printing technology, but the most common for hobbyists by far is Fused Deposition Modeling—or FDM for short. In plain English, FDM means the printer head is essentially a hot glue gun that “draws” the cross-section of a model, building it up one thin layer at a time. After tens or hundreds of layers, ta-dah! You have a 3D object! You can check out this link for more info on other types of 3D printing.

The workflow for printing looks like this: find/make a 3D model, optimize that model for printing, convert it to G-code with a slicer, and send it to the printer. Once printing is complete, you need to assemble any separate parts, fill major gaps, fill/prime/sand the surface, and then paint. If any of those terms are confusing, don’t worry! I will explain them all.

Finding, Modifying, or Making a Model

Sourcing models is one of the topics where I see, “Cheater!” start to sneak in. There is a misconception that you can find just about any model you want, download, and hit print. This can be true depending on what you’re trying to build; popular cosplays like Iron Man, Halo, and Star Wars do have a plethora of models available for free, and many are already optimized for printing. Once you get outside well known characters, however, it gets much more challenging. If someone has 3D printed components in their cosplay, it’s never safe to assume the person just downloaded them.

Downloading Models

It’s always worth hunting around for the files you need even if the character isn’t well known. Even if you want to build everything from scratch, it is nice to see how someone else tackled the same challenge. There are a couple websites I like for searching for printable models:

Thingiverse: Run by Makerbot, Thingiverse is a huge collection of models designed specifically for 3D printing and all of them are free! This is where I always start my search for 3D printing files. Most come with some degree of instruction and suggested optimal print settings.

 GrabCAD: I don’t use this site as frequently for costuming since the focus is engineering, but it’s very possible to find some cosplay goodies there. Other than scaling, most models should be ready to print.

SketchFab: While this was originally a place to share 3D models, some users also make theirs available. If you need a file for printing, be sure to search through the Downloadable section. (and even if you can't download the file, a 3D reference beats 2D refs any day!)

When selecting a model, try to find something that specifies it was made for 3D printing. Otherwise, you may need to do some manual cleanup and that can be challenging. Just FYI, game models are never ready to be printed but if you want to start with them, Source Film Maker has hundreds to select from. it’s also worth Googling to see if anyone has offered ripped models for free, but be aware that these should NOT be used for profit. Steriolythography (or .STL for short) and Wavefront (.OBJ) are the two most common file types, but get an STL if you can. OBJs will often come with texture files (.mtl), but those are not needed for printing.  Aim for highest resolution you can find unless you want the low-poly look. Trust me, you don’t want to be filling in faceted planes with heaps of Bondo later.

There are a few products and processes that allow for multi color printing, but for the most part FDM machines are limited to one or two colors. If you are bound and determined to have multiple hues, you can check out Prusa’s new Multi-material upgrade, the new Da Vinci Color, or the Palatte Filament Splicer. I suspect that multi color printing is going to be one of the next major features to hit hobby printers, but for the time being most methods are either rudimentary or really expensive. It can also be fun to print with multiple materials such as combining rigid and flexible pieces, but that is best reserved for a dual extruding printer. When it comes to cosplay, I would either suggest printing in the object’s final color or preparing to paint. Even if you choose to paint, try and pick a filament color that will make sense if it is revealed through wear and tear.

Modifying Models

If something wasn’t specifically made for FDM, how do you know if it’s printable? Most commercial 3D modeling or CAD software have tools to check and correct issues with models—sometimes automatically. Unfortunately the easy-to-use, open source options in this area are a little barren but there are still ways to do it. Here are some free options for both checking and repairing  mesh issues:

MakePrintable is an online paid service, but it will let you repair a set number of models per month for free. In my experience, this is best for basic issues but it couldn’t get any easier.

Microsoft STL Repair: Similar to MakePrintable, but unlimited and free. The downside is that you have zero control in the process, and files need to be opened with Microsoft’s free 3D Builder (from there you can export as an STL).

MeshMixer: An Autodesk product that has a number of capabilities for manipulating meshes. It’s more complex than MakePrintable and Microsoft 3D printing, but you have way more options.

Meshlab: Ah, Meshlab. This program has been around for a long time, and in many ways it is incredibly capable. Unfortunately, it’s also somewhat unstable and has bad documentation, so tutorials are hard to find.

Blender: A popular open source 3D modeling program, Blender also has a 3D printing add-on with some mesh analysis tools. This is the most robust option I have tried, but Blender has a steep learning curve and it can be intimidating for newbies.

Making Models

There is a good chance that you won’t be able to find ready-to-print files, so you might need to heavily mod or even make your own from scratch. Unfortunately, you will need to jump into 3D modeling software to make this happen. There are two major categories of software types: engineering (computer assisted drafting, or CAD for short) and artistic. In a nutshell, CAD is usually meant for objects (cars, wrenches, buildings, etc) and offers tight control over dimensions, surfaces, and shapes. Artistic software can be used for just about anything from trees to characters to spaceships, but it can be more challenging to make precise mechanical objects. I use both depending on what I need to create. There are actually a ton of free 3D modeling tools, so I will list the ones I have experience with and can recommend.

TinkerCAD: This is probably one of the most popular free CAD programs, and for good reason. It’s browser-based and very intuitive to use, thus it has become popular in schools. The entire thing revolves around building objects out of primitives, so if you need something complex it might take a little creativity to get there. TinkerCAD also has its own library of downloadable objects and it can export items for 3D printing (or even send them to a printing service!).

Google Sketchup: Available in both free and paid versions, SketchUp is a lot more complex than TinkerCAD but still very approachable. For some reason, it would drive my professors nuts when anyone used this software for homework. Be sure to check out the hefty list of extensions as they can significantly increase the program’s capabilities.

Autodesk Fusion 360: I will admit that I haven’t used this one very much, but it has been getting very popular very quickly. Fusion 360 is a fully-featured, professional CAD program meant for industry use, but it is available for free to students, startups, and hobbyists. If you want to grab the bull by the horns and work with  maximum potential, get this software. It can be intimidating for someone who has never set foot in CAD before, but it is one of the most approachable fully featured CAD suites I have ever seen.

Sculptris: And now for something completely different! Sculptris is the baby brother of Z-brush, an industry standard software for digital sculpting. It’s actually very capable, and if you need to model something organic or CAD just isn’t making sense, give Sculptris a whirl.

MeshMixer: MeshMixer’s site calls itself, “a Swiss Army Knife for 3D meshes,” and that’s pretty accurate. It has some CAD capabilities mixed in with artistic tools and a few unique things to boot. It’s reasonably easy to use, although there could be more tutorial support in my opinion.

Blender: Ah, good ole’ Blender. Completely free now and forever (unlike many Autodesk programs), it’s the most capable and robust open source software I have ever used. Blender is definitely on the artistic side although it has add-ons that make CAD a little less painful. The major downside is the interface; simply put, Blender is incredibly unintuitive. Thankfully, Youtube has tons of high quality tutorials to get you started.

Slicing 

Once you finally have a printable model in your possession, it’s time to send it to a 3D printer. If you are using a 3D printing service, congratulations! You can send them your model and call it a day. The rest of us will need to use a Slicer. Remember how the printer moves a hot glue gun around to draw a shape? Well, the computer needs to tell the printer head where to move, how fast to move there, and when to start and stop drawing. It uses a language called G-code to do this. A slicer’s job is to convert a 3D model into G-code so the printer knows what to do. 

I use a free slicer called Cura from Ultimaker, but Slic3r and Repetier Host are popular options too (although more advanced). If you want ultimate control, cutting edge features, and don’t mind paying for it, Simplify 3D is considered the best slicer on the market. Cura is my slicer of choice due to its friendly interface. In the photo above, you can see how it has made layers out of a model (hence the name “slicer”). 

The first thing to do will be properly scaling your print. Cura assumes your units are millimeters by default, so you may need to convert to your original modeling unit (inches, my my case). Unless you are printing a small prop or have a very large printer, your parts will probably be too big to fit on the print bed. If this is the case, return to your modeling software and split into smaller pieces. 

When it comes to 3d printers, you get what you pay for. The more expensive models ($1500+) offer the closest thing you can get to plug-and-play experience, but even they will have failed prints, clogged extruders, and other common issues every now and then. The rest will need some degree of hand-holding. It took me about a week to get my $200 Monoprice Select Mini printing to the best of its ability, and that involved a lot of fiddling in Cura and 18 test prints. Spend some time optimizing your software for the fastest, highest quality prints; you’ll be grateful you did once you get to the sanding phase.

Update: After 10 months of regular, reliable performance, the board on my Monoprice Mini has died. At $160, I definitely got my money’s worth and other users have had theirs much longer. I am upgrading to a Prusa i3 MK3 kit, but I would still recommend the Select Mini v2 as a good gateway machine.

Printing

With your slicer ready to export G-Code, now is the time to set up your printer! A 3D printer’s “ink” is spools of plastic string called filament. There is a variety of plastics to choose from, but Polylactic Acid (PLA) and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene  (ABS) are the most common. PLA is cheap, readily available in many colors, and is made from plant starch. For most people, it’s the go-to choice but it is not the strongest material. ABS can provide better structural integrity, but it’s a little more finicky to print and the fumes are noxious and require ventilation. This link has a good summary on various types of filament on the market.

If you search Amazon or Google for 3D printing filament, you will get approximately 82376483456978938 results. Be sure that you are searching for the proper diameter filament; most printers are 1.75mm, but some are 2.85-3.0mm. Reliable brands of PLA that I have worked with are Hatchbox, Matterhackers, ProtoPasta, and ColorFabb. Be wary of no-name brands off places like Ebay or Amazon; not all filaments are created equally and I have definitely wasted money trying to be thrifty on Amazon. 

With your filament loaded in the printer, it can be a good idea to extrude some and make sure everything is working properly. Next, verify you set the proper export settings in the slicing software. Different plastics need different speeds and temperatures, and often the packaging will give you a good suggestion. When all is ready, slice the model and send the G-code to your printer!

I always stick around to watch the first few layers of my print because most mistakes happen at that point. Bed adhesion in particular can be troublesome. My solution of choice for PLA is a layer of blue painter’s tape with a light misting of hair spray. Others have used glue sticks, but that didn’t work well for me. If you notice any problems, pause immediately and try to fix the issue. A small clog can turn into a major problem if plastic goops all over your extruder. 

When the print is done, it can be tempting to pull the model off the bed but have a little patience! The plastic can warp while it is still warm, plus your printer will still be hot. Let it cool down slightly, then pop it off the bed. 

Surfacing

Now comes the tedious part! First of all, remove any supports (or if you have a dual extruding printer, dissolve support filament) with pliers. Depending on the support type, a box knife or X-acto can be handy. I have also heard that deburring tools are handy for this. Next, assemble separate parts with glue. CA or epoxy are good choices, or you can get fancy with friction welding. If you printed with ABS, acetone can help glue pieces together and even smooth your model. 

Next you will need to fill any major gaps such as those found along seams or where errors may have occurred in the print. Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty is a popular option for large holes and epoxy can be used as well. You can also use wood filler although I would reserve this for parts that will not be subject to a lot of handing or strain as it can be a little brittle. 

Now you have to do something about all those layers. 

Your options are sanding, smoothing, or a combination of the two. In the past I have wet sanded the plastic starting from 120, 220, and 400 grit wetdry sand paper. The “wet dry” part is important because PLA will heat quickly from friction and then you have to wait for it to cool again. If I wanted the plastic to show, then I would take it to 1000 grit or even a bit higher. 220 is the minimum for a matte appearance and slightly rough feel whereas 1000 starts to approach injection molded plastic. Bear in mind that dark filaments will show scratches and need sanding at finer grits to look clean. If you intend to paint, 400 grit paper is high enough. Then you will need to spray your model with primer. Allow to thoroughly dry (no longer cold to the touch) and sand with 600 or 800 grit paper. Reapply primer and continue sanding until you are satisfied with the surface. I have found 3 or 4 coats to be sufficient. Paint will hide very few defects, so you can’t take shortcuts with this step. 

You can circumvent some obnoxious sanding by filling the layers first. Automotive filler primer works wonderfully although the fumes are terrible and it will need be to used in a well-ventilated area. Filler primer is much thicker than normal primer and with enough coats, it will fill in all those grooves. I found that 3-4 light coats built up a good base to start sanding, and then another 3 coats with sanding between each application gave an excellent finish. This might sound tedious (and it is, to be honest) but the primer sands much easier than PLA. I was satisfied with the finish 220 grit sandpaper provided. 

I have heard that CA glue is also good for filling grooves, and Smooth-On makes a self-leveling product called XTC-3D that you paint over your model. I haven’t tried either of these, but they get good feedback from others. Finally, if you have printed in ABS you can try vapor smoothing your part; just be careful playing with acetone, and don’t do it too long or you’ll melt your piece. 

Now with all that said, my experience with finishing 3D prints was with the intention of creating a production-quality model (aka something that looked like you bought brand new it from the store). Every print needed to be practically flawless when viewed at close range. For cosplay, this is unnecessary. Nobody is going to hyper-analyse your work from inches away; rather, you can rely on the 10 foot rule. Also, weathering will hide many defects 

Focus your efforts on pieces that will show the most. For Soldier 76, this means I will be spending many hours making his mask smooth and pristine, but I’m not even going to paint the brackets on his boots. 

Painting

Now you are on to the last step! Unless you wish to control texture through brush strokes, I always recommend spray painting or airbrushing. Rattle cans are available in a myriad of colors these days, but if you have an airbrush they are handy for detailed work. I had a professor who wouldn’t let a can of Rustoleum in his classroom and demanded we use Krylon, so I guess you should also use Krylon? The artists I know who use spray paint swear by the Montana brand, and they have a huge range of colors to select from.

Anyway, all your spray painting should be done outside or in an area with plenty of ventilation. I always wear a dust mask--not because I’m worried about paint fumes (dust masks don’t stop fumes anyway)--but because I don’t want to breath in teeny paint particles. Even if paint is non-toxic, it doesn’t belong in your lungs. I also like to tape down a huge backdrop so I don’t get any over-spray surprises. Your coats of paint should be incredibly light, almost like dusting the model with pigment. It will take many coats, but the slow buildup guarantees even application. I promise the effort is worth it, plus thin coats of paint dry quickly anyway. 

Sealing 

Last step! I have always used rattle can clear coats to seal my models. This step should not be skipped because your paint job can be marred very easily, but the sealer will help protect it. Always, always, always use the same brand of sealant as your paint or test on scraps first. I cannot reiterate this enough; not all products will get along together, and nothing ruins your week (or month) quite like destroying a detailed paint job. If your model will be going through a lot of wear and tear, you may consider coating it in clear resin for durability. 

Conclusion

So as you can see, there is a LOT more work to 3D printing besides downloading and hitting print. I didn’t even go into detail and the post is huge. Any of these topics will have more information if you search on Youtube or Google, plus my Ask is always open. I hope this helps somebody!

[horrorbutgay]

NDRV3 Demo Analysis w/ Full Game Spoilers!

(My friend Elfi/Apri made this and jesus fuck shes a fucking genius please love her)

First off, let me mention that I immediately went into sleuthing mode while I was playing the demo for about 4h (both English and Japanese), because I'm aware that even DR demos have a decent difficulty level to its case writing (judging by suspicion not necessarily incriminating Hifumi The Harmless in the demo until the manga came into the picture with the full story) and this demo seemed too easy if you don't give it some proper thought like most of the unspoiled fandom is still not used to doing. From what I managed to piece together with the clues shattered throughout the demo and based on the knowledge of the full game's content, I'm convinced Naegi is the correct culprit vote like we all thought, BUT (huge but) paying attention and giving it some thought grant you the speculation that he could've actually had an accomplice outside of the protagonist room. And that accomplice is no less than the scheming mastermind of the game: Shirogane Shirogane Tsumukweeeen. (Yes, that Despair Arc dub meme never gets old) Let me start my explanation with the clarification that this demo is clearly another in-universe promotional method for V3 like the Maki, Kaito and Ki-Bo poster. It's like a popular show treating its fanbase with the kind of sneak peek preview to let them know what to expect. I also want to clarify that people were indeed able to enter the protagonist room before the gym announcement, because how else would you explain Tojo being able to clean the whole dormitory? This leads me to the conclusion that Tojo likely got her hands onto a master key from Monokuma with Tsumugi's aid and she locked the doors of all the rooms after cleaning them. Yes, Hoshi was there too, but so was Yumeno for a bit and that still doesn't mean they entered the dormitory later. Considering how Ultimate Dedication Kirumi is able to afford wasting time on introducing herself if she was supposedly in the middle of cleaning when you just arrive at the dorm, it's quite safe to assume the job was already done at that point and that is why the protag room is already locked if you do try to open it before going to the gym. In fact, all the rooms are locked. Kaede clearly was the last student to wake up, and Tsumugi being the only one with the ability to confirm Kirumi's alibi - despite Hoshi and Yumeno presumably being at the dorm as well - is a major hint that the clean-up was pretty much done waaay before you awoke, got past all the other students from the AV Room onwards to the dorm, and finally listened to the introduction of those three. I say three because I honestly think Yumeno was in the kitchen at first and only appeared in the dorms once the body discovery announcement was made. Anyway, Kirumi obviously locked the doors for safety and privacy measures once the clean-up was done. I believe Hagakure's "corpse" was already in Kaede's bathroom at this point, and here's why Tojo probably neglected to inspect and clean ALL of the bathrooms: As someone who comes off on the surface as a trustworthy and supportive person, not to mention that she acts as a huge fan of a maid's work, Kirumi is inclined to believe her if Tsumugi simply insists for example that Monokuma told her that all the bathrooms were taken extra care of to be spotless. As I've established, there is no breathing room for the player after the gym announcement, so Tsumugi had to be the only character present while Kirumi was cleaning the dormitory. Because she simply admires Kirumi's work as a maid due to how much of a geek she is, so she had to keep watching and this doesn't seem suspicious to you at all without fullgame spoilers because they always made Tsumugi out to be a bland motherly "heart on her sleeve" nerd type of girl. It is entirely understandable that Tsumugi - as the MM getting her lifetime dream of a writer debut on TDR come true - wants the killing game to start as fast as possible, and this is emphasized in the full game by how she gives them a two days time limit right off the bat to commit a murder or else they'll all be mass murdered. In the full game, this doesn't work out so well and she doesn't like how Kaede gets so well along with Amami in that bonus scene (explaining why Kaede believes in his innocence to be the MM in Case 1) without even knowing about his impressive SHSL Survivor status as the only survivor of V2. And Rantarou also turns out to be better at nail painting than the Ultimate Cosplayer thanks to living with twelve sisters at home, making her outraged with jealousy. To push her over the edge, time is running out and a mass execution would be a boring and way too quick end for the season, which would affect the ratings. She can't allow that, so she goes with the two characters she passionately dislikes so far to get them out of the picture and continue the show. Arguably, she would've even been fine with any vote that wasn't her because the MM being executed would also end the show too early. Kaede and Saihara were the prime suspects, so even though she framed Kaede for also trying her hardest to expose her due to the same reasoning and she conveniently set a death trap with a similar method to how she decided to kill Rantarou (remember, the heavy iron balls were in the warehouse available for anyone to grab), Saihara would have been fine too. Kaede works better though, because she is legitimately convinced of her guilt. Shadowing her as the demo first culprit is a nice nod to the full version and it makes perfect sense in context, and I'll explain why right now. No, sadly enough, there are no chances of that but that info is (preferably?) not spread through the fandom and only on the wiki. Turns out that when you enter Amami's research faculty, you discover a recording of himself before the memory manipulation process (there's a vast difference with that and brainwashing :')) in which he reveals that he is from the previous killing game and he was the only survivor there. That likely makes him more worthy of the SHSL Survivor status in the fanbase's eyes. Especially Tsumugi lmao She's a full-on critic Anyway, I liked clearing that up for the people here, but now onwards. I'm almost 100% sure that Kirumi would vaguely hint towards this exchange of words happening between her and Tsumugi if the player voluntarily approaches her after she decides to stay behind with Hajime, but that's something I'd have to check with a replay. Hajime and Makoto actually being in the demo/in-universe preview episode is also a great treat to hardcore fan Tsumugi. Especially Makoto, the protagonist of her favorite cast. We already established before that Tsumugi is going back to the original and she wanted to recreate the DR1 cast & killing game whilst simultaneously criticizing the flaws of her favorite game/season (the reality tv killing game started with reboots of the original fictional material with real actors, as evidenced by the collage sequence if you manage to read through all of them.)(edited) I initially thought of them possibly being Tsumugi's cosplays, but that ended up being too far-fetched for my taste and some of the 53 seasons do involve aforementioned reboots of originally fictional source material. It's just a little too fastly skipped on in the collage for the most part after the first ten entries.(edited) And just who from the cast do you think even Tsumugi would detest despite being a DR1 stan? That's right: Yasuhiro Hagakure. This passionate hatred is even further emphasized by there not being a Hagakure parallel in her fanfiction. She likes her casts well-rounded. But that doesn't explain the revealed fake death at the end, so let me continue my theory. Tsumugi invited Hajime, Makoto and Hagakure along to the live preview of her writing and acting debut on Team Danganronpa. Because she arranged the perfect protagonist who's like no other and ideal to keep milking the series, on top of that that person is also female, the actors for the OC leads (who obviously also survived in their portion of a reality tv killing game to stay faithful to the omnipresent motto of keeping the MCs alive, despite the vast differences in the rest of the  survivor sets for DR1 and 2 which I'll tackle in a bit) are brought back to their roles to guide Kaede and introduce the nostalgia Tsumugi is going to include in the upcoming season. Ah, and before anyone comes up with a "Rantarou" rebuttal for the sake of completing the DR1 parallel, keep in mind that his personality mainly stems from the previous season and there are some characters (like Gonta) that even Kodaka admitted he has never written before because Tsumugi managed to give a sense of uniqueness to the cast.(edited) And the remaining students also managed to drift apart from the character arcs she so thoroughly planned for them, but that's meta for another day. Remember the "fake" AU leaks that I eventually explained to be V3's version of the (either tv or game) outcome for the events for 1 and 2 in their universe? Well, Hagakure dies in that. Probably also the first victim, explaining Monokuma's fourth wall breaking comment that this is actually his second time dying. It's a double-sided statement that you won't catch up on if you haven't practically finished the game. His character was basically recycled with a look-alike actor in order to fool the audience with that pretense of Danganronpa just being a cool TV show (more on that in that ending meta I plan to discuss here some time) - I assume they do this with all previews of new seasons once the audience started doing some digging on the real people behind their beloved characters or perhaps the real names were initially not even included in the credits (like when they did the reboots) until they started with new storylines to not run out of ideas, keep profiting and take the thrill a step further) - and because he therefore wouldn't have experience with acting like Hagakure, Tsumugi left him out of the preview until it was time for his body discovery. Being the comic relief character he is supposed to be, Hagakure's actor was fortunate to be able to be used as a fake death with the plot convenience of Ultimate Detective not entering the crime scene in the demo. All this clearly explains the black screen ending scenario where the returning characters all wonder if their acting was good, and Hagakure suddenly rushing in to reveal it was a fake death. TDR is teasing and deceiving you, the unspoiled viewer anticipating their announced renewal for another season, because deception is what it's all about with V3's Truth vs Lies theme. A neat manner to let the world know what to expect. TDR probably also uses these previews to test the results of the memory manipulation used on the cast and the audience's reaction on seeing this cast in action. The company wants to know if Tsumugi's adjustments are sufficient or if there's anything left to mold their personalities for in order to appeal the whole cast to the audience, explaining the pleasant surprises like Tenko initially being hyped up as the discourse character yet actually being the most morally good female of the cast. Seriously, the best part about V3 is that it all (even the promotion) comes full-circle if you give it some proper thought. The entry is filled with a never-ending cycle of full-circle moments which are able to blow your mind when you finally connect that cycle. Spoiling, fourth-wall-breaking game promotion before the game is even out. It's incredible how far they planned ahead, honestly Anyway, let's continue. There's some necessary details left to make the full picture. So basically, Tsumugi arranged this whole scenario with the three of them, and considering how safe it is to assume how passionately Tsumugi despises Hagakure, they might as well have even had to resort to a compromise to give Hagakure's nobody actor a planned fake death as long as Tsumugi makes sure nobody enters the protagonist room. The fake crime scene they set up must not be exposed. There's obviously frozen blood bags in TDR's various morgues from all the reality tv killing games, so they used the dead Hagakure's blood to shroud the new actor in. This is all done to make the timing so fresh and in case they cannot prevent the Ultimate Detective from investigating the crime scene. Saihara would definitely catch up on fake blood, after all. You can supply blood in a fresh manner by sustaining them in frozen blood bags. Common scientific knowledge. And it makes sense to supply their blood because TDR started these behind-the-scenes kidnappings and schemes up with running out of ideas and the reality TV reboots of their original source material. No way would the ratings - which are so important to them because they're making a good living off of this show and it can't end in their eyes - stay unaffected by a simple reboot, hence the new survivor sets that I will headcanon as being part of the TV reboot from now on. This indicates that they kept the strengths of the original entries, but they twisted the story of the games like we already were informed of by Tsumugi. They're greedy and huge perfectionists, so those previously fictional characters really had to be brought to life. That's where the development of the futuristic technology comes in. More on TDR specifically in my ending meta though! :P Well then, let's further detail how this off-screen plan worked so well in case the realization is not hitting someone yet. The knife is actually just twisted in a gaping hole from his shirt being stabbed in his abdomen non-fatally, so I suppose it makes sense that it looks so real once he plays dead and they add real blood on him. Implying that the fandom or the in-universe audience will spend that much doubt to it with how legit it looks, but Saihara definitely would inspect the corpse more as it's his duty. It's a huge plot convenience that Saihara does not bother to do so, likely because he's already made up his mind on who the culprit is like all of us did from the start: Naegi Makoto. And while he is not exactly wrong, he's dense to the major foreshadowing of an accomplice due to a lack of evidence. A nice mirror to the real first case. Tsumugi truly is a master puppeteer, and I still view her as a controlfreak because the term means that she is obsessed with maintaining her control of something. And that is emphasized in the game multiple times once Monodam, Angie and Korekiyo turn the planned pattern for the killing game around in chapter 3 and so onwards. Back to the demo: after the preparation process is done, Hagakure is left alone in the bathroom waiting for his scene to act like a corpse, not allowed to make a noise.(edited) Tsumugi and Makoto split up; former approaches Kirumi to start cleaning as soon as possible (probably convincing Monokuma to give the SHSL Maid a master key) in order to avoid anyone meeting Hagakure; the latter goes to check on Kaede in the AV Room in order to continue the plan "smoothly" as he mentions later in the class trial. Wanna know why he had to part ways with Kaede when all the students are demanded to go to the gym? It's simple when you've gotten this far. Since Tsumugi cannot possibly ignore this order from Monokuma and come out of the shadows with her real personality, Makoto is the one who needs to proceed with the last phase of the plan: splashing the actor playing dead in freshly kept blood from the frozen blood bag for his original predecessor. Hagakura is the one who got the kitchen knife and might as well have been the one to non-fatally stab himself, but that's just a small detail and it makes sense that the cast without the detective (thus inexperienced with murder cases) would legitimately assume his death to be for real just upon the sight of a drenched murder weapon and the excessive amount of fresh blood.(edited) And this is exactly why the blood confirms the time of death being a few minutes ago when they were all at the gym. Lastly, this also explains Makoto's hair dropping at the crime scene. Stuff like that commonly happens, especially when you're in a rush and they probably had to fake a convincing struggle in the short period of time they had. He was obviously able to access the room because he was the first one to receive the keys due to likely being the only person not to be infected with sleeping gas alongside Hagakure.(edited) I can't connect where Hajime's part comes in though, so maybe he wasn't involved - which I can understand cuz a fangirl prefers cooperating and interacting with her favorites - or perhaps his only contribution was (unknowingly of Tsumugi's elaborate scheme) aiding Tsumugi and Kirumi with his confidence and experience in order to convince Monokuma to hand over that master key for the maid to do her job. I really believe Hajime's actor was kept in the dark because unlike a personified Naegi, the personified Hajime wouldn't be lured to a route as corrupt as the former took by being willing to do anything to keep living off of TDR's unquestionably high salary if you survive AND return to the show. No, this actor only thought he was hired again for nostalgia's sake, because that's what we all assumed as well. And Hajime was the most intended as a returning lead to guide Kaede on the road of leading her group and passing the leadership onto her, despite not being her instructor like Naegi but that's all according to plan, of course. This is my demo headcanon. This is my conclusive interpretation of the demo

[sarahw-world]

My first fanfic: A Dark Heart

Chapter 12: A New Intergalactic Order                         

Summary:          

Bulma and her friends discover a new planet, its people and quite a few things about Vegeta's new life...

Will he be there?

             But we must kill them.  

We must incinerate them.  

Pig after pig.                          

Cow after cow.  

Village after village.  

Army after army.  

And they call me an assassin.  

What do you call it, when the assassins accuse the assassin?  

They lie.  

They lie and we have to be merciful, for those who lie.  

Those nabobs.

I hate them.  I really hate them."

[Colonel Kurtz; “Apocalypse Now”]

Yamcha finished getting dressed in his tiny cabin, making sure he would be protected from the harsh weather they were about to face, and he double checked that the belt Bulma have given him was secure underneath his warm clothes.

She really was amazing, wasn’t she? The woman had certainly come prepared for this trip, especially considering it had only taken her about two weeks to prepare for it. Not only had she built a new ship, with the help of his father and a few trustworthy members of Capsule Corporation, but she’d also been extremely foresighted and she’d taken the time to create three belts, one for each of the passengers of the ship, which contained tiny capsules full of food, clean water, medical supplies, a few different types of Capsule Corp. vehicles and clothes suitable for every single kind of weather they might encounter during their new adventure. The capsules were tiny, about half the size of a regular one, and Bulma had commented that they were a new model, entirely her invention, that hadn’t even gone into full production yet because the costs of manufacture were still too high and she didn’t think they would be a profitable product until they found a way to make them more affordable to the general public.

His ex-lover truly was brilliant.

The warrior sighed, shaking his head, knowing where this train of thought would lead him. He had to admit, this trip hadn’t been as easy as he’d thought it would be.

Back in the lab, as he’d held her and basically forced her to allow him to accompany her in this odyssey, he’d truly felt that he’d finally achieved some kind of closure from their past together. But now, he wasn’t so sure anymore. He knew that he’d never attempt to pursue her again, and he really hoped she’d be able to find Vegeta and convince him to give their relationship a shot, but he couldn’t help some of the images that went through his mind when she was near him…

Spending time with her in a closed space hadn’t helped either. Every damn day he was surrounded by her scent, her smile, her soothing words of encouragement, her cooking, that had actually gotten better than it used to be, and of course, her beauty. He’d often catch her standing in front of the main window of the space ship, her tiny shivering body wrapped in that blue blanket, lost in thought, with a slight concerned frown and those pink pouty lips he’d been fortunate enough to kiss so long ago, and he wondered what went on inside that girly but complex mind of hers.

Yamcha shook his head again, telling himself that if that fool didn’t want her back he’d kick his ass.

“Lucky bastard” he mumbled frustratingly as he exited his cabin and he walked towards the main living area, where Krillin and Bulma were already waiting for him.

“There you are!” she said cheerfully, although he could tell she was simply trying to hide her anxieties. She softly patted the couch, asking him to sit down next to her, and he complied.

“Is everything alright?” she asked.

“Uh? Um, yeah…” he replied in confusion.

“I mean the clothes, silly! Do they fit you well? Are they warm enough?”

“Sure!” he honestly replied. “They’re very warm, but light at the same time. You’re really talented, as usual…”

She gave him that Bulma Briefs cocky grin of hers…

“Well, of course! I am a genius, after all!”

He mockingly rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah… Anyway, are we all ready to go? Do you have all the information you needed before we land?”

“I think so…” she replied, her cute face getting serious, meaning that they were about to discuss things of great importance. She held a few documents she’d just printed, no doubt the results of the tests she’d been running ever since they’d reached the planet. The blue haired woman had wisely decided not to land until she was able to find out as much as she could about the planet they were about to visit. As a result, they’d been orbiting it for about two hours, as her computers worked their magic and gathered as much knowledge about it as they could.

“Alright, boys! This is what we know…” she said as she went through her notes. “As you can see, most of the planet is white, and just as I suspected, the white substance is ice, apparently with the same composition as Earth’s water. The air is also constituted of the same elements as the one from our home planet, which means that it’s breathable and it shouldn’t give us any trouble. Mmmm… Let’s see what else… Oh! Here. OK, most of the planet seems to be unpopulated; I’ve only discovered two zones where there seem to be some villages. They appear to be small, and I’ve also detected a few really large hangars near the villages.” She stopped, frowning… “I guess… Maybe they could be some kind of factories? Perhaps? I mean… The weather seems to be pretty harsh in here, so I’m guessing these people don’t make a living from something like agriculture… By the way, can you feel their kis? Are the inhabitants strong?” she asked the two men.

“It’s hard to tell, Bulma”, Krillin said, shaking his head. “I mean… I can feel quite a few kis on the planet, but we’re still too far to know for sure… Also, they could be like us and know how to hide their energy levels… We won’t know for sure until we land”.

She nodded, disappointment written on her face. Landing on that planet without knowing what to expect wasn’t exactly safe, but really, what other choice did they have? Go back home because they were scared? No fucking way. Not without her Saiyan Prince.

“I’m sorry, Bulma…” Krillin said, realizing that the scientist looked somewhat agitated.

“It’s fine, Krillin. It’s not your fault…” she grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently. “I… I wanna thank you guys… Whatever happens down there, you don’t know how much it means to me to have you two here with me…” she smiled, looking at both men.

The warriors looked at each other. Humble, grateful Bulma was certainly something they hadn’t witnessed very often, and they couldn’t help but being surprised.

“You don’t have to thank us” Yamcha replied, putting his hand on her shoulder. “That’s what friends are for… It’s gonna be alright, you’ll see…”

Bulma smiled, swallowing a lump in her throat. No. Bulma Briefs wasn’t going to get emotional. Not today, anyway.

“Well…” she continued after taking a minute to compose herself. “As you already know, we haven’t received any signal from Vegeta’s ship for the last couple of days… This could mean two things…” she stopped, taking a deep breath. “He’s either on the planet and he encapsulated the ship or… Or he’s left the planet with the ship and we can’t receive the signal anymore for whatever reason…”

Bulma suddenly stopped talking, knowing full well there was a third reason: the possibility that Vegeta’s ship had been destroyed and that something bad had happened to him, but she didn’t even want to think about it, so she decided to keep that fear to herself.

“Even if he isn’t in there, Bulma, I’m sure we’ll get some info on him, I mean… He spent at least six days on this planet, right?” Yamcha said cautiously, reading her face like an open book, knowing full well the woman knew something bad could have happened to the Saiyan.

She nodded again.

“Let’s hope the people here are friendly…” she whispered distractedly…

There was silence in the room, until Bulma came back to the present.

“Anyway... These are my plans: we land close to the smallest village, since it would be less risky having to face a smaller amount of people, in case they’re hostile, but far enough that we don’t make a spectacle of ourselves, I mean… This ship can be a bit loud when it lands, and I have to say, I’m not sure how landing on a surface full of ice will work out… If anything bad happens, I have tools and spare parts in one of the capsules in my belt, in case I have to make some emergency repairs…”

Both men nodded in approval.

“It sounds like a plan…” Krillin replied.

“I also think it’s better that we just walk into the village, trying to blend in as much as we can… By the way guys, we will not, under any circumstances, tell anyone where we come from. We don’t want to put our planet and friends at risk, right?”

‘Or our children’ she anxiously thought…

“Absolutely” Yamcha said in complete agreement.

“Then, I think we’re ready… Everyone, take your seats and get ready for a rough landing!” Bulma said, her voice full of newfound determination.

They all walked towards their seats, with the scientist sitting at the pilot’s one, they fastened their seat belts and they proceeded to approach the planet, Bulma typing the landing coordinates on the computer system…

*********************************************

As it turned out, the landing hadn’t been as bumpy as the blue haired genius had expected, and she’d managed to land quite gracefully over the slippery grounds of the planet without damaging the space ship in the slightest.

The three passengers stood up, Bulma’s legs a bit wobbly from the landing, and Yamcha held her arm in order to steady her.

“Are you OK?” he asked with concern in his voice.

“Y-Yeah… I’m fine. Thanks babe!” she replied, trying to hide the nervousness from her voice.

Krillin approached them.

“Alright guys. Let’s do this!” he said resolutely as he opened the gate of the ship. He waited until Yamcha and Bulma were standing next to him, and then the three of them exited the vehicle.

A rush of extremely cold air hit their faces, making the woman flinch, and her ex-boyfriend couldn’t help but feel worried about how difficult it would be for her to handle the harsh environment they were about to deal with. He held her hand, helping her to descend from the ship’s slippery walkway. She grabbed it, gratefully, and she didn’t let go until she reached the ground, taking a deep breath of relief and flashing him a bright smile.

“Thank you, Yamcha.”

The scarred faced warrior nodded, unable to hide the hint of a blush from his face.

“No problem… Boy! It sure is cold in here! I think we should wear those hats you’ve given us, uh? We don’t want our ears to freeze!”

She nodded, putting her cozy wool hat on as both men did the same.

Bulma walked towards the side of the ship and she pushed a button, effectively encapsulating it and safely keeping it inside of one of her zipped pockets.

“So… Do you guys sense any kis? Where’s the village?”

Krillin frowned in concentration.

“This way”, he said pointing to their right. “I’d say it’s not very far, but we probably should fly a little so that we don’t freeze our asses off!”

Yamcha held Bulma in his arms and the three comrades flew towards the nearest village, which they reached about ten minutes later. Just as they were about to enter it, Bulma asked Yamcha to put her down so they’d be able to walk in without drawing too much attention to themselves.

The Earthlings walked, side by side, curiously looking around them and realizing there wasn’t much to see. In the distance, they witnessed the few large hangars Bulma had talked about back before they’d landed, but they really couldn’t see what was inside of them.

As they slowly started to reach the village, they finally saw some people, walking in different directions. They all seemed to belong to the same race, and they looked humanoid, with light blue skin, burgundy hair and large yellow-green eyes. Despite the obvious difference in their appearance, nobody seemed to really pay much attention to them, and they walked past them minding their own business. Bulma couldn’t hide her relief as she realized the inhabitants of this frozen world seemed to be peaceful individuals.

“Well guys, either these people are really good at hiding their power levels, or they’re all even weaker than Bulma…” Krillin finally said.

“Ha! Ha!” Bulma said, laughing sarcastically at his friend’s comment.

Krillin smirked.

“Aww, Bulma! Don’t be like that! This is actually good news, right? That means your friends are the strongest people on the plan…”

Krillin suddenly stopped talking and walking, deeply shocked by the image in front of him. He looked at his friends and he realized they’d both stopped walking too, staring dumbfounded at the new scenario.

They’d finally entered the village, and they stood on what seemed to be the central square of the small town. In the middle, the villagers worked together placing large bundles on what appeared to be something similar to Earth’s primitive carriages. One of the bundles opened a little, allowing them to see what was inside of it.

A hand.

A dirty, bloody hand.

“Oh, Dende…” the scientist whispered in shock.

“Bulma, perhaps you shouldn’t look at this…” Yamcha said, suddenly feeling like the carnage would be too much for the fragile woman to take.

“It’s OK, Yamcha, really…” she replied softly, unable to take her eyes off the image in front of her.

As they tried to absorb all the details of this new situation, attempting to make some sense of it, they didn’t realize that someone was carefully approaching them.

“Excuse me, Miss…” a shy voice said, and Bulma looked in front of her, realizing a little girl was standing right there.

The child cleared her throat timidly and she asked another question.

“Is… Um… Is your hair blue, Miss?”

The woman blinked in confusion, surprised about being asked that question. Of course her hair was blue! Wasn’t that obvious? And then she realized that most of her hair was covered by her wool hat, and she nodded.

“That is correct. My hair is blue” she replied kindly.

The little girl’s eyes suddenly widened and she smiled.

“Wait here!” she yelled as she run towards a group of people that was standing in front of one of the houses in the square.

“What the hell was all that about?” Krillin asked.

Bulma crossed her arms, squinting as she looked at the group of people the kid was running towards.

“I have no idea…” she said, puzzled, wondering what exactly was going on in this planet…

The three earthlings saw the child reach a small group of women and hold the hand of one of them in particular, an older woman; the girl whispered something in her ear and the old lady looked around her until she finally set her eyes on Bulma. She tilted her head to the left, she asked the child something and, after the kid replied to her, she nodded and she proceeded to walk towards the new visitors.

The child was holding the lady’s hand, slowing down her pace so that the older woman could comfortably follow her, and as both females got closer and closer, the scientist realized a lot of the villagers were now staring at the travelers and whispering to each other.

“I don’t like this…” Yamcha said in a low voice.

“Ssshhh… Yamcha, let’s wait and see what is happening here…” Bulma said, trying to remain calm and to appear confident. She could hear the child saying “I think that’s her, grandma!”

The older lady finally reached her and she stood in front of them, trying to catch her breath for a few seconds. Then, she finally addressed them.

“Bulma? Bulma Briefs?” she asked politely.

“Um… Uh, who are you?” the heiress warily asked, amazed that someone in here knew who she was.

“Oh, excuse me, Miss. Where are my manners?” The lady replied embarrassed. “My name is Khalla and this is my granddaughter, Ellah”, she said pointing at the little girl.

“Nice to meet you, ladies. You are correct, I am Bulma Briefs… May I ask how do you know my name?”

“We’ve been expecting you for the past two days”.

“Expecting us?” Yamcha suddenly questioned.

“Not all of you, young man. We were expecting her”, she clarified, pointing towards Bulma.

“But, how…? What…?” Bulma asked confused.

“Lord Vegeta. He left something for you, and he made me its custodian until your arrival.”

The blue haired woman’s eyes widened in shock, and she looked as if she was going to faint any minute…

“L-Lord Vegeta?” she whispered.

“Holy shit…” Krillin murmured…

Khalla nodded and she cautiously looked around her, noticing that the entire village was now paying attention to the new visitors.

“Yes, Lord Vegeta. If you don’t mind, it’s better if we discuss things privately. Our people are harmless, I can assure you, but I get the feeling that you’ll want some discretion, am I correct?”

Bulma looked at the boys questioningly. She got the feeling that the lady’s intentions were honest, buy she still wanted the opinion of her companions. Yamcha and Krillin seemed to be scanning their surroundings, searching for any potential threats and finding none. They both looked at Bulma and nodded in approbation.

“Alright, we’ll follow you”, the heiress finally said.

“My house is right there” Khalla said, pointing towards a small white house.

They all walked towards it: the older lady and the child first, followed closely by Bulma, whose back was fiercely protected by Yamcha and Krillin, acting as bodyguards. The blue haired woman smiled, feeling extremely grateful again for having her friends by her side. They finally reached the tiny home and Ellah opened the door for her grandmother. They all entered and they took the seat their host was offering in what seemed to be a small sofa.

“Would you like a warm drink?” the woman politely asked.

All three of them shook their heads.

“No, thanks. We’re fine”, Bulma replied. Deep down, there was nothing more she wanted right now than a really hot drink, but she still didn’t fully trust the people on this planet, and she could tell her male friends were having the same exact thoughts.

“Very well then… I’ll prepare one for myself, if you don’t mind…” she said, walking slowly towards a little kitchen that was placed in one of the corners of the house. As the older woman prepared her drink, little Ellah stared at Bulma with fascination.

“Can I see your hair, Miss Bulma?” she finally whispered, afraid that her grandma would hear her.

Bulma chuckled, removing her hat and revealing her cascade of blue hair, which had gotten longer after the Cell Games and was now a bit past her shoulders. The little girl’s eyes opened wide, fascinated by the woman’s beauty.

“Can I… Um… Can I touch it?” she said in a really low voice full of curiosity.

“Of course, kiddo…” the earthling said, smiling.

The child carefully run her fingers through the turquoise tresses.

“It’s so soft…” she whispered absentmindedly…

“Ellah!” the older woman reproved. “Please, stop bothering our guests. Go to your room, child…”

“Aww, granny! Do I really have to?” the girl asked, clearly not wanting to leave.

“Yes, you must let the grown-ups discuss our business, understood? Go on! Go to your room!”

“Aaaalright…”

Ellah kissed Khalla on her cheek, and she murmured in her ear…

“She’s so pretty… Isn’t she granny?”

The woman smiled quietly and nodded, fully agreeing with the child. They all waited until Ellah left the room, closing the door behind her in order to give them some privacy, and then Khalla turned towards Bulma.

“She’s right. You are a stunning young woman. I can see how Lord Vegeta would wish to have a friend like you”.

The scientist blushed.

“Thank you, you are very kind. So… I assume Lord Vegeta is not on the planet anymore?” Bulma asked, her mind full of emotions. There was disappointment at the Prince not being there, and then there was that word, ‘lord’, Vegeta’s new title made her internally cringe for some reason…

Khalla shook her head.

“I’m afraid not. He abandoned the planet two days ago.” There was a pause, and the old woman continued, “I’m assuming you were expecting to find him?”

Bulma nodded and she sighed tiredly, suddenly wanting nothing more than being at home, with her baby in her arms, watching some TV wrapped in a warm blanket…

“Then you must be disappointed. I am truly sorry, my child…”

“You said Lord Vegeta left something for Bulma” Krillin finally said, joining the conversation. “Could you please tell us what it was?”

“Ah, yes… I had almost forgotten… You must forgive me… I must be getting old…” the old lady said, almost talking to herself. She stood up and she walked into another room next door. As they waited, Yamcha couldn’t help himself…

“Lord Vegeta? What the fuck, Bulma?” he whispered angrily, fearing that their worst nightmare, the one that depicted Vegeta trying to achieve some form of world domination, had actually come true.

“Quiet, Yamcha!” Bulma whispered back. “We don’t know what Vegeta has really been doing, so just be respectful…”

Meanwhile, their host had silently come back into the living room and she stood in front of Bulma.

“There you go, young lady…” Khalla said, holding a tiny object in her hand, offering it to her.

Bulma grabbed the object in her now trembling hands and she examined it.

It was a capsule.

And not just any capsule.

It was Vegeta’s ship.

“Oh, no…” Bulma mumbled, suddenly feeling tears gather in her blue eyes…

Yamcha was fuming at the sight of his best friend getting hurt. ‘That fucking asshole’…

Krillin observed the scene, trying to remain calm and objective.

“Do you know why Lord Vegeta left his ship in here? Was it by choice, or had the vehicle been damaged?” the bald man questioned.

“Well, I know he left in one of the pods Frieza’s soldiers used to travel with…” the woman said. “As far as whether the ship works or not, I am afraid I’m not an expert about such matters. Our planet’s technology isn’t too advanced…”

Bulma remained quiet for a few moments, trying to gather her thoughts, and then she realized that there was something that didn’t make sense. How…?

“How did Lord Vegeta know we were coming in here? We didn’t mention our intention to visit him the last time we saw him”, she asked.

Khalla shook her head in confusion.

“I… I am afraid he didn’t share that information with me… I…”

“Someone else must have told him, Bulma” Krillin said.

“But who? Was Lord Vegeta talking to someone before he left?”

The old woman shook her head.

“Not as far as I know… I did see him walk inside the ship for a while… And then, we felt something, like… Like… Like an explosion of energy or something like that… It emanated from the ship, and then he exited the vehicle and he… He pushed a button and the ship turned into that tiny thing and, that’s all I know Miss Bulma…”

“Maybe he was talking to someone inside the ship?” Krillin asked again.

“But… Who could he…?” Bulma asked, as if trying to solve an equation. Suddenly, she stood up.

“My dad! Guys! Maybe he called my dad!”

Yamcha shook his head.

“That wouldn’t make any sense, Bulma. He left our planet, why would he call back home?”

“There’s only one way to find out. I haven’t talked to my dad for a while, perhaps we should try to get in touch with him…”

She turned towards the old woman.

“Khalla, is there any place big enough to open this capsule? It should be large enough to fit a space ship.”

Khalla stood up, and she pointed towards one of the closed doors in the room.

“That’s our backyard. It’s empty and it’s quite large, since our house is the last one in the village… You could open it in there…”

Bulma smiled with gratitude.

“Thank you, Khalla. Do you mind if we go in there right now?” she asked hopefully.

“Not at all, child… Go ahead…”

The three travelers walked towards the door, opening it and revealing a backyard covered in ice. Bulma whimpered, internally asking herself how could these people live in these conditions full time. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to get used to this horribly cold weather… She walked a few steps and she pressed the capsule’s button, throwing it at a safe distance…

There it was.

Vegeta’s space ship.

Bulma walked towards it, examining the vehicle with scientific eyes and realizing that it didn’t seem to be damaged at all, at least, not physically. She walked through the walkway and she entered the ship, cautiously looking around her in case there was any internal damage.

There wasn’t any.

Not only that, but the place actually smelled of Vegeta. That masculine, musky scent that was only his, and for a moment, Bulma felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

Gods, how she missed him!

She swallowed her tears and she walked towards the central computer system, trying to switch it on.

Nothing.

She tried again.

And again.

Nothing, it didn’t work.

Bulma sighed in frustration and she lifted her jumper, searching through her tiny belt, looking for the capsule that contained her repair tools.

“There you are…” she whispered as she grabbed the tiny object, pressing the button and throwing it next to her. A heavy red toolbox appeared, and the scientist knelt down next to it, looking for a medium-sized screwdriver. When she found it, she walked towards the central console, she knelt down on the floor again and she proceeded to open the small door that held the central circuits of the vehicle.

“Fuck!” she yelled as she saw what the problem was.

All the circuits were burnt.

“Unbelievable…” she angrily murmured.

She’d been there before, and she knew this kind of thing usually happened when Vegeta had either been overtraining or so angry that he couldn’t properly control his damn energy…

As Bulma looked around her, she realized that it was farfetched to assume that her man had been doing some serious hardcore training in there, given that the room seemed to be in perfect physical condition, so she could only imagine that the Saiyan had been pissed off about something and he’d exploded in rage. But, how? What could have possibly enraged him that much in order to destroy the best space ship he was probably going to own?

The heiress tiredly wiped her forehead as she stood up, hands on her waist, deep in thought, and she realized that the only thing she could do right now was talk to her dad and see if her theory was correct. She’d promised to call him as soon as they reached their destination anyway, so it was still all part of the plan. She walked outside the ship, where her friends and Khalla anxiously awaited her.

“Did you discover anything?” Krillin curiously asked.

She shook her head as she carefully walked through the walkway.

“No guys, sorry. All I know is that the circuits are burnt, and he was probably the one who did it.”

As she reached the ground, she encapsulated the ship again, she opened the zipped pocket that contained the vehicle they’d used to get to the frozen planet and she opened it instead, saving Vegeta’s ship in the same place.

“I’m going to try to call my dad, it’s the only thing I can think of right now… It might take a while, I’m not sure how hard it will be to communicate with our planet from here.”

Bulma walked back inside the ship, she strode towards the console and she typed the secret communication codes of her father’s lab. She knew it would take at least a few minutes for the satellite to catch anything, assuming they’d even be able to reach the Earth from their current position. While she waited, she decided to do something productive with her time: she wanted some answers.

“Yamcha?!” she yelled from inside the ship.

“Um, yeah?!” he yelled back.

“Would you mind asking Khalla to come in here and help her to get inside, please?! I’d like to talk to her!”

“Uh, sure…” The man questioningly looked towards the old woman, she nodded, accepting the invitation and she stretched her arm, seeking his help.

Yamcha looked at the lady, he looked at the slippery walkway and back to her. No, this wasn’t going to work out.

“May I?” He said stretching both arms in her direction. “It will be a lot easier if I just carry you in there myself.”

“Of course, young man…” the woman shyly replied.

The human carefully carried Khalla inside the ship, delicately leaving her on the ground, making sure that she was alright and she could keep her balance before he completely let go of her. Then he turned towards Bulma.

“Is there anything else you need, B.?” he asked.

She didn’t even look at him, too focused on the numbers on the screen placed in front of her.

“No thanks, that’s all… Could you leave us alone, please? I’d like to talk to her in private if that’s OK…”

“Uh, sure. No problem… We’ll be waiting for you outside. Just yell if you need anything.”

Bulma turned towards the entrance door, where Khalla was patiently waiting for her.

“Please, come in Khalla. I’d like to ask you a few questions… If that’s alright with you, of course”, she said politely.

The older woman slowly walked towards the scientist, looking around her in bewilderment, and then back at the beautiful woman sitting on the pilot’s seat. She realized her attributes were more than just physical, and she got the impression that it wouldn’t have been hard for the young Prince to fall in love with this exceptional young woman.

“Please, take a seat” she said, gesturing with a welcoming hand towards the seat to her right.

Khalla sat down, exhaling softly with exhaustion. She was getting too old for this…

Bulma crossed her arms and closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself for what was to come. She opened her blue eyes and, without daring to look at the other woman yet, she softly asked.

“Did he do it?”

Silence.

“I… I beg your pardon, Miss?”

Bulma sighed again, afraid of the woman’s future answers…

“The bodies your people were carrying, I’m assuming to get rid of them. Did Vegeta kill those men?” she asked again, now looking into the woman’s eyes.

“I see…” Khalla finally replied, realizing that Bulma needed to know exactly what the Saiyan warrior had been up to.

“Well, he killed a few of them, but most of them died by the hands of his men, actually…”

“His men?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

“Um, it’s hard to tell. We were all advised to get into our homes so we wouldn’t get hurt so…”

“What?” she asked in confusion. “Who asked you to do that?”

“Lord Vegeta.”

“Are you telling me he didn’t kill any of the villagers?”

“Of course not, Miss Bulma!” Khalla replied, almost offended. “He only killed Frieza’s men!”

“All of those people were Frieza’s men? What…? What were they doing on the planet?”

“Now I can see that you didn’t know anything about our planet, young woman… Our planet was one of Frieza’s centers of manufacturing”.

“Manufacturing?” Bulma asked, confused.

“Yes… The soldiers brought some raw materials and we built weapons for them, well, only spare parts, since Frieza didn’t allow us to own any weapons. They were manufactured inside the factories located at the outskirts of our villages. Then, every few weeks, Frieza’s men would take them away and his own soldiers would assemble the parts in an undisclosed location.”

Bulma remained silent; she blinked slowly, trying to put all the pieces together…

“So… Your people worked for Frieza?”

The old woman chuckled sadly.

“We were given some food in exchange for our services. Would you call that working?”

Bulma cringed.

No.

She would call that slavery.

She was standing on a slave planet.

‘Holy shit’ she thought, now feeling deeply overwhelmed.

“But Frieza died years ago, right? Were you still working for him?”

“For his father, King Cold. We heard rumors that the father had also died, but we couldn’t tell the difference, to be honest.”

“Cold died.” Bulma firmly said. “I saw him die with my own eyes; a great warrior ended his life”.

‘My son’, she thought proudly.

“I see…” Khalla said, feeling there were certain things the woman was choosing to keep to herself.

“Wait a minute, what do you mean you couldn’t tell the difference after his death?”

“Well, our people aren’t physically strong, and we own neither weapons nor the means to create them. Frieza’s men took control, and things went from bad to worse ever since his death, to be honest…”

“In what sense?”

“When Frieza was alive there was some order, it was horrifying, but he somehow kept everyone in check, and we got food supplies regularly. Now… It’s all full of chaos… A lot of our people have died of starvation.”

“Oh Khalla… I’m so sorry…” she said, holding her hand, feeling her eyes burn with unshed tears.

The woman gawked at Bulma, shocked.

Compassion.

The young woman’s eyes were full of pity and compassion.

That was something she’d never seen in her very long life, a stranger feeling empathy towards her weak race.

“It’s alright Miss…” she said patting her hand comfortingly. “Things will get better now that those monsters are dead, I’m sure…”

“So… Now…” Bulma couldn’t even ask the question, too scared to know the answer. If her worst fears were true, she knew she’d never be able to look at Vegeta in the eye again.

“Are you…? Are you now Lord Vegeta’s slaves?”

“Oh, no! No, my child! Now we are free!” Khalla replied in dismay.

Bulma burst into tears. Hot tears of pure relief.

He’d freed them.

Vegeta had freed a slave planet and he hadn’t abused his power.

“Oh, Dende… I knew it…” she whispered… “I knew he was a good man… I just knew it…”

Khalla nodded, deeply moved by Bulma’s joy about the fact that Vegeta had showed mercy to her people.

“Out of all the warriors that ever visited our world, he was always different.”

Bulma wiped her tears, although some of them kept falling freely, and she looked at the woman in shock.

“You… You’d seen him before?”

“Of course, Miss Bulma. He was one of Frieza’s men; he started visiting the planet at a very young age… Back then, there were other two Saiyans with him…”

Bulma nodded.

“Nappa and Raditz”.

“Yes… I believe those were their names…” Khalla continued, nostalgia and pain in her voice. “But he was always different. He was ruthless, but he was fair. He was occasionally ordered to kill some of our people back then but… But he was quick; he never made them suffer… Some of Frieza’s men, they… They took pleasure in torturing and abusing weaker races… That’s why I was so shocked when I saw him this last time…”

“What… What do you mean?” Bulma asked fearfully.

“Well, he… He didn’t hurt any of us and I heard him forbid his men from touching our people but… Frieza’s men… He destroyed them… I had never seen him fight that way. He… He looked different… It was the first time I actually saw him trying to inflict pain…”

“How did he look, Khalla?” Bulma asked in a whisper. “Did he at least look healthy?”

“I guess… He certainly had the strength to fight… Although…”

“What?”

“His eyes… They looked tired… It’s like he was…”

“Gone?” she finished the sentence for her.

Khalla nodded, realizing the girl probably already knew the warrior was troubled. Was she the reason for his pain? Had she come looking for him to try to heal his wounds?

“He didn’t look like himself. But I can assure you he didn’t kill any innocent people. Bulma, may I ask what your relationship with…?”

Suddenly the screen beeped, making both women turn towards it.

“It worked!” Bulma yelled happily. “It’s my dad, Khalla! Let me talk to him…”

“Of course, Miss Bulma, do what you must…”

The older woman started to get up, and Bulma quickly jumped to help her, offering her arm to her.

“Yamcha!” she yelled.

“Yeah?!”

“Can you please come in here?”

The man was up there in a second.

“What’s up?”

“Can you please help Khalla get back to the house? The connection worked today and I want to talk to my dad in private…”

“Sure thing”, Yamcha said as he carried the woman in his arms again, leaving Bulma alone inside the ship. She went back to the pilot’s seat, wiping her face once more, trying not to look too disheveled in front of her father.

She pressed the “OK” button and, instantly, a blurry image of Dr. Briefs showed up on screen.

“Bulma? Bulma! Oh, Gods! Bulma! It that really you?!”

Bulma looked at her father in shock. Her usually careless father was concerned, really concerned…

“Of course it’s me, dad! Is… Is everything OK?”

“Is he with you, Bulma? Did you see him?” he nervously asked.

“Who?”

“Vegeta! He called, Bulma! Is he with you? Where are you?!”

This couldn’t be her father. He was frantic, clearly disturbed by something, and he looked as if he hadn’t slept for a week.

“Dad, please, you have to calm down…” she said soothingly, fearing that the poor man would end up having a heart attack.

Her father sat down on his lab chair, running his hands through his hair, trying to force himself to cool down.

“We reached the planet a few hours ago, dad, and we’re all fine. It’s really cold, but the inhabitants are friendly people, and they’re not very strong so they’re not dangerous to us.”

“Vegeta?” Dr. Briefs asked.

Bulma sadly shook her head.

“Nothing… He’s not here dad… He… He left me his ship. It doesn’t work though…”

“Did he burn the circuits?” the doctor asked knowingly.

“How… How do you know?”

“I figured…” he replied, sighing, relieved that his daughter at least was alright.

“He called us, Bulma…”

“He did? What did he say? Did something happen to him?”

“He… He didn’t say much at first… He just… I think he just wanted to talk to you, or at least find out how you and Trunks were doing… He asked for you…”

“Oh, Gods…” she whispered.

He’d tried to reach her, to talk to her… Did this mean that he cared? Or did it simply mean that he needed something from her? No. That didn’t make any sense, since someone in his position could literally have anything he wanted right now.

Anything.

And yet, he’d freed those poor people…

“Daddy…” she whispered, her lower lip trembling.

“Bulma” the doctor calmly said, now fully composed after his initial outburst of worry. “Do you have the means to repair Vegeta’s ship?”

She nodded.

“I think so… It seems to be in perfect condition physically, I’d probably just have to replace some of the wiring…”

“Then you must do it, Bulma.”

“Why? What do you mean? Dad… What…?”

“I told him…” he whispered, putting his elbows on the table and holding his head in his hands in frustration. “I may… I may have made a mistake… I don’t know… I was just trying to help…”

“What…?”

“I told him about you and your trip, how you had decided to go search for him because you wanted him back and he…”

“He what, Dad?” Bulma whispered with a shaky voice.

“He got mad, Bulma! Really mad! He asked me why… Why hadn’t I stopped you… I… I didn’t know what to say…”

“B-But, what does that have to do with me having to repair the ship?”

“Well, he… He seemed really, really mad at first… You know what he looks like when he’s barely trying to control himself… He looked so furious, Bulma… But then… He calmed down and he… He asked me…”

“W-What, daddy? Please…”

“He asked how to record a message for you.”

       Notes:        

Well... This has probably been the hardest chapter to write so far (and the longest!).

Please don't hate me! I promise a lot of things will happen in our next chapter!

You can also find it at Archive of Our Own:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9066958/chapters/21323423

[isearchgoood]

The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet and Interactive Q&A

Posted by BritneyMuller

Earlier this week, I hosted a webinar all about featured snippets covering essential background info, brand-new research we've done, the results of all the tests I've performed, and key takeaways. Things didn't quite go as planned, though. We had technical difficulties that interfered with our ability to broadcast live, and lots of folks were left with questions after the recording that we weren't able to answer in a follow-up Q&A.

The next best thing to a live webinar Q&A? A digital one that you can bookmark and come back to over and over again! We asked our incredibly patient, phenomenally smart attendees to submit their questions via email and promised to answer them in an upcoming blog post. We've pulled out the top recurring questions and themes from those submissions and addressed them below. If you had a question and missed the submission window, don't worry! Ask it down in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for the original webinar, you can register for it on-demand here:

Watch the webinar

And if you're here to grab the free featured snippets cheat sheet we put together, look no further — download the PDF directly here. Print it off, tape it to your office wall, and keep featured snippets top-of-mind as you create and optimize your site content. 

Now, let's get to those juicy questions!

1. Can I win a featured snippet with a brand-new website?

If you rank on page one for a keyword that triggers a featured snippet (in positions 1–10), you're a contender for stealing that featured snippet. It might be tougher with a new website, but you're in a position to be competitive if you're on page one — regardless of how established your site is.

We've got some great Whiteboard Fridays that cover how to set a new site up for success:

Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist

10 Basic SEO Tips to Index + Rank New Content Faster

How to Rank: The SEO Checklist

2. Does Google provide a tag that identifies traffic sources from featured snippets? Is there a GTM tag for this?

Unfortunately, Google does not provide a tag to help identify traffic from featured snippets. I'm not aware of a GTM tag that helps with this, either, but would love to hear any community suggestions or ideas in the comments!

It's worth noting that it's currently impossible to determine what percentage of your traffic comes from the featured snippet versus the duplicate organic URL below the featured snippet.

3. Do you think it's worth targeting longer-tail question-based queries that have very low monthly searches to gain a featured snippet?

Great question! My advice is this: don’t sleep on low-search-volume keywords. They often convert really well and in aggregate they can do wonders for a website. I suggest prioritizing long tail keywords that you foresee providing a high potential ROI. For example, there are millions of searches a month for the keyword “shoes.” Very competitive, but that query is pretty vague. In contrast, the keyword “size 6 red womens nike running shoes” is very specific. This searcher knows what they want and they're dialing in their search to find it. This is a great example of a long tail keyword phrase that could provide direct conversions.

4. What's the best keyword strategy for determining which queries are worth creating featured snippet-optimized content for?

Dr. Pete wrote a great blog post outlining how to perform keyword research for featured snippets back in 2016. Once you've narrowed down your list of likely queries, you need to look at keywords that you rank on page one for, that trigger a snippet, and that you don't yet own. Next, narrow your list down further by what you envision will have the highest ROI for your goals. Are you trying to drive conversions? Attract top-of-funnel site visitors? Make sure the queries you target align with your business goals, and go from there. Both Moz Pro and STAT can be a big help with this process.

A tactical pro tip: Use the featured snippet carousel queries as a starting point. For instance, if there's a snippet for the query "car insurance" with a carousel of "in Florida," "in Michigan," and so on, you might consider writing about state-specific topics to win those carousel snippets. For this technique, the bonus is that you don't really need to be on page one for the root term (or ranking at all) — often, carousel snippets are taken from off-SERP links.

5. Do featured snippets fluctuate according to language, i.e. if I have several versions of my site in different languages, will the snippet display for each version?

This is a great question! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do international/multi-language featured snippet research just yet, but hope to in the future. I would suspect the featured snippet could change depending on language and search variation. The best way to explore this is to do a search in an incognito (and un-logged-in) browser window of Google Chrome. If you've performed research along these lines, let us know what you found out down in the comments!

6. Why do featured snippet opportunities fluctuate in number from day to day?

Change really is the only constant in search. In the webinar, I discussed the various tests I did that caused Moz to lose a formerly won featured snippet (and what helped it reappear once again). Changes as simple as an extra period at the end of a sentence were enough to lose us the snippet. With content across the web constantly being created and edited and deprecated and in its own state of change, it's no wonder that it's tough to win and keep a featured snippet — sometimes even from one day to the next.

The SERPs are incredibly volatile things, with Google making updates multiple times every day. But when it comes down to the facts, there are a few things that reliably cause volatility (is that an oxymoron?):

If a snippet is pulling from a lower-ranking URL (not positions 1–3); this could mean Google is testing the best answer for the query

Google regularly changing which scraped content is used in each snippet

Featured snippet carousel topics changing

The best way to change-proof yourself is to become an authority in your particular niche (E-A-T, remember?) and strive to rank higher to increase your chances of capturing and keeping a featured snippet.

7. How can I use Keyword Lists to find missed SERP feature opportunities? What's the best way to use them to identify keyword gaps?

Keyword Lists are a wonderful area to uncover feature snippet (and other SERP feature) opportunity gaps. My favorite way to do this is to filter the Keyword List by your desired SERP feature. We’ll use featured snippets as an example. Next, sort by your website’s current rank (1–10) to determine your primary featured snippet gaps and opportunities.

The filters are another great way to tease out additional gaps:

Which keywords have high search volume and low competition? 

Which keywords have high organic CTR that you currently rank just off page one for?

8. What are best practices around reviewing the structure of content that's won a snippet, and how do I know whether it's worth replicating?

Content that has won a featured snippet is definitely worth reviewing (even if it doesn’t hold the featured snippet over time). Consider why Google might have provided this as a featured snippet:

Does it succinctly answer the query? 

Might it sound good as a voice answer? 

Is it comprehensive for someone looking for additional information? 

Does the page provide additional answers or information around the topic? 

Are there visual elements? 

It’s best to put on your detective hat and try to uncover why a piece of content might be ranking for a particular featured snippet:

What part of the page is Google pulling that featured snippet content from? 

Is it marked up in a certain way? 

What other elements are on the page? 

Is there a common theme? 

What additional value can you glean from the ranking featured snippet?

9. Does Google identify and prioritize informational websites for featured snippets, or are they determined by a correlation between pages with useful information and frequency of snippets? 

In other words, would being an e-commerce site harm your chances of winning featured snippets, all other factors being the same?

I’m not sure whether Google explicitly categorizes informational websites. They likely establish a trust metric of sorts for domains and then seek out information or content that most succinctly answers queries within their trust parameters, but this is just a hypothesis.

While informational sites tend to do overwhelmingly better than other types of websites, it’s absolutely possible for an e-commerce website to find creative ways of snagging featured snippets.

It’s fascinating how various e-commerce websites have found their way into current featured snippets in extremely savvy ways. Here's a super relevant example: after our webinar experienced issues and wasn't able to launch on time, I did a voice search for “how much do stamps cost” to determine how expensive it would be to send apology notes to all of our hopeful attendees. 

This was the voice answer:

“According to stamps.com the cost of a one ounce first class mail stamp is $0.55 at the Post Office, or $.047 if you buy and print stamps online using stamps.com.”

Pretty clever, right? I believe there are plenty of savvy ways like this to get your brand and offers into featured snippets.

10. When did the "People Also Ask" feature first appear? What changes to PAAs do you anticipate in the future?



People Also Ask boxes first appeared in July 2015 as a small-scale test. Their presence in the SERPs grew over 1700% between July 2015 and March 2017, so they certainly exploded in popularity just a few years ago. Funny enough, I was one of the first SEOs to come across Google’s PAA testing — you can read about that stat and more in my original article on the subject: Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research and SEO Opportunities

We recently published some great PAA research by Samuel Mangialavori on the Moz Blog, as well: 5 Things You Should Know About "People Also Ask" & How to Take Advantage

And there are a couple of great articles cataloging the evolution of PAAs over the years here:

What’s the deal with "People also ask" boxes? (2016)

How the "People also ask" box is evolving (2017)

When it comes to predicting the future of PAAs, well, we don't have a crystal ball yet, but featured snippets continue to look more and more like PAA boxes with their new-ish accordion format. Is it possible Google will merge them into a single feature someday? It's hard to say, but as SEOs, our best bet is to maintain flexibility and prepare to roll with the punches the search engines send our way.

11. Can you explain what you meant by "15% of image URLs are not in organic"?

Sure thing! The majority of images that show up in featured snippet boxes (or to be more accurate, the webpage those images live on) do not rank organically within the first ten pages of organic search results for the featured snippet query.

12. How should content creators consider featured snippets when crafting written content? Are there any tools that can help?

First and foremost, you'll want to consider the searcher. 

What is their intent? 

What desired information or content are they after? 

Are you providing the desired information in the medium in which they desire it most (video, images, copy, etc)? 

Look to the current SERPs to determine how you should be providing content to your users. Read all of the results on page one:

What common themes do they have? 

What topics do they cover? 

How can you cover those better?

Dr. Pete has a fantastic Whiteboard Friday that covers how to write content to win featured snippets. Check it out: How to Write Content for Answers Using the Inverted Pyramid



You might also get some good advice from this classic Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin: How to Appear in Google's Answer Boxes

13. "Write quality content for people, not search engines" seems like great advice. But should I also be using any APIs or tools to audit my content? 

The only really helpful tool that comes to mind is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, but even that can be a bit disruptive to the creative process. The very best tool you might have for reviewing your content might be a real person. I would ensure that your content can be easily understood when read out loud to your targeted audience. It may help to consider whether your content, as a featured snippet, would make for an effective, helpful voice search result.

14. What's the best way to stay on top of trends when it comes to Google's featured snippets?

Find publications and tools that resonate, and keep an eye on them. Some of my favorites include:

MozCast to keep a pulse on the Google algorithm

Monitoring tools like STAT (email alerts when you win/lose a snippet? Awesome.)

Cultivating a healthy list of digital marketing heroes to follow on Twitter

Industry news publications like Search Engine Journal and, of course, the Moz Blog ;-)

Subscribing to SEO newsletters like the Moz Top 10

One of the very best things you can do, though, is performing your own investigative featured snippet research within your space. Publishing the trends you observe helps our entire community grow and learn. 

Thank you so much to every attendee who submitted their questions. Digging into these follow-up thoughts and ideas is one of the best parts of putting on a presentation. If you've got any lingering questions after the webinar, I would love to hear them — leave me a note in the comments and I'll be on point to answer you. And if you missed the webinar sign-up, you can still access it on-demand whenever you want.

We also promised you some bonus content, yeah? Here it is — I compiled all of my best tips and tricks for winning featured snippets into a downloadable cheat sheet that I hope is a helpful reference for you:

Free download: The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to win your own snippets when you're armed with data, drive, and a good, solid plan! Hopefully this is a great resource for you to have on hand, either to share around with colleagues or to print out and keep at your desk:

Grab the cheat sheet

Again, thank you so much for submitting your questions, and we'll see you in the comments for more.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

via Blogger https://ift.tt/2WeBE8o #blogger #bloggingtips #bloggerlife #bloggersgetsocial #ontheblog #writersofinstagram #writingprompt #instapoetry #writerscommunity #writersofig #writersblock #writerlife #writtenword #instawriters #spilledink #wordgasm #creativewriting #poetsofinstagram #blackoutpoetry #poetsofig

[whitelabelseoreseller]

The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet and Interactive Q&A

Posted by BritneyMuller

Earlier this week, I hosted a webinar all about featured snippets covering essential background info, brand-new research we've done, the results of all the tests I've performed, and key takeaways. Things didn't quite go as planned, though. We had technical difficulties that interfered with our ability to broadcast live, and lots of folks were left with questions after the recording that we weren't able to answer in a follow-up Q&A.

The next best thing to a live webinar Q&A? A digital one that you can bookmark and come back to over and over again! We asked our incredibly patient, phenomenally smart attendees to submit their questions via email and promised to answer them in an upcoming blog post. We've pulled out the top recurring questions and themes from those submissions and addressed them below. If you had a question and missed the submission window, don't worry! Ask it down in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for the original webinar, you can register for it on-demand here:

Watch the webinar

And if you're here to grab the free featured snippets cheat sheet we put together, look no further — download the PDF directly here. Print it off, tape it to your office wall, and keep featured snippets top-of-mind as you create and optimize your site content. 

Now, let's get to those juicy questions!

1. Can I win a featured snippet with a brand-new website?

If you rank on page one for a keyword that triggers a featured snippet (in positions 1–10), you're a contender for stealing that featured snippet. It might be tougher with a new website, but you're in a position to be competitive if you're on page one — regardless of how established your site is.

We've got some great Whiteboard Fridays that cover how to set a new site up for success:

Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist

10 Basic SEO Tips to Index + Rank New Content Faster

How to Rank: The SEO Checklist

2. Does Google provide a tag that identifies traffic sources from featured snippets? Is there a GTM tag for this?

Unfortunately, Google does not provide a tag to help identify traffic from featured snippets. I'm not aware of a GTM tag that helps with this, either, but would love to hear any community suggestions or ideas in the comments!

It's worth noting that it's currently impossible to determine what percentage of your traffic comes from the featured snippet versus the duplicate organic URL below the featured snippet.

3. Do you think it's worth targeting longer-tail question-based queries that have very low monthly searches to gain a featured snippet?

Great question! My advice is this: don’t sleep on low-search-volume keywords. They often convert really well and in aggregate they can do wonders for a website. I suggest prioritizing long tail keywords that you foresee providing a high potential ROI. For example, there are millions of searches a month for the keyword “shoes.” Very competitive, but that query is pretty vague. In contrast, the keyword “size 6 red womens nike running shoes” is very specific. This searcher knows what they want and they're dialing in their search to find it. This is a great example of a long tail keyword phrase that could provide direct conversions.

4. What's the best keyword strategy for determining which queries are worth creating featured snippet-optimized content for?

Dr. Pete wrote a great blog post outlining how to perform keyword research for featured snippets back in 2016. Once you've narrowed down your list of likely queries, you need to look at keywords that you rank on page one for, that trigger a snippet, and that you don't yet own. Next, narrow your list down further by what you envision will have the highest ROI for your goals. Are you trying to drive conversions? Attract top-of-funnel site visitors? Make sure the queries you target align with your business goals, and go from there. Both Moz Pro and STAT can be a big help with this process.

A tactical pro tip: Use the featured snippet carousel queries as a starting point. For instance, if there's a snippet for the query "car insurance" with a carousel of "in Florida," "in Michigan," and so on, you might consider writing about state-specific topics to win those carousel snippets. For this technique, the bonus is that you don't really need to be on page one for the root term (or ranking at all) — often, carousel snippets are taken from off-SERP links.

5. Do featured snippets fluctuate according to language, i.e. if I have several versions of my site in different languages, will the snippet display for each version?

This is a great question! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do international/multi-language featured snippet research just yet, but hope to in the future. I would suspect the featured snippet could change depending on language and search variation. The best way to explore this is to do a search in an incognito (and un-logged-in) browser window of Google Chrome. If you've performed research along these lines, let us know what you found out down in the comments!

6. Why do featured snippet opportunities fluctuate in number from day to day?

Change really is the only constant in search. In the webinar, I discussed the various tests I did that caused Moz to lose a formerly won featured snippet (and what helped it reappear once again). Changes as simple as an extra period at the end of a sentence were enough to lose us the snippet. With content across the web constantly being created and edited and deprecated and in its own state of change, it's no wonder that it's tough to win and keep a featured snippet — sometimes even from one day to the next.

The SERPs are incredibly volatile things, with Google making updates multiple times every day. But when it comes down to the facts, there are a few things that reliably cause volatility (is that an oxymoron?):

If a snippet is pulling from a lower-ranking URL (not positions 1–3); this could mean Google is testing the best answer for the query

Google regularly changing which scraped content is used in each snippet

Featured snippet carousel topics changing

The best way to change-proof yourself is to become an authority in your particular niche (E-A-T, remember?) and strive to rank higher to increase your chances of capturing and keeping a featured snippet.

7. How can I use Keyword Lists to find missed SERP feature opportunities? What's the best way to use them to identify keyword gaps?

Keyword Lists are a wonderful area to uncover feature snippet (and other SERP feature) opportunity gaps. My favorite way to do this is to filter the Keyword List by your desired SERP feature. We’ll use featured snippets as an example. Next, sort by your website’s current rank (1–10) to determine your primary featured snippet gaps and opportunities.

The filters are another great way to tease out additional gaps:

Which keywords have high search volume and low competition? 

Which keywords have high organic CTR that you currently rank just off page one for?

8. What are best practices around reviewing the structure of content that's won a snippet, and how do I know whether it's worth replicating?

Content that has won a featured snippet is definitely worth reviewing (even if it doesn’t hold the featured snippet over time). Consider why Google might have provided this as a featured snippet:

Does it succinctly answer the query? 

Might it sound good as a voice answer? 

Is it comprehensive for someone looking for additional information? 

Does the page provide additional answers or information around the topic? 

Are there visual elements? 

It’s best to put on your detective hat and try to uncover why a piece of content might be ranking for a particular featured snippet:

What part of the page is Google pulling that featured snippet content from? 

Is it marked up in a certain way? 

What other elements are on the page? 

Is there a common theme? 

What additional value can you glean from the ranking featured snippet?

9. Does Google identify and prioritize informational websites for featured snippets, or are they determined by a correlation between pages with useful information and frequency of snippets? 

In other words, would being an e-commerce site harm your chances of winning featured snippets, all other factors being the same?

I’m not sure whether Google explicitly categorizes informational websites. They likely establish a trust metric of sorts for domains and then seek out information or content that most succinctly answers queries within their trust parameters, but this is just a hypothesis.

While informational sites tend to do overwhelmingly better than other types of websites, it’s absolutely possible for an e-commerce website to find creative ways of snagging featured snippets.

It’s fascinating how various e-commerce websites have found their way into current featured snippets in extremely savvy ways. Here's a super relevant example: after our webinar experienced issues and wasn't able to launch on time, I did a voice search for “how much do stamps cost” to determine how expensive it would be to send apology notes to all of our hopeful attendees. 

This was the voice answer:

“According to stamps.com the cost of a one ounce first class mail stamp is $0.55 at the Post Office, or $.047 if you buy and print stamps online using stamps.com.”

Pretty clever, right? I believe there are plenty of savvy ways like this to get your brand and offers into featured snippets.

10. When did the "People Also Ask" feature first appear? What changes to PAAs do you anticipate in the future?



People Also Ask boxes first appeared in July 2015 as a small-scale test. Their presence in the SERPs grew over 1700% between July 2015 and March 2017, so they certainly exploded in popularity just a few years ago. Funny enough, I was one of the first SEOs to come across Google’s PAA testing — you can read about that stat and more in my original article on the subject: Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research and SEO Opportunities

We recently published some great PAA research by Samuel Mangialavori on the Moz Blog, as well: 5 Things You Should Know About "People Also Ask" & How to Take Advantage

And there are a couple of great articles cataloging the evolution of PAAs over the years here:

What’s the deal with "People also ask" boxes? (2016)

How the "People also ask" box is evolving (2017)

When it comes to predicting the future of PAAs, well, we don't have a crystal ball yet, but featured snippets continue to look more and more like PAA boxes with their new-ish accordion format. Is it possible Google will merge them into a single feature someday? It's hard to say, but as SEOs, our best bet is to maintain flexibility and prepare to roll with the punches the search engines send our way.

11. Can you explain what you meant by "15% of image URLs are not in organic"?

Sure thing! The majority of images that show up in featured snippet boxes (or to be more accurate, the webpage those images live on) do not rank organically within the first ten pages of organic search results for the featured snippet query.

12. How should content creators consider featured snippets when crafting written content? Are there any tools that can help?

First and foremost, you'll want to consider the searcher. 

What is their intent? 

What desired information or content are they after? 

Are you providing the desired information in the medium in which they desire it most (video, images, copy, etc)? 

Look to the current SERPs to determine how you should be providing content to your users. Read all of the results on page one:

What common themes do they have? 

What topics do they cover? 

How can you cover those better?

Dr. Pete has a fantastic Whiteboard Friday that covers how to write content to win featured snippets. Check it out: How to Write Content for Answers Using the Inverted Pyramid



You might also get some good advice from this classic Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin: How to Appear in Google's Answer Boxes

13. "Write quality content for people, not search engines" seems like great advice. But should I also be using any APIs or tools to audit my content? 

The only really helpful tool that comes to mind is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, but even that can be a bit disruptive to the creative process. The very best tool you might have for reviewing your content might be a real person. I would ensure that your content can be easily understood when read out loud to your targeted audience. It may help to consider whether your content, as a featured snippet, would make for an effective, helpful voice search result.

14. What's the best way to stay on top of trends when it comes to Google's featured snippets?

Find publications and tools that resonate, and keep an eye on them. Some of my favorites include:

MozCast to keep a pulse on the Google algorithm

Monitoring tools like STAT (email alerts when you win/lose a snippet? Awesome.)

Cultivating a healthy list of digital marketing heroes to follow on Twitter

Industry news publications like Search Engine Journal and, of course, the Moz Blog ;-)

Subscribing to SEO newsletters like the Moz Top 10

One of the very best things you can do, though, is performing your own investigative featured snippet research within your space. Publishing the trends you observe helps our entire community grow and learn. 

Thank you so much to every attendee who submitted their questions. Digging into these follow-up thoughts and ideas is one of the best parts of putting on a presentation. If you've got any lingering questions after the webinar, I would love to hear them — leave me a note in the comments and I'll be on point to answer you. And if you missed the webinar sign-up, you can still access it on-demand whenever you want.

We also promised you some bonus content, yeah? Here it is — I compiled all of my best tips and tricks for winning featured snippets into a downloadable cheat sheet that I hope is a helpful reference for you:

Free download: The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to win your own snippets when you're armed with data, drive, and a good, solid plan! Hopefully this is a great resource for you to have on hand, either to share around with colleagues or to print out and keep at your desk:

Grab the cheat sheet

Again, thank you so much for submitting your questions, and we'll see you in the comments for more.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from The Moz Blog http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/9375/12925404

[theinjectlikes2]

The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet and Interactive Q&A

Posted by BritneyMuller

Earlier this week, I hosted a webinar all about featured snippets covering essential background info, brand-new research we've done, the results of all the tests I've performed, and key takeaways. Things didn't quite go as planned, though. We had technical difficulties that interfered with our ability to broadcast live, and lots of folks were left with questions after the recording that we weren't able to answer in a follow-up Q&A.

The next best thing to a live webinar Q&A? A digital one that you can bookmark and come back to over and over again! We asked our incredibly patient, phenomenally smart attendees to submit their questions via email and promised to answer them in an upcoming blog post. We've pulled out the top recurring questions and themes from those submissions and addressed them below. If you had a question and missed the submission window, don't worry! Ask it down in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for the original webinar, you can register for it on-demand here:

Watch the webinar

And if you're here to grab the free featured snippets cheat sheet we put together, look no further — download the PDF directly here. Print it off, tape it to your office wall, and keep featured snippets top-of-mind as you create and optimize your site content. 

Now, let's get to those juicy questions!

1. Can I win a featured snippet with a brand-new website?

If you rank on page one for a keyword that triggers a featured snippet (in positions 1–10), you're a contender for stealing that featured snippet. It might be tougher with a new website, but you're in a position to be competitive if you're on page one — regardless of how established your site is.

We've got some great Whiteboard Fridays that cover how to set a new site up for success:

Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist

10 Basic SEO Tips to Index + Rank New Content Faster

How to Rank: The SEO Checklist

2. Does Google provide a tag that identifies traffic sources from featured snippets? Is there a GTM tag for this?

Unfortunately, Google does not provide a tag to help identify traffic from featured snippets. I'm not aware of a GTM tag that helps with this, either, but would love to hear any community suggestions or ideas in the comments!

It's worth noting that it's currently impossible to determine what percentage of your traffic comes from the featured snippet versus the duplicate organic URL below the featured snippet.

3. Do you think it's worth targeting longer-tail question-based queries that have very low monthly searches to gain a featured snippet?

Great question! My advice is this: don’t sleep on low-search-volume keywords. They often convert really well and in aggregate they can do wonders for a website. I suggest prioritizing long tail keywords that you foresee providing a high potential ROI. For example, there are millions of searches a month for the keyword “shoes.” Very competitive, but that query is pretty vague. In contrast, the keyword “size 6 red womens nike running shoes” is very specific. This searcher knows what they want and they're dialing in their search to find it. This is a great example of a long tail keyword phrase that could provide direct conversions.

4. What's the best keyword strategy for determining which queries are worth creating featured snippet-optimized content for?

Dr. Pete wrote a great blog post outlining how to perform keyword research for featured snippets back in 2016. Once you've narrowed down your list of likely queries, you need to look at keywords that you rank on page one for, that trigger a snippet, and that you don't yet own. Next, narrow your list down further by what you envision will have the highest ROI for your goals. Are you trying to drive conversions? Attract top-of-funnel site visitors? Make sure the queries you target align with your business goals, and go from there. Both Moz Pro and STAT can be a big help with this process.

A tactical pro tip: Use the featured snippet carousel queries as a starting point. For instance, if there's a snippet for the query "car insurance" with a carousel of "in Florida," "in Michigan," and so on, you might consider writing about state-specific topics to win those carousel snippets. For this technique, the bonus is that you don't really need to be on page one for the root term (or ranking at all) — often, carousel snippets are taken from off-SERP links.

5. Do featured snippets fluctuate according to language, i.e. if I have several versions of my site in different languages, will the snippet display for each version?

This is a great question! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do international/multi-language featured snippet research just yet, but hope to in the future. I would suspect the featured snippet could change depending on language and search variation. The best way to explore this is to do a search in an incognito (and un-logged-in) browser window of Google Chrome. If you've performed research along these lines, let us know what you found out down in the comments!

6. Why do featured snippet opportunities fluctuate in number from day to day?

Change really is the only constant in search. In the webinar, I discussed the various tests I did that caused Moz to lose a formerly won featured snippet (and what helped it reappear once again). Changes as simple as an extra period at the end of a sentence were enough to lose us the snippet. With content across the web constantly being created and edited and deprecated and in its own state of change, it's no wonder that it's tough to win and keep a featured snippet — sometimes even from one day to the next.

The SERPs are incredibly volatile things, with Google making updates multiple times every day. But when it comes down to the facts, there are a few things that reliably cause volatility (is that an oxymoron?):

If a snippet is pulling from a lower-ranking URL (not positions 1–3); this could mean Google is testing the best answer for the query

Google regularly changing which scraped content is used in each snippet

Featured snippet carousel topics changing

The best way to change-proof yourself is to become an authority in your particular niche (E-A-T, remember?) and strive to rank higher to increase your chances of capturing and keeping a featured snippet.

7. How can I use Keyword Lists to find missed SERP feature opportunities? What's the best way to use them to identify keyword gaps?

Keyword Lists are a wonderful area to uncover feature snippet (and other SERP feature) opportunity gaps. My favorite way to do this is to filter the Keyword List by your desired SERP feature. We’ll use featured snippets as an example. Next, sort by your website’s current rank (1–10) to determine your primary featured snippet gaps and opportunities.

The filters are another great way to tease out additional gaps:

Which keywords have high search volume and low competition? 

Which keywords have high organic CTR that you currently rank just off page one for?

8. What are best practices around reviewing the structure of content that's won a snippet, and how do I know whether it's worth replicating?

Content that has won a featured snippet is definitely worth reviewing (even if it doesn’t hold the featured snippet over time). Consider why Google might have provided this as a featured snippet:

Does it succinctly answer the query? 

Might it sound good as a voice answer? 

Is it comprehensive for someone looking for additional information? 

Does the page provide additional answers or information around the topic? 

Are there visual elements? 

It’s best to put on your detective hat and try to uncover why a piece of content might be ranking for a particular featured snippet:

What part of the page is Google pulling that featured snippet content from? 

Is it marked up in a certain way? 

What other elements are on the page? 

Is there a common theme? 

What additional value can you glean from the ranking featured snippet?

9. Does Google identify and prioritize informational websites for featured snippets, or are they determined by a correlation between pages with useful information and frequency of snippets? 

In other words, would being an e-commerce site harm your chances of winning featured snippets, all other factors being the same?

I’m not sure whether Google explicitly categorizes informational websites. They likely establish a trust metric of sorts for domains and then seek out information or content that most succinctly answers queries within their trust parameters, but this is just a hypothesis.

While informational sites tend to do overwhelmingly better than other types of websites, it’s absolutely possible for an e-commerce website to find creative ways of snagging featured snippets.

It’s fascinating how various e-commerce websites have found their way into current featured snippets in extremely savvy ways. Here's a super relevant example: after our webinar experienced issues and wasn't able to launch on time, I did a voice search for “how much do stamps cost” to determine how expensive it would be to send apology notes to all of our hopeful attendees. 

This was the voice answer:

“According to stamps.com the cost of a one ounce first class mail stamp is $0.55 at the Post Office, or $.047 if you buy and print stamps online using stamps.com.”

Pretty clever, right? I believe there are plenty of savvy ways like this to get your brand and offers into featured snippets.

10. When did the "People Also Ask" feature first appear? What changes to PAAs do you anticipate in the future?



People Also Ask boxes first appeared in July 2015 as a small-scale test. Their presence in the SERPs grew over 1700% between July 2015 and March 2017, so they certainly exploded in popularity just a few years ago. Funny enough, I was one of the first SEOs to come across Google’s PAA testing — you can read about that stat and more in my original article on the subject: Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research and SEO Opportunities

We recently published some great PAA research by Samuel Mangialavori on the Moz Blog, as well: 5 Things You Should Know About "People Also Ask" & How to Take Advantage

And there are a couple of great articles cataloging the evolution of PAAs over the years here:

What’s the deal with "People also ask" boxes? (2016)

How the "People also ask" box is evolving (2017)

When it comes to predicting the future of PAAs, well, we don't have a crystal ball yet, but featured snippets continue to look more and more like PAA boxes with their new-ish accordion format. Is it possible Google will merge them into a single feature someday? It's hard to say, but as SEOs, our best bet is to maintain flexibility and prepare to roll with the punches the search engines send our way.

11. Can you explain what you meant by "15% of image URLs are not in organic"?

Sure thing! The majority of images that show up in featured snippet boxes (or to be more accurate, the webpage those images live on) do not rank organically within the first ten pages of organic search results for the featured snippet query.

12. How should content creators consider featured snippets when crafting written content? Are there any tools that can help?

First and foremost, you'll want to consider the searcher. 

What is their intent? 

What desired information or content are they after? 

Are you providing the desired information in the medium in which they desire it most (video, images, copy, etc)? 

Look to the current SERPs to determine how you should be providing content to your users. Read all of the results on page one:

What common themes do they have? 

What topics do they cover? 

How can you cover those better?

Dr. Pete has a fantastic Whiteboard Friday that covers how to write content to win featured snippets. Check it out: How to Write Content for Answers Using the Inverted Pyramid



You might also get some good advice from this classic Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin: How to Appear in Google's Answer Boxes

13. "Write quality content for people, not search engines" seems like great advice. But should I also be using any APIs or tools to audit my content? 

The only really helpful tool that comes to mind is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, but even that can be a bit disruptive to the creative process. The very best tool you might have for reviewing your content might be a real person. I would ensure that your content can be easily understood when read out loud to your targeted audience. It may help to consider whether your content, as a featured snippet, would make for an effective, helpful voice search result.

14. What's the best way to stay on top of trends when it comes to Google's featured snippets?

Find publications and tools that resonate, and keep an eye on them. Some of my favorites include:

MozCast to keep a pulse on the Google algorithm

Monitoring tools like STAT (email alerts when you win/lose a snippet? Awesome.)

Cultivating a healthy list of digital marketing heroes to follow on Twitter

Industry news publications like Search Engine Journal and, of course, the Moz Blog ;-)

Subscribing to SEO newsletters like the Moz Top 10

One of the very best things you can do, though, is performing your own investigative featured snippet research within your space. Publishing the trends you observe helps our entire community grow and learn. 

Thank you so much to every attendee who submitted their questions. Digging into these follow-up thoughts and ideas is one of the best parts of putting on a presentation. If you've got any lingering questions after the webinar, I would love to hear them — leave me a note in the comments and I'll be on point to answer you. And if you missed the webinar sign-up, you can still access it on-demand whenever you want.

We also promised you some bonus content, yeah? Here it is — I compiled all of my best tips and tricks for winning featured snippets into a downloadable cheat sheet that I hope is a helpful reference for you:

Free download: The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to win your own snippets when you're armed with data, drive, and a good, solid plan! Hopefully this is a great resource for you to have on hand, either to share around with colleagues or to print out and keep at your desk:

Grab the cheat sheet

Again, thank you so much for submitting your questions, and we'll see you in the comments for more.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from The Moz Blog https://ift.tt/2NbTaGd via IFTTT

[camerasieunhovn]

The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet and Interactive Q&A

Posted by BritneyMuller

Earlier this week, I hosted a webinar all about featured snippets covering essential background info, brand-new research we've done, the results of all the tests I've performed, and key takeaways. Things didn't quite go as planned, though. We had technical difficulties that interfered with our ability to broadcast live, and lots of folks were left with questions after the recording that we weren't able to answer in a follow-up Q&A.

The next best thing to a live webinar Q&A? A digital one that you can bookmark and come back to over and over again! We asked our incredibly patient, phenomenally smart attendees to submit their questions via email and promised to answer them in an upcoming blog post. We've pulled out the top recurring questions and themes from those submissions and addressed them below. If you had a question and missed the submission window, don't worry! Ask it down in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for the original webinar, you can register for it on-demand here:

Watch the webinar

And if you're here to grab the free featured snippets cheat sheet we put together, look no further — download the PDF directly here. Print it off, tape it to your office wall, and keep featured snippets top-of-mind as you create and optimize your site content. 

Now, let's get to those juicy questions!

1. Can I win a featured snippet with a brand-new website?

If you rank on page one for a keyword that triggers a featured snippet (in positions 1–10), you're a contender for stealing that featured snippet. It might be tougher with a new website, but you're in a position to be competitive if you're on page one — regardless of how established your site is.

We've got some great Whiteboard Fridays that cover how to set a new site up for success:

Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist

10 Basic SEO Tips to Index + Rank New Content Faster

How to Rank: The SEO Checklist

2. Does Google provide a tag that identifies traffic sources from featured snippets? Is there a GTM tag for this?

Unfortunately, Google does not provide a tag to help identify traffic from featured snippets. I'm not aware of a GTM tag that helps with this, either, but would love to hear any community suggestions or ideas in the comments!

It's worth noting that it's currently impossible to determine what percentage of your traffic comes from the featured snippet versus the duplicate organic URL below the featured snippet.

3. Do you think it's worth targeting longer-tail question-based queries that have very low monthly searches to gain a featured snippet?

Great question! My advice is this: don’t sleep on low-search-volume keywords. They often convert really well and in aggregate they can do wonders for a website. I suggest prioritizing long tail keywords that you foresee providing a high potential ROI. For example, there are millions of searches a month for the keyword “shoes.” Very competitive, but that query is pretty vague. In contrast, the keyword “size 6 red womens nike running shoes” is very specific. This searcher knows what they want and they're dialing in their search to find it. This is a great example of a long tail keyword phrase that could provide direct conversions.

4. What's the best keyword strategy for determining which queries are worth creating featured snippet-optimized content for?

Dr. Pete wrote a great blog post outlining how to perform keyword research for featured snippets back in 2016. Once you've narrowed down your list of likely queries, you need to look at keywords that you rank on page one for, that trigger a snippet, and that you don't yet own. Next, narrow your list down further by what you envision will have the highest ROI for your goals. Are you trying to drive conversions? Attract top-of-funnel site visitors? Make sure the queries you target align with your business goals, and go from there. Both Moz Pro and STAT can be a big help with this process.

A tactical pro tip: Use the featured snippet carousel queries as a starting point. For instance, if there's a snippet for the query "car insurance" with a carousel of "in Florida," "in Michigan," and so on, you might consider writing about state-specific topics to win those carousel snippets. For this technique, the bonus is that you don't really need to be on page one for the root term (or ranking at all) — often, carousel snippets are taken from off-SERP links.

5. Do featured snippets fluctuate according to language, i.e. if I have several versions of my site in different languages, will the snippet display for each version?

This is a great question! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do international/multi-language featured snippet research just yet, but hope to in the future. I would suspect the featured snippet could change depending on language and search variation. The best way to explore this is to do a search in an incognito (and un-logged-in) browser window of Google Chrome. If you've performed research along these lines, let us know what you found out down in the comments!

6. Why do featured snippet opportunities fluctuate in number from day to day?

Change really is the only constant in search. In the webinar, I discussed the various tests I did that caused Moz to lose a formerly won featured snippet (and what helped it reappear once again). Changes as simple as an extra period at the end of a sentence were enough to lose us the snippet. With content across the web constantly being created and edited and deprecated and in its own state of change, it's no wonder that it's tough to win and keep a featured snippet — sometimes even from one day to the next.

The SERPs are incredibly volatile things, with Google making updates multiple times every day. But when it comes down to the facts, there are a few things that reliably cause volatility (is that an oxymoron?):

If a snippet is pulling from a lower-ranking URL (not positions 1–3); this could mean Google is testing the best answer for the query

Google regularly changing which scraped content is used in each snippet

Featured snippet carousel topics changing

The best way to change-proof yourself is to become an authority in your particular niche (E-A-T, remember?) and strive to rank higher to increase your chances of capturing and keeping a featured snippet.

7. How can I use Keyword Lists to find missed SERP feature opportunities? What's the best way to use them to identify keyword gaps?

Keyword Lists are a wonderful area to uncover feature snippet (and other SERP feature) opportunity gaps. My favorite way to do this is to filter the Keyword List by your desired SERP feature. We’ll use featured snippets as an example. Next, sort by your website’s current rank (1–10) to determine your primary featured snippet gaps and opportunities.

The filters are another great way to tease out additional gaps:

Which keywords have high search volume and low competition? 

Which keywords have high organic CTR that you currently rank just off page one for?

8. What are best practices around reviewing the structure of content that's won a snippet, and how do I know whether it's worth replicating?

Content that has won a featured snippet is definitely worth reviewing (even if it doesn’t hold the featured snippet over time). Consider why Google might have provided this as a featured snippet:

Does it succinctly answer the query? 

Might it sound good as a voice answer? 

Is it comprehensive for someone looking for additional information? 

Does the page provide additional answers or information around the topic? 

Are there visual elements? 

It’s best to put on your detective hat and try to uncover why a piece of content might be ranking for a particular featured snippet:

What part of the page is Google pulling that featured snippet content from? 

Is it marked up in a certain way? 

What other elements are on the page? 

Is there a common theme? 

What additional value can you glean from the ranking featured snippet?

9. Does Google identify and prioritize informational websites for featured snippets, or are they determined by a correlation between pages with useful information and frequency of snippets? 

In other words, would being an e-commerce site harm your chances of winning featured snippets, all other factors being the same?

I’m not sure whether Google explicitly categorizes informational websites. They likely establish a trust metric of sorts for domains and then seek out information or content that most succinctly answers queries within their trust parameters, but this is just a hypothesis.

While informational sites tend to do overwhelmingly better than other types of websites, it’s absolutely possible for an e-commerce website to find creative ways of snagging featured snippets.

It’s fascinating how various e-commerce websites have found their way into current featured snippets in extremely savvy ways. Here's a super relevant example: after our webinar experienced issues and wasn't able to launch on time, I did a voice search for “how much do stamps cost” to determine how expensive it would be to send apology notes to all of our hopeful attendees. 

This was the voice answer:

“According to stamps.com the cost of a one ounce first class mail stamp is $0.55 at the Post Office, or $.047 if you buy and print stamps online using stamps.com.”

Pretty clever, right? I believe there are plenty of savvy ways like this to get your brand and offers into featured snippets.

10. When did the "People Also Ask" feature first appear? What changes to PAAs do you anticipate in the future?



People Also Ask boxes first appeared in July 2015 as a small-scale test. Their presence in the SERPs grew over 1700% between July 2015 and March 2017, so they certainly exploded in popularity just a few years ago. Funny enough, I was one of the first SEOs to come across Google’s PAA testing — you can read about that stat and more in my original article on the subject: Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research and SEO Opportunities

We recently published some great PAA research by Samuel Mangialavori on the Moz Blog, as well: 5 Things You Should Know About "People Also Ask" & How to Take Advantage

And there are a couple of great articles cataloging the evolution of PAAs over the years here:

What’s the deal with "People also ask" boxes? (2016)

How the "People also ask" box is evolving (2017)

When it comes to predicting the future of PAAs, well, we don't have a crystal ball yet, but featured snippets continue to look more and more like PAA boxes with their new-ish accordion format. Is it possible Google will merge them into a single feature someday? It's hard to say, but as SEOs, our best bet is to maintain flexibility and prepare to roll with the punches the search engines send our way.

11. Can you explain what you meant by "15% of image URLs are not in organic"?

Sure thing! The majority of images that show up in featured snippet boxes (or to be more accurate, the webpage those images live on) do not rank organically within the first ten pages of organic search results for the featured snippet query.

12. How should content creators consider featured snippets when crafting written content? Are there any tools that can help?

First and foremost, you'll want to consider the searcher. 

What is their intent? 

What desired information or content are they after? 

Are you providing the desired information in the medium in which they desire it most (video, images, copy, etc)? 

Look to the current SERPs to determine how you should be providing content to your users. Read all of the results on page one:

What common themes do they have? 

What topics do they cover? 

How can you cover those better?

Dr. Pete has a fantastic Whiteboard Friday that covers how to write content to win featured snippets. Check it out: How to Write Content for Answers Using the Inverted Pyramid



You might also get some good advice from this classic Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin: How to Appear in Google's Answer Boxes

13. "Write quality content for people, not search engines" seems like great advice. But should I also be using any APIs or tools to audit my content? 

The only really helpful tool that comes to mind is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, but even that can be a bit disruptive to the creative process. The very best tool you might have for reviewing your content might be a real person. I would ensure that your content can be easily understood when read out loud to your targeted audience. It may help to consider whether your content, as a featured snippet, would make for an effective, helpful voice search result.

14. What's the best way to stay on top of trends when it comes to Google's featured snippets?

Find publications and tools that resonate, and keep an eye on them. Some of my favorites include:

MozCast to keep a pulse on the Google algorithm

Monitoring tools like STAT (email alerts when you win/lose a snippet? Awesome.)

Cultivating a healthy list of digital marketing heroes to follow on Twitter

Industry news publications like Search Engine Journal and, of course, the Moz Blog ;-)

Subscribing to SEO newsletters like the Moz Top 10

One of the very best things you can do, though, is performing your own investigative featured snippet research within your space. Publishing the trends you observe helps our entire community grow and learn. 

Thank you so much to every attendee who submitted their questions. Digging into these follow-up thoughts and ideas is one of the best parts of putting on a presentation. If you've got any lingering questions after the webinar, I would love to hear them — leave me a note in the comments and I'll be on point to answer you. And if you missed the webinar sign-up, you can still access it on-demand whenever you want.

We also promised you some bonus content, yeah? Here it is — I compiled all of my best tips and tricks for winning featured snippets into a downloadable cheat sheet that I hope is a helpful reference for you:

Free download: The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to win your own snippets when you're armed with data, drive, and a good, solid plan! Hopefully this is a great resource for you to have on hand, either to share around with colleagues or to print out and keep at your desk:

Grab the cheat sheet

Again, thank you so much for submitting your questions, and we'll see you in the comments for more.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[xaydungtruonggia]

The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet and Interactive Q&A

Posted by BritneyMuller

Earlier this week, I hosted a webinar all about featured snippets covering essential background info, brand-new research we've done, the results of all the tests I've performed, and key takeaways. Things didn't quite go as planned, though. We had technical difficulties that interfered with our ability to broadcast live, and lots of folks were left with questions after the recording that we weren't able to answer in a follow-up Q&A.

The next best thing to a live webinar Q&A? A digital one that you can bookmark and come back to over and over again! We asked our incredibly patient, phenomenally smart attendees to submit their questions via email and promised to answer them in an upcoming blog post. We've pulled out the top recurring questions and themes from those submissions and addressed them below. If you had a question and missed the submission window, don't worry! Ask it down in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for the original webinar, you can register for it on-demand here:

Watch the webinar

And if you're here to grab the free featured snippets cheat sheet we put together, look no further — download the PDF directly here. Print it off, tape it to your office wall, and keep featured snippets top-of-mind as you create and optimize your site content. 

Now, let's get to those juicy questions!

1. Can I win a featured snippet with a brand-new website?

If you rank on page one for a keyword that triggers a featured snippet (in positions 1–10), you're a contender for stealing that featured snippet. It might be tougher with a new website, but you're in a position to be competitive if you're on page one — regardless of how established your site is.

We've got some great Whiteboard Fridays that cover how to set a new site up for success:

Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist

10 Basic SEO Tips to Index + Rank New Content Faster

How to Rank: The SEO Checklist

2. Does Google provide a tag that identifies traffic sources from featured snippets? Is there a GTM tag for this?

Unfortunately, Google does not provide a tag to help identify traffic from featured snippets. I'm not aware of a GTM tag that helps with this, either, but would love to hear any community suggestions or ideas in the comments!

It's worth noting that it's currently impossible to determine what percentage of your traffic comes from the featured snippet versus the duplicate organic URL below the featured snippet.

3. Do you think it's worth targeting longer-tail question-based queries that have very low monthly searches to gain a featured snippet?

Great question! My advice is this: don’t sleep on low-search-volume keywords. They often convert really well and in aggregate they can do wonders for a website. I suggest prioritizing long tail keywords that you foresee providing a high potential ROI. For example, there are millions of searches a month for the keyword “shoes.” Very competitive, but that query is pretty vague. In contrast, the keyword “size 6 red womens nike running shoes” is very specific. This searcher knows what they want and they're dialing in their search to find it. This is a great example of a long tail keyword phrase that could provide direct conversions.

4. What's the best keyword strategy for determining which queries are worth creating featured snippet-optimized content for?

Dr. Pete wrote a great blog post outlining how to perform keyword research for featured snippets back in 2016. Once you've narrowed down your list of likely queries, you need to look at keywords that you rank on page one for, that trigger a snippet, and that you don't yet own. Next, narrow your list down further by what you envision will have the highest ROI for your goals. Are you trying to drive conversions? Attract top-of-funnel site visitors? Make sure the queries you target align with your business goals, and go from there. Both Moz Pro and STAT can be a big help with this process.

A tactical pro tip: Use the featured snippet carousel queries as a starting point. For instance, if there's a snippet for the query "car insurance" with a carousel of "in Florida," "in Michigan," and so on, you might consider writing about state-specific topics to win those carousel snippets. For this technique, the bonus is that you don't really need to be on page one for the root term (or ranking at all) — often, carousel snippets are taken from off-SERP links.

5. Do featured snippets fluctuate according to language, i.e. if I have several versions of my site in different languages, will the snippet display for each version?

This is a great question! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do international/multi-language featured snippet research just yet, but hope to in the future. I would suspect the featured snippet could change depending on language and search variation. The best way to explore this is to do a search in an incognito (and un-logged-in) browser window of Google Chrome. If you've performed research along these lines, let us know what you found out down in the comments!

6. Why do featured snippet opportunities fluctuate in number from day to day?

Change really is the only constant in search. In the webinar, I discussed the various tests I did that caused Moz to lose a formerly won featured snippet (and what helped it reappear once again). Changes as simple as an extra period at the end of a sentence were enough to lose us the snippet. With content across the web constantly being created and edited and deprecated and in its own state of change, it's no wonder that it's tough to win and keep a featured snippet — sometimes even from one day to the next.

The SERPs are incredibly volatile things, with Google making updates multiple times every day. But when it comes down to the facts, there are a few things that reliably cause volatility (is that an oxymoron?):

If a snippet is pulling from a lower-ranking URL (not positions 1–3); this could mean Google is testing the best answer for the query

Google regularly changing which scraped content is used in each snippet

Featured snippet carousel topics changing

The best way to change-proof yourself is to become an authority in your particular niche (E-A-T, remember?) and strive to rank higher to increase your chances of capturing and keeping a featured snippet.

7. How can I use Keyword Lists to find missed SERP feature opportunities? What's the best way to use them to identify keyword gaps?

Keyword Lists are a wonderful area to uncover feature snippet (and other SERP feature) opportunity gaps. My favorite way to do this is to filter the Keyword List by your desired SERP feature. We’ll use featured snippets as an example. Next, sort by your website’s current rank (1–10) to determine your primary featured snippet gaps and opportunities.

The filters are another great way to tease out additional gaps:

Which keywords have high search volume and low competition? 

Which keywords have high organic CTR that you currently rank just off page one for?

8. What are best practices around reviewing the structure of content that's won a snippet, and how do I know whether it's worth replicating?

Content that has won a featured snippet is definitely worth reviewing (even if it doesn’t hold the featured snippet over time). Consider why Google might have provided this as a featured snippet:

Does it succinctly answer the query? 

Might it sound good as a voice answer? 

Is it comprehensive for someone looking for additional information? 

Does the page provide additional answers or information around the topic? 

Are there visual elements? 

It’s best to put on your detective hat and try to uncover why a piece of content might be ranking for a particular featured snippet:

What part of the page is Google pulling that featured snippet content from? 

Is it marked up in a certain way? 

What other elements are on the page? 

Is there a common theme? 

What additional value can you glean from the ranking featured snippet?

9. Does Google identify and prioritize informational websites for featured snippets, or are they determined by a correlation between pages with useful information and frequency of snippets? 

In other words, would being an e-commerce site harm your chances of winning featured snippets, all other factors being the same?

I’m not sure whether Google explicitly categorizes informational websites. They likely establish a trust metric of sorts for domains and then seek out information or content that most succinctly answers queries within their trust parameters, but this is just a hypothesis.

While informational sites tend to do overwhelmingly better than other types of websites, it’s absolutely possible for an e-commerce website to find creative ways of snagging featured snippets.

It’s fascinating how various e-commerce websites have found their way into current featured snippets in extremely savvy ways. Here's a super relevant example: after our webinar experienced issues and wasn't able to launch on time, I did a voice search for “how much do stamps cost” to determine how expensive it would be to send apology notes to all of our hopeful attendees. 

This was the voice answer:

“According to stamps.com the cost of a one ounce first class mail stamp is $0.55 at the Post Office, or $.047 if you buy and print stamps online using stamps.com.”

Pretty clever, right? I believe there are plenty of savvy ways like this to get your brand and offers into featured snippets.

10. When did the "People Also Ask" feature first appear? What changes to PAAs do you anticipate in the future?



People Also Ask boxes first appeared in July 2015 as a small-scale test. Their presence in the SERPs grew over 1700% between July 2015 and March 2017, so they certainly exploded in popularity just a few years ago. Funny enough, I was one of the first SEOs to come across Google’s PAA testing — you can read about that stat and more in my original article on the subject: Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research and SEO Opportunities

We recently published some great PAA research by Samuel Mangialavori on the Moz Blog, as well: 5 Things You Should Know About "People Also Ask" & How to Take Advantage

And there are a couple of great articles cataloging the evolution of PAAs over the years here:

What’s the deal with "People also ask" boxes? (2016)

How the "People also ask" box is evolving (2017)

When it comes to predicting the future of PAAs, well, we don't have a crystal ball yet, but featured snippets continue to look more and more like PAA boxes with their new-ish accordion format. Is it possible Google will merge them into a single feature someday? It's hard to say, but as SEOs, our best bet is to maintain flexibility and prepare to roll with the punches the search engines send our way.

11. Can you explain what you meant by "15% of image URLs are not in organic"?

Sure thing! The majority of images that show up in featured snippet boxes (or to be more accurate, the webpage those images live on) do not rank organically within the first ten pages of organic search results for the featured snippet query.

12. How should content creators consider featured snippets when crafting written content? Are there any tools that can help?

First and foremost, you'll want to consider the searcher. 

What is their intent? 

What desired information or content are they after? 

Are you providing the desired information in the medium in which they desire it most (video, images, copy, etc)? 

Look to the current SERPs to determine how you should be providing content to your users. Read all of the results on page one:

What common themes do they have? 

What topics do they cover? 

How can you cover those better?

Dr. Pete has a fantastic Whiteboard Friday that covers how to write content to win featured snippets. Check it out: How to Write Content for Answers Using the Inverted Pyramid



You might also get some good advice from this classic Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin: How to Appear in Google's Answer Boxes

13. "Write quality content for people, not search engines" seems like great advice. But should I also be using any APIs or tools to audit my content? 

The only really helpful tool that comes to mind is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, but even that can be a bit disruptive to the creative process. The very best tool you might have for reviewing your content might be a real person. I would ensure that your content can be easily understood when read out loud to your targeted audience. It may help to consider whether your content, as a featured snippet, would make for an effective, helpful voice search result.

14. What's the best way to stay on top of trends when it comes to Google's featured snippets?

Find publications and tools that resonate, and keep an eye on them. Some of my favorites include:

MozCast to keep a pulse on the Google algorithm

Monitoring tools like STAT (email alerts when you win/lose a snippet? Awesome.)

Cultivating a healthy list of digital marketing heroes to follow on Twitter

Industry news publications like Search Engine Journal and, of course, the Moz Blog ;-)

Subscribing to SEO newsletters like the Moz Top 10

One of the very best things you can do, though, is performing your own investigative featured snippet research within your space. Publishing the trends you observe helps our entire community grow and learn. 

Thank you so much to every attendee who submitted their questions. Digging into these follow-up thoughts and ideas is one of the best parts of putting on a presentation. If you've got any lingering questions after the webinar, I would love to hear them — leave me a note in the comments and I'll be on point to answer you. And if you missed the webinar sign-up, you can still access it on-demand whenever you want.

We also promised you some bonus content, yeah? Here it is — I compiled all of my best tips and tricks for winning featured snippets into a downloadable cheat sheet that I hope is a helpful reference for you:

Free download: The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to win your own snippets when you're armed with data, drive, and a good, solid plan! Hopefully this is a great resource for you to have on hand, either to share around with colleagues or to print out and keep at your desk:

Grab the cheat sheet

Again, thank you so much for submitting your questions, and we'll see you in the comments for more.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[bfxenon]

The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet and Interactive Q&A

Posted by BritneyMuller

Earlier this week, I hosted a webinar all about featured snippets covering essential background info, brand-new research we've done, the results of all the tests I've performed, and key takeaways. Things didn't quite go as planned, though. We had technical difficulties that interfered with our ability to broadcast live, and lots of folks were left with questions after the recording that we weren't able to answer in a follow-up Q&A.

The next best thing to a live webinar Q&A? A digital one that you can bookmark and come back to over and over again! We asked our incredibly patient, phenomenally smart attendees to submit their questions via email and promised to answer them in an upcoming blog post. We've pulled out the top recurring questions and themes from those submissions and addressed them below. If you had a question and missed the submission window, don't worry! Ask it down in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for the original webinar, you can register for it on-demand here:

Watch the webinar

And if you're here to grab the free featured snippets cheat sheet we put together, look no further — download the PDF directly here. Print it off, tape it to your office wall, and keep featured snippets top-of-mind as you create and optimize your site content. 

Now, let's get to those juicy questions!

1. Can I win a featured snippet with a brand-new website?

If you rank on page one for a keyword that triggers a featured snippet (in positions 1–10), you're a contender for stealing that featured snippet. It might be tougher with a new website, but you're in a position to be competitive if you're on page one — regardless of how established your site is.

We've got some great Whiteboard Fridays that cover how to set a new site up for success:

Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist

10 Basic SEO Tips to Index + Rank New Content Faster

How to Rank: The SEO Checklist

2. Does Google provide a tag that identifies traffic sources from featured snippets? Is there a GTM tag for this?

Unfortunately, Google does not provide a tag to help identify traffic from featured snippets. I'm not aware of a GTM tag that helps with this, either, but would love to hear any community suggestions or ideas in the comments!

It's worth noting that it's currently impossible to determine what percentage of your traffic comes from the featured snippet versus the duplicate organic URL below the featured snippet.

3. Do you think it's worth targeting longer-tail question-based queries that have very low monthly searches to gain a featured snippet?

Great question! My advice is this: don’t sleep on low-search-volume keywords. They often convert really well and in aggregate they can do wonders for a website. I suggest prioritizing long tail keywords that you foresee providing a high potential ROI. For example, there are millions of searches a month for the keyword “shoes.” Very competitive, but that query is pretty vague. In contrast, the keyword “size 6 red womens nike running shoes” is very specific. This searcher knows what they want and they're dialing in their search to find it. This is a great example of a long tail keyword phrase that could provide direct conversions.

4. What's the best keyword strategy for determining which queries are worth creating featured snippet-optimized content for?

Dr. Pete wrote a great blog post outlining how to perform keyword research for featured snippets back in 2016. Once you've narrowed down your list of likely queries, you need to look at keywords that you rank on page one for, that trigger a snippet, and that you don't yet own. Next, narrow your list down further by what you envision will have the highest ROI for your goals. Are you trying to drive conversions? Attract top-of-funnel site visitors? Make sure the queries you target align with your business goals, and go from there. Both Moz Pro and STAT can be a big help with this process.

A tactical pro tip: Use the featured snippet carousel queries as a starting point. For instance, if there's a snippet for the query "car insurance" with a carousel of "in Florida," "in Michigan," and so on, you might consider writing about state-specific topics to win those carousel snippets. For this technique, the bonus is that you don't really need to be on page one for the root term (or ranking at all) — often, carousel snippets are taken from off-SERP links.

5. Do featured snippets fluctuate according to language, i.e. if I have several versions of my site in different languages, will the snippet display for each version?

This is a great question! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do international/multi-language featured snippet research just yet, but hope to in the future. I would suspect the featured snippet could change depending on language and search variation. The best way to explore this is to do a search in an incognito (and un-logged-in) browser window of Google Chrome. If you've performed research along these lines, let us know what you found out down in the comments!

6. Why do featured snippet opportunities fluctuate in number from day to day?

Change really is the only constant in search. In the webinar, I discussed the various tests I did that caused Moz to lose a formerly won featured snippet (and what helped it reappear once again). Changes as simple as an extra period at the end of a sentence were enough to lose us the snippet. With content across the web constantly being created and edited and deprecated and in its own state of change, it's no wonder that it's tough to win and keep a featured snippet — sometimes even from one day to the next.

The SERPs are incredibly volatile things, with Google making updates multiple times every day. But when it comes down to the facts, there are a few things that reliably cause volatility (is that an oxymoron?):

If a snippet is pulling from a lower-ranking URL (not positions 1–3); this could mean Google is testing the best answer for the query

Google regularly changing which scraped content is used in each snippet

Featured snippet carousel topics changing

The best way to change-proof yourself is to become an authority in your particular niche (E-A-T, remember?) and strive to rank higher to increase your chances of capturing and keeping a featured snippet.

7. How can I use Keyword Lists to find missed SERP feature opportunities? What's the best way to use them to identify keyword gaps?

Keyword Lists are a wonderful area to uncover feature snippet (and other SERP feature) opportunity gaps. My favorite way to do this is to filter the Keyword List by your desired SERP feature. We’ll use featured snippets as an example. Next, sort by your website’s current rank (1–10) to determine your primary featured snippet gaps and opportunities.

The filters are another great way to tease out additional gaps:

Which keywords have high search volume and low competition? 

Which keywords have high organic CTR that you currently rank just off page one for?

8. What are best practices around reviewing the structure of content that's won a snippet, and how do I know whether it's worth replicating?

Content that has won a featured snippet is definitely worth reviewing (even if it doesn’t hold the featured snippet over time). Consider why Google might have provided this as a featured snippet:

Does it succinctly answer the query? 

Might it sound good as a voice answer? 

Is it comprehensive for someone looking for additional information? 

Does the page provide additional answers or information around the topic? 

Are there visual elements? 

It’s best to put on your detective hat and try to uncover why a piece of content might be ranking for a particular featured snippet:

What part of the page is Google pulling that featured snippet content from? 

Is it marked up in a certain way? 

What other elements are on the page? 

Is there a common theme? 

What additional value can you glean from the ranking featured snippet?

9. Does Google identify and prioritize informational websites for featured snippets, or are they determined by a correlation between pages with useful information and frequency of snippets? 

In other words, would being an e-commerce site harm your chances of winning featured snippets, all other factors being the same?

I’m not sure whether Google explicitly categorizes informational websites. They likely establish a trust metric of sorts for domains and then seek out information or content that most succinctly answers queries within their trust parameters, but this is just a hypothesis.

While informational sites tend to do overwhelmingly better than other types of websites, it’s absolutely possible for an e-commerce website to find creative ways of snagging featured snippets.

It’s fascinating how various e-commerce websites have found their way into current featured snippets in extremely savvy ways. Here's a super relevant example: after our webinar experienced issues and wasn't able to launch on time, I did a voice search for “how much do stamps cost” to determine how expensive it would be to send apology notes to all of our hopeful attendees. 

This was the voice answer:

“According to stamps.com the cost of a one ounce first class mail stamp is $0.55 at the Post Office, or $.047 if you buy and print stamps online using stamps.com.”

Pretty clever, right? I believe there are plenty of savvy ways like this to get your brand and offers into featured snippets.

10. When did the "People Also Ask" feature first appear? What changes to PAAs do you anticipate in the future?



People Also Ask boxes first appeared in July 2015 as a small-scale test. Their presence in the SERPs grew over 1700% between July 2015 and March 2017, so they certainly exploded in popularity just a few years ago. Funny enough, I was one of the first SEOs to come across Google’s PAA testing — you can read about that stat and more in my original article on the subject: Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research and SEO Opportunities

We recently published some great PAA research by Samuel Mangialavori on the Moz Blog, as well: 5 Things You Should Know About "People Also Ask" & How to Take Advantage

And there are a couple of great articles cataloging the evolution of PAAs over the years here:

What’s the deal with "People also ask" boxes? (2016)

How the "People also ask" box is evolving (2017)

When it comes to predicting the future of PAAs, well, we don't have a crystal ball yet, but featured snippets continue to look more and more like PAA boxes with their new-ish accordion format. Is it possible Google will merge them into a single feature someday? It's hard to say, but as SEOs, our best bet is to maintain flexibility and prepare to roll with the punches the search engines send our way.

11. Can you explain what you meant by "15% of image URLs are not in organic"?

Sure thing! The majority of images that show up in featured snippet boxes (or to be more accurate, the webpage those images live on) do not rank organically within the first ten pages of organic search results for the featured snippet query.

12. How should content creators consider featured snippets when crafting written content? Are there any tools that can help?

First and foremost, you'll want to consider the searcher. 

What is their intent? 

What desired information or content are they after? 

Are you providing the desired information in the medium in which they desire it most (video, images, copy, etc)? 

Look to the current SERPs to determine how you should be providing content to your users. Read all of the results on page one:

What common themes do they have? 

What topics do they cover? 

How can you cover those better?

Dr. Pete has a fantastic Whiteboard Friday that covers how to write content to win featured snippets. Check it out: How to Write Content for Answers Using the Inverted Pyramid



You might also get some good advice from this classic Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin: How to Appear in Google's Answer Boxes

13. "Write quality content for people, not search engines" seems like great advice. But should I also be using any APIs or tools to audit my content? 

The only really helpful tool that comes to mind is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, but even that can be a bit disruptive to the creative process. The very best tool you might have for reviewing your content might be a real person. I would ensure that your content can be easily understood when read out loud to your targeted audience. It may help to consider whether your content, as a featured snippet, would make for an effective, helpful voice search result.

14. What's the best way to stay on top of trends when it comes to Google's featured snippets?

Find publications and tools that resonate, and keep an eye on them. Some of my favorites include:

MozCast to keep a pulse on the Google algorithm

Monitoring tools like STAT (email alerts when you win/lose a snippet? Awesome.)

Cultivating a healthy list of digital marketing heroes to follow on Twitter

Industry news publications like Search Engine Journal and, of course, the Moz Blog ;-)

Subscribing to SEO newsletters like the Moz Top 10

One of the very best things you can do, though, is performing your own investigative featured snippet research within your space. Publishing the trends you observe helps our entire community grow and learn. 

Thank you so much to every attendee who submitted their questions. Digging into these follow-up thoughts and ideas is one of the best parts of putting on a presentation. If you've got any lingering questions after the webinar, I would love to hear them — leave me a note in the comments and I'll be on point to answer you. And if you missed the webinar sign-up, you can still access it on-demand whenever you want.

We also promised you some bonus content, yeah? Here it is — I compiled all of my best tips and tricks for winning featured snippets into a downloadable cheat sheet that I hope is a helpful reference for you:

Free download: The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to win your own snippets when you're armed with data, drive, and a good, solid plan! Hopefully this is a great resource for you to have on hand, either to share around with colleagues or to print out and keep at your desk:

Grab the cheat sheet

Again, thank you so much for submitting your questions, and we'll see you in the comments for more.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[nutrifami]

The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet and Interactive Q&A

Posted by BritneyMuller

Earlier this week, I hosted a webinar all about featured snippets covering essential background info, brand-new research we've done, the results of all the tests I've performed, and key takeaways. Things didn't quite go as planned, though. We had technical difficulties that interfered with our ability to broadcast live, and lots of folks were left with questions after the recording that we weren't able to answer in a follow-up Q&A.

The next best thing to a live webinar Q&A? A digital one that you can bookmark and come back to over and over again! We asked our incredibly patient, phenomenally smart attendees to submit their questions via email and promised to answer them in an upcoming blog post. We've pulled out the top recurring questions and themes from those submissions and addressed them below. If you had a question and missed the submission window, don't worry! Ask it down in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for the original webinar, you can register for it on-demand here:

Watch the webinar

And if you're here to grab the free featured snippets cheat sheet we put together, look no further — download the PDF directly here. Print it off, tape it to your office wall, and keep featured snippets top-of-mind as you create and optimize your site content. 

Now, let's get to those juicy questions!

1. Can I win a featured snippet with a brand-new website?

If you rank on page one for a keyword that triggers a featured snippet (in positions 1–10), you're a contender for stealing that featured snippet. It might be tougher with a new website, but you're in a position to be competitive if you're on page one — regardless of how established your site is.

We've got some great Whiteboard Fridays that cover how to set a new site up for success:

Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist

10 Basic SEO Tips to Index + Rank New Content Faster

How to Rank: The SEO Checklist

2. Does Google provide a tag that identifies traffic sources from featured snippets? Is there a GTM tag for this?

Unfortunately, Google does not provide a tag to help identify traffic from featured snippets. I'm not aware of a GTM tag that helps with this, either, but would love to hear any community suggestions or ideas in the comments!

It's worth noting that it's currently impossible to determine what percentage of your traffic comes from the featured snippet versus the duplicate organic URL below the featured snippet.

3. Do you think it's worth targeting longer-tail question-based queries that have very low monthly searches to gain a featured snippet?

Great question! My advice is this: don’t sleep on low-search-volume keywords. They often convert really well and in aggregate they can do wonders for a website. I suggest prioritizing long tail keywords that you foresee providing a high potential ROI. For example, there are millions of searches a month for the keyword “shoes.” Very competitive, but that query is pretty vague. In contrast, the keyword “size 6 red womens nike running shoes” is very specific. This searcher knows what they want and they're dialing in their search to find it. This is a great example of a long tail keyword phrase that could provide direct conversions.

4. What's the best keyword strategy for determining which queries are worth creating featured snippet-optimized content for?

Dr. Pete wrote a great blog post outlining how to perform keyword research for featured snippets back in 2016. Once you've narrowed down your list of likely queries, you need to look at keywords that you rank on page one for, that trigger a snippet, and that you don't yet own. Next, narrow your list down further by what you envision will have the highest ROI for your goals. Are you trying to drive conversions? Attract top-of-funnel site visitors? Make sure the queries you target align with your business goals, and go from there. Both Moz Pro and STAT can be a big help with this process.

A tactical pro tip: Use the featured snippet carousel queries as a starting point. For instance, if there's a snippet for the query "car insurance" with a carousel of "in Florida," "in Michigan," and so on, you might consider writing about state-specific topics to win those carousel snippets. For this technique, the bonus is that you don't really need to be on page one for the root term (or ranking at all) — often, carousel snippets are taken from off-SERP links.

5. Do featured snippets fluctuate according to language, i.e. if I have several versions of my site in different languages, will the snippet display for each version?

This is a great question! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do international/multi-language featured snippet research just yet, but hope to in the future. I would suspect the featured snippet could change depending on language and search variation. The best way to explore this is to do a search in an incognito (and un-logged-in) browser window of Google Chrome. If you've performed research along these lines, let us know what you found out down in the comments!

6. Why do featured snippet opportunities fluctuate in number from day to day?

Change really is the only constant in search. In the webinar, I discussed the various tests I did that caused Moz to lose a formerly won featured snippet (and what helped it reappear once again). Changes as simple as an extra period at the end of a sentence were enough to lose us the snippet. With content across the web constantly being created and edited and deprecated and in its own state of change, it's no wonder that it's tough to win and keep a featured snippet — sometimes even from one day to the next.

The SERPs are incredibly volatile things, with Google making updates multiple times every day. But when it comes down to the facts, there are a few things that reliably cause volatility (is that an oxymoron?):

If a snippet is pulling from a lower-ranking URL (not positions 1–3); this could mean Google is testing the best answer for the query

Google regularly changing which scraped content is used in each snippet

Featured snippet carousel topics changing

The best way to change-proof yourself is to become an authority in your particular niche (E-A-T, remember?) and strive to rank higher to increase your chances of capturing and keeping a featured snippet.

7. How can I use Keyword Lists to find missed SERP feature opportunities? What's the best way to use them to identify keyword gaps?

Keyword Lists are a wonderful area to uncover feature snippet (and other SERP feature) opportunity gaps. My favorite way to do this is to filter the Keyword List by your desired SERP feature. We’ll use featured snippets as an example. Next, sort by your website’s current rank (1–10) to determine your primary featured snippet gaps and opportunities.

The filters are another great way to tease out additional gaps:

Which keywords have high search volume and low competition? 

Which keywords have high organic CTR that you currently rank just off page one for?

8. What are best practices around reviewing the structure of content that's won a snippet, and how do I know whether it's worth replicating?

Content that has won a featured snippet is definitely worth reviewing (even if it doesn’t hold the featured snippet over time). Consider why Google might have provided this as a featured snippet:

Does it succinctly answer the query? 

Might it sound good as a voice answer? 

Is it comprehensive for someone looking for additional information? 

Does the page provide additional answers or information around the topic? 

Are there visual elements? 

It’s best to put on your detective hat and try to uncover why a piece of content might be ranking for a particular featured snippet:

What part of the page is Google pulling that featured snippet content from? 

Is it marked up in a certain way? 

What other elements are on the page? 

Is there a common theme? 

What additional value can you glean from the ranking featured snippet?

9. Does Google identify and prioritize informational websites for featured snippets, or are they determined by a correlation between pages with useful information and frequency of snippets? 

In other words, would being an e-commerce site harm your chances of winning featured snippets, all other factors being the same?

I’m not sure whether Google explicitly categorizes informational websites. They likely establish a trust metric of sorts for domains and then seek out information or content that most succinctly answers queries within their trust parameters, but this is just a hypothesis.

While informational sites tend to do overwhelmingly better than other types of websites, it’s absolutely possible for an e-commerce website to find creative ways of snagging featured snippets.

It’s fascinating how various e-commerce websites have found their way into current featured snippets in extremely savvy ways. Here's a super relevant example: after our webinar experienced issues and wasn't able to launch on time, I did a voice search for “how much do stamps cost” to determine how expensive it would be to send apology notes to all of our hopeful attendees. 

This was the voice answer:

“According to stamps.com the cost of a one ounce first class mail stamp is $0.55 at the Post Office, or $.047 if you buy and print stamps online using stamps.com.”

Pretty clever, right? I believe there are plenty of savvy ways like this to get your brand and offers into featured snippets.

10. When did the "People Also Ask" feature first appear? What changes to PAAs do you anticipate in the future?



People Also Ask boxes first appeared in July 2015 as a small-scale test. Their presence in the SERPs grew over 1700% between July 2015 and March 2017, so they certainly exploded in popularity just a few years ago. Funny enough, I was one of the first SEOs to come across Google’s PAA testing — you can read about that stat and more in my original article on the subject: Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research and SEO Opportunities

We recently published some great PAA research by Samuel Mangialavori on the Moz Blog, as well: 5 Things You Should Know About "People Also Ask" & How to Take Advantage

And there are a couple of great articles cataloging the evolution of PAAs over the years here:

What’s the deal with "People also ask" boxes? (2016)

How the "People also ask" box is evolving (2017)

When it comes to predicting the future of PAAs, well, we don't have a crystal ball yet, but featured snippets continue to look more and more like PAA boxes with their new-ish accordion format. Is it possible Google will merge them into a single feature someday? It's hard to say, but as SEOs, our best bet is to maintain flexibility and prepare to roll with the punches the search engines send our way.

11. Can you explain what you meant by "15% of image URLs are not in organic"?

Sure thing! The majority of images that show up in featured snippet boxes (or to be more accurate, the webpage those images live on) do not rank organically within the first ten pages of organic search results for the featured snippet query.

12. How should content creators consider featured snippets when crafting written content? Are there any tools that can help?

First and foremost, you'll want to consider the searcher. 

What is their intent? 

What desired information or content are they after? 

Are you providing the desired information in the medium in which they desire it most (video, images, copy, etc)? 

Look to the current SERPs to determine how you should be providing content to your users. Read all of the results on page one:

What common themes do they have? 

What topics do they cover? 

How can you cover those better?

Dr. Pete has a fantastic Whiteboard Friday that covers how to write content to win featured snippets. Check it out: How to Write Content for Answers Using the Inverted Pyramid



You might also get some good advice from this classic Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin: How to Appear in Google's Answer Boxes

13. "Write quality content for people, not search engines" seems like great advice. But should I also be using any APIs or tools to audit my content? 

The only really helpful tool that comes to mind is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, but even that can be a bit disruptive to the creative process. The very best tool you might have for reviewing your content might be a real person. I would ensure that your content can be easily understood when read out loud to your targeted audience. It may help to consider whether your content, as a featured snippet, would make for an effective, helpful voice search result.

14. What's the best way to stay on top of trends when it comes to Google's featured snippets?

Find publications and tools that resonate, and keep an eye on them. Some of my favorites include:

MozCast to keep a pulse on the Google algorithm

Monitoring tools like STAT (email alerts when you win/lose a snippet? Awesome.)

Cultivating a healthy list of digital marketing heroes to follow on Twitter

Industry news publications like Search Engine Journal and, of course, the Moz Blog ;-)

Subscribing to SEO newsletters like the Moz Top 10

One of the very best things you can do, though, is performing your own investigative featured snippet research within your space. Publishing the trends you observe helps our entire community grow and learn. 

Thank you so much to every attendee who submitted their questions. Digging into these follow-up thoughts and ideas is one of the best parts of putting on a presentation. If you've got any lingering questions after the webinar, I would love to hear them — leave me a note in the comments and I'll be on point to answer you. And if you missed the webinar sign-up, you can still access it on-demand whenever you want.

We also promised you some bonus content, yeah? Here it is — I compiled all of my best tips and tricks for winning featured snippets into a downloadable cheat sheet that I hope is a helpful reference for you:

Free download: The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to win your own snippets when you're armed with data, drive, and a good, solid plan! Hopefully this is a great resource for you to have on hand, either to share around with colleagues or to print out and keep at your desk:

Grab the cheat sheet

Again, thank you so much for submitting your questions, and we'll see you in the comments for more.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[gamebazu]

The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet and Interactive Q&A

Posted by BritneyMuller

Earlier this week, I hosted a webinar all about featured snippets covering essential background info, brand-new research we've done, the results of all the tests I've performed, and key takeaways. Things didn't quite go as planned, though. We had technical difficulties that interfered with our ability to broadcast live, and lots of folks were left with questions after the recording that we weren't able to answer in a follow-up Q&A.

The next best thing to a live webinar Q&A? A digital one that you can bookmark and come back to over and over again! We asked our incredibly patient, phenomenally smart attendees to submit their questions via email and promised to answer them in an upcoming blog post. We've pulled out the top recurring questions and themes from those submissions and addressed them below. If you had a question and missed the submission window, don't worry! Ask it down in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for the original webinar, you can register for it on-demand here:

Watch the webinar

And if you're here to grab the free featured snippets cheat sheet we put together, look no further — download the PDF directly here. Print it off, tape it to your office wall, and keep featured snippets top-of-mind as you create and optimize your site content. 

Now, let's get to those juicy questions!

1. Can I win a featured snippet with a brand-new website?

If you rank on page one for a keyword that triggers a featured snippet (in positions 1–10), you're a contender for stealing that featured snippet. It might be tougher with a new website, but you're in a position to be competitive if you're on page one — regardless of how established your site is.

We've got some great Whiteboard Fridays that cover how to set a new site up for success:

Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist

10 Basic SEO Tips to Index + Rank New Content Faster

How to Rank: The SEO Checklist

2. Does Google provide a tag that identifies traffic sources from featured snippets? Is there a GTM tag for this?

Unfortunately, Google does not provide a tag to help identify traffic from featured snippets. I'm not aware of a GTM tag that helps with this, either, but would love to hear any community suggestions or ideas in the comments!

It's worth noting that it's currently impossible to determine what percentage of your traffic comes from the featured snippet versus the duplicate organic URL below the featured snippet.

3. Do you think it's worth targeting longer-tail question-based queries that have very low monthly searches to gain a featured snippet?

Great question! My advice is this: don’t sleep on low-search-volume keywords. They often convert really well and in aggregate they can do wonders for a website. I suggest prioritizing long tail keywords that you foresee providing a high potential ROI. For example, there are millions of searches a month for the keyword “shoes.” Very competitive, but that query is pretty vague. In contrast, the keyword “size 6 red womens nike running shoes” is very specific. This searcher knows what they want and they're dialing in their search to find it. This is a great example of a long tail keyword phrase that could provide direct conversions.

4. What's the best keyword strategy for determining which queries are worth creating featured snippet-optimized content for?

Dr. Pete wrote a great blog post outlining how to perform keyword research for featured snippets back in 2016. Once you've narrowed down your list of likely queries, you need to look at keywords that you rank on page one for, that trigger a snippet, and that you don't yet own. Next, narrow your list down further by what you envision will have the highest ROI for your goals. Are you trying to drive conversions? Attract top-of-funnel site visitors? Make sure the queries you target align with your business goals, and go from there. Both Moz Pro and STAT can be a big help with this process.

A tactical pro tip: Use the featured snippet carousel queries as a starting point. For instance, if there's a snippet for the query "car insurance" with a carousel of "in Florida," "in Michigan," and so on, you might consider writing about state-specific topics to win those carousel snippets. For this technique, the bonus is that you don't really need to be on page one for the root term (or ranking at all) — often, carousel snippets are taken from off-SERP links.

5. Do featured snippets fluctuate according to language, i.e. if I have several versions of my site in different languages, will the snippet display for each version?

This is a great question! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do international/multi-language featured snippet research just yet, but hope to in the future. I would suspect the featured snippet could change depending on language and search variation. The best way to explore this is to do a search in an incognito (and un-logged-in) browser window of Google Chrome. If you've performed research along these lines, let us know what you found out down in the comments!

6. Why do featured snippet opportunities fluctuate in number from day to day?

Change really is the only constant in search. In the webinar, I discussed the various tests I did that caused Moz to lose a formerly won featured snippet (and what helped it reappear once again). Changes as simple as an extra period at the end of a sentence were enough to lose us the snippet. With content across the web constantly being created and edited and deprecated and in its own state of change, it's no wonder that it's tough to win and keep a featured snippet — sometimes even from one day to the next.

The SERPs are incredibly volatile things, with Google making updates multiple times every day. But when it comes down to the facts, there are a few things that reliably cause volatility (is that an oxymoron?):

If a snippet is pulling from a lower-ranking URL (not positions 1–3); this could mean Google is testing the best answer for the query

Google regularly changing which scraped content is used in each snippet

Featured snippet carousel topics changing

The best way to change-proof yourself is to become an authority in your particular niche (E-A-T, remember?) and strive to rank higher to increase your chances of capturing and keeping a featured snippet.

7. How can I use Keyword Lists to find missed SERP feature opportunities? What's the best way to use them to identify keyword gaps?

Keyword Lists are a wonderful area to uncover feature snippet (and other SERP feature) opportunity gaps. My favorite way to do this is to filter the Keyword List by your desired SERP feature. We’ll use featured snippets as an example. Next, sort by your website’s current rank (1–10) to determine your primary featured snippet gaps and opportunities.

The filters are another great way to tease out additional gaps:

Which keywords have high search volume and low competition? 

Which keywords have high organic CTR that you currently rank just off page one for?

8. What are best practices around reviewing the structure of content that's won a snippet, and how do I know whether it's worth replicating?

Content that has won a featured snippet is definitely worth reviewing (even if it doesn’t hold the featured snippet over time). Consider why Google might have provided this as a featured snippet:

Does it succinctly answer the query? 

Might it sound good as a voice answer? 

Is it comprehensive for someone looking for additional information? 

Does the page provide additional answers or information around the topic? 

Are there visual elements? 

It’s best to put on your detective hat and try to uncover why a piece of content might be ranking for a particular featured snippet:

What part of the page is Google pulling that featured snippet content from? 

Is it marked up in a certain way? 

What other elements are on the page? 

Is there a common theme? 

What additional value can you glean from the ranking featured snippet?

9. Does Google identify and prioritize informational websites for featured snippets, or are they determined by a correlation between pages with useful information and frequency of snippets? 

In other words, would being an e-commerce site harm your chances of winning featured snippets, all other factors being the same?

I’m not sure whether Google explicitly categorizes informational websites. They likely establish a trust metric of sorts for domains and then seek out information or content that most succinctly answers queries within their trust parameters, but this is just a hypothesis.

While informational sites tend to do overwhelmingly better than other types of websites, it’s absolutely possible for an e-commerce website to find creative ways of snagging featured snippets.

It’s fascinating how various e-commerce websites have found their way into current featured snippets in extremely savvy ways. Here's a super relevant example: after our webinar experienced issues and wasn't able to launch on time, I did a voice search for “how much do stamps cost” to determine how expensive it would be to send apology notes to all of our hopeful attendees. 

This was the voice answer:

“According to stamps.com the cost of a one ounce first class mail stamp is $0.55 at the Post Office, or $.047 if you buy and print stamps online using stamps.com.”

Pretty clever, right? I believe there are plenty of savvy ways like this to get your brand and offers into featured snippets.

10. When did the "People Also Ask" feature first appear? What changes to PAAs do you anticipate in the future?



People Also Ask boxes first appeared in July 2015 as a small-scale test. Their presence in the SERPs grew over 1700% between July 2015 and March 2017, so they certainly exploded in popularity just a few years ago. Funny enough, I was one of the first SEOs to come across Google’s PAA testing — you can read about that stat and more in my original article on the subject: Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research and SEO Opportunities

We recently published some great PAA research by Samuel Mangialavori on the Moz Blog, as well: 5 Things You Should Know About "People Also Ask" & How to Take Advantage

And there are a couple of great articles cataloging the evolution of PAAs over the years here:

What’s the deal with "People also ask" boxes? (2016)

How the "People also ask" box is evolving (2017)

When it comes to predicting the future of PAAs, well, we don't have a crystal ball yet, but featured snippets continue to look more and more like PAA boxes with their new-ish accordion format. Is it possible Google will merge them into a single feature someday? It's hard to say, but as SEOs, our best bet is to maintain flexibility and prepare to roll with the punches the search engines send our way.

11. Can you explain what you meant by "15% of image URLs are not in organic"?

Sure thing! The majority of images that show up in featured snippet boxes (or to be more accurate, the webpage those images live on) do not rank organically within the first ten pages of organic search results for the featured snippet query.

12. How should content creators consider featured snippets when crafting written content? Are there any tools that can help?

First and foremost, you'll want to consider the searcher. 

What is their intent? 

What desired information or content are they after? 

Are you providing the desired information in the medium in which they desire it most (video, images, copy, etc)? 

Look to the current SERPs to determine how you should be providing content to your users. Read all of the results on page one:

What common themes do they have? 

What topics do they cover? 

How can you cover those better?

Dr. Pete has a fantastic Whiteboard Friday that covers how to write content to win featured snippets. Check it out: How to Write Content for Answers Using the Inverted Pyramid



You might also get some good advice from this classic Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin: How to Appear in Google's Answer Boxes

13. "Write quality content for people, not search engines" seems like great advice. But should I also be using any APIs or tools to audit my content? 

The only really helpful tool that comes to mind is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, but even that can be a bit disruptive to the creative process. The very best tool you might have for reviewing your content might be a real person. I would ensure that your content can be easily understood when read out loud to your targeted audience. It may help to consider whether your content, as a featured snippet, would make for an effective, helpful voice search result.

14. What's the best way to stay on top of trends when it comes to Google's featured snippets?

Find publications and tools that resonate, and keep an eye on them. Some of my favorites include:

MozCast to keep a pulse on the Google algorithm

Monitoring tools like STAT (email alerts when you win/lose a snippet? Awesome.)

Cultivating a healthy list of digital marketing heroes to follow on Twitter

Industry news publications like Search Engine Journal and, of course, the Moz Blog ;-)

Subscribing to SEO newsletters like the Moz Top 10

One of the very best things you can do, though, is performing your own investigative featured snippet research within your space. Publishing the trends you observe helps our entire community grow and learn. 

Thank you so much to every attendee who submitted their questions. Digging into these follow-up thoughts and ideas is one of the best parts of putting on a presentation. If you've got any lingering questions after the webinar, I would love to hear them — leave me a note in the comments and I'll be on point to answer you. And if you missed the webinar sign-up, you can still access it on-demand whenever you want.

We also promised you some bonus content, yeah? Here it is — I compiled all of my best tips and tricks for winning featured snippets into a downloadable cheat sheet that I hope is a helpful reference for you:

Free download: The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to win your own snippets when you're armed with data, drive, and a good, solid plan! Hopefully this is a great resource for you to have on hand, either to share around with colleagues or to print out and keep at your desk:

Grab the cheat sheet

Again, thank you so much for submitting your questions, and we'll see you in the comments for more.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[evempierson]

The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet and Interactive Q&A

Posted by BritneyMuller

Earlier this week, I hosted a webinar all about featured snippets covering essential background info, brand-new research we've done, the results of all the tests I've performed, and key takeaways. Things didn't quite go as planned, though. We had technical difficulties that interfered with our ability to broadcast live, and lots of folks were left with questions after the recording that we weren't able to answer in a follow-up Q&A.

The next best thing to a live webinar Q&A? A digital one that you can bookmark and come back to over and over again! We asked our incredibly patient, phenomenally smart attendees to submit their questions via email and promised to answer them in an upcoming blog post. We've pulled out the top recurring questions and themes from those submissions and addressed them below. If you had a question and missed the submission window, don't worry! Ask it down in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for the original webinar, you can register for it on-demand here:

Watch the webinar

And if you're here to grab the free featured snippets cheat sheet we put together, look no further — download the PDF directly here. Print it off, tape it to your office wall, and keep featured snippets top-of-mind as you create and optimize your site content. 

Now, let's get to those juicy questions!

1. Can I win a featured snippet with a brand-new website?

If you rank on page one for a keyword that triggers a featured snippet (in positions 1–10), you're a contender for stealing that featured snippet. It might be tougher with a new website, but you're in a position to be competitive if you're on page one — regardless of how established your site is.

We've got some great Whiteboard Fridays that cover how to set a new site up for success:

Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist

10 Basic SEO Tips to Index + Rank New Content Faster

How to Rank: The SEO Checklist

2. Does Google provide a tag that identifies traffic sources from featured snippets? Is there a GTM tag for this?

Unfortunately, Google does not provide a tag to help identify traffic from featured snippets. I'm not aware of a GTM tag that helps with this, either, but would love to hear any community suggestions or ideas in the comments!

It's worth noting that it's currently impossible to determine what percentage of your traffic comes from the featured snippet versus the duplicate organic URL below the featured snippet.

3. Do you think it's worth targeting longer-tail question-based queries that have very low monthly searches to gain a featured snippet?

Great question! My advice is this: don’t sleep on low-search-volume keywords. They often convert really well and in aggregate they can do wonders for a website. I suggest prioritizing long tail keywords that you foresee providing a high potential ROI. For example, there are millions of searches a month for the keyword “shoes.” Very competitive, but that query is pretty vague. In contrast, the keyword “size 6 red womens nike running shoes” is very specific. This searcher knows what they want and they're dialing in their search to find it. This is a great example of a long tail keyword phrase that could provide direct conversions.

4. What's the best keyword strategy for determining which queries are worth creating featured snippet-optimized content for?

Dr. Pete wrote a great blog post outlining how to perform keyword research for featured snippets back in 2016. Once you've narrowed down your list of likely queries, you need to look at keywords that you rank on page one for, that trigger a snippet, and that you don't yet own. Next, narrow your list down further by what you envision will have the highest ROI for your goals. Are you trying to drive conversions? Attract top-of-funnel site visitors? Make sure the queries you target align with your business goals, and go from there. Both Moz Pro and STAT can be a big help with this process.

A tactical pro tip: Use the featured snippet carousel queries as a starting point. For instance, if there's a snippet for the query "car insurance" with a carousel of "in Florida," "in Michigan," and so on, you might consider writing about state-specific topics to win those carousel snippets. For this technique, the bonus is that you don't really need to be on page one for the root term (or ranking at all) — often, carousel snippets are taken from off-SERP links.

5. Do featured snippets fluctuate according to language, i.e. if I have several versions of my site in different languages, will the snippet display for each version?

This is a great question! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do international/multi-language featured snippet research just yet, but hope to in the future. I would suspect the featured snippet could change depending on language and search variation. The best way to explore this is to do a search in an incognito (and un-logged-in) browser window of Google Chrome. If you've performed research along these lines, let us know what you found out down in the comments!

6. Why do featured snippet opportunities fluctuate in number from day to day?

Change really is the only constant in search. In the webinar, I discussed the various tests I did that caused Moz to lose a formerly won featured snippet (and what helped it reappear once again). Changes as simple as an extra period at the end of a sentence were enough to lose us the snippet. With content across the web constantly being created and edited and deprecated and in its own state of change, it's no wonder that it's tough to win and keep a featured snippet — sometimes even from one day to the next.

The SERPs are incredibly volatile things, with Google making updates multiple times every day. But when it comes down to the facts, there are a few things that reliably cause volatility (is that an oxymoron?):

If a snippet is pulling from a lower-ranking URL (not positions 1–3); this could mean Google is testing the best answer for the query

Google regularly changing which scraped content is used in each snippet

Featured snippet carousel topics changing

The best way to change-proof yourself is to become an authority in your particular niche (E-A-T, remember?) and strive to rank higher to increase your chances of capturing and keeping a featured snippet.

7. How can I use Keyword Lists to find missed SERP feature opportunities? What's the best way to use them to identify keyword gaps?

Keyword Lists are a wonderful area to uncover feature snippet (and other SERP feature) opportunity gaps. My favorite way to do this is to filter the Keyword List by your desired SERP feature. We’ll use featured snippets as an example. Next, sort by your website’s current rank (1–10) to determine your primary featured snippet gaps and opportunities.

The filters are another great way to tease out additional gaps:

Which keywords have high search volume and low competition? 

Which keywords have high organic CTR that you currently rank just off page one for?

8. What are best practices around reviewing the structure of content that's won a snippet, and how do I know whether it's worth replicating?

Content that has won a featured snippet is definitely worth reviewing (even if it doesn’t hold the featured snippet over time). Consider why Google might have provided this as a featured snippet:

Does it succinctly answer the query? 

Might it sound good as a voice answer? 

Is it comprehensive for someone looking for additional information? 

Does the page provide additional answers or information around the topic? 

Are there visual elements? 

It’s best to put on your detective hat and try to uncover why a piece of content might be ranking for a particular featured snippet:

What part of the page is Google pulling that featured snippet content from? 

Is it marked up in a certain way? 

What other elements are on the page? 

Is there a common theme? 

What additional value can you glean from the ranking featured snippet?

9. Does Google identify and prioritize informational websites for featured snippets, or are they determined by a correlation between pages with useful information and frequency of snippets? 

In other words, would being an e-commerce site harm your chances of winning featured snippets, all other factors being the same?

I’m not sure whether Google explicitly categorizes informational websites. They likely establish a trust metric of sorts for domains and then seek out information or content that most succinctly answers queries within their trust parameters, but this is just a hypothesis.

While informational sites tend to do overwhelmingly better than other types of websites, it’s absolutely possible for an e-commerce website to find creative ways of snagging featured snippets.

It’s fascinating how various e-commerce websites have found their way into current featured snippets in extremely savvy ways. Here's a super relevant example: after our webinar experienced issues and wasn't able to launch on time, I did a voice search for “how much do stamps cost” to determine how expensive it would be to send apology notes to all of our hopeful attendees. 

This was the voice answer:

“According to stamps.com the cost of a one ounce first class mail stamp is $0.55 at the Post Office, or $.047 if you buy and print stamps online using stamps.com.”

Pretty clever, right? I believe there are plenty of savvy ways like this to get your brand and offers into featured snippets.

10. When did the "People Also Ask" feature first appear? What changes to PAAs do you anticipate in the future?



People Also Ask boxes first appeared in July 2015 as a small-scale test. Their presence in the SERPs grew over 1700% between July 2015 and March 2017, so they certainly exploded in popularity just a few years ago. Funny enough, I was one of the first SEOs to come across Google’s PAA testing — you can read about that stat and more in my original article on the subject: Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research and SEO Opportunities

We recently published some great PAA research by Samuel Mangialavori on the Moz Blog, as well: 5 Things You Should Know About "People Also Ask" & How to Take Advantage

And there are a couple of great articles cataloging the evolution of PAAs over the years here:

What’s the deal with "People also ask" boxes? (2016)

How the "People also ask" box is evolving (2017)

When it comes to predicting the future of PAAs, well, we don't have a crystal ball yet, but featured snippets continue to look more and more like PAA boxes with their new-ish accordion format. Is it possible Google will merge them into a single feature someday? It's hard to say, but as SEOs, our best bet is to maintain flexibility and prepare to roll with the punches the search engines send our way.

11. Can you explain what you meant by "15% of image URLs are not in organic"?

Sure thing! The majority of images that show up in featured snippet boxes (or to be more accurate, the webpage those images live on) do not rank organically within the first ten pages of organic search results for the featured snippet query.

12. How should content creators consider featured snippets when crafting written content? Are there any tools that can help?

First and foremost, you'll want to consider the searcher. 

What is their intent? 

What desired information or content are they after? 

Are you providing the desired information in the medium in which they desire it most (video, images, copy, etc)? 

Look to the current SERPs to determine how you should be providing content to your users. Read all of the results on page one:

What common themes do they have? 

What topics do they cover? 

How can you cover those better?

Dr. Pete has a fantastic Whiteboard Friday that covers how to write content to win featured snippets. Check it out: How to Write Content for Answers Using the Inverted Pyramid



You might also get some good advice from this classic Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin: How to Appear in Google's Answer Boxes

13. "Write quality content for people, not search engines" seems like great advice. But should I also be using any APIs or tools to audit my content? 

The only really helpful tool that comes to mind is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, but even that can be a bit disruptive to the creative process. The very best tool you might have for reviewing your content might be a real person. I would ensure that your content can be easily understood when read out loud to your targeted audience. It may help to consider whether your content, as a featured snippet, would make for an effective, helpful voice search result.

14. What's the best way to stay on top of trends when it comes to Google's featured snippets?

Find publications and tools that resonate, and keep an eye on them. Some of my favorites include:

MozCast to keep a pulse on the Google algorithm

Monitoring tools like STAT (email alerts when you win/lose a snippet? Awesome.)

Cultivating a healthy list of digital marketing heroes to follow on Twitter

Industry news publications like Search Engine Journal and, of course, the Moz Blog ;-)

Subscribing to SEO newsletters like the Moz Top 10

One of the very best things you can do, though, is performing your own investigative featured snippet research within your space. Publishing the trends you observe helps our entire community grow and learn. 

Thank you so much to every attendee who submitted their questions. Digging into these follow-up thoughts and ideas is one of the best parts of putting on a presentation. If you've got any lingering questions after the webinar, I would love to hear them — leave me a note in the comments and I'll be on point to answer you. And if you missed the webinar sign-up, you can still access it on-demand whenever you want.

We also promised you some bonus content, yeah? Here it is — I compiled all of my best tips and tricks for winning featured snippets into a downloadable cheat sheet that I hope is a helpful reference for you:

Free download: The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to win your own snippets when you're armed with data, drive, and a good, solid plan! Hopefully this is a great resource for you to have on hand, either to share around with colleagues or to print out and keep at your desk:

Grab the cheat sheet

Again, thank you so much for submitting your questions, and we'll see you in the comments for more.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[thanhtuandoan89]

The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet and Interactive Q&A

Posted by BritneyMuller

Earlier this week, I hosted a webinar all about featured snippets covering essential background info, brand-new research we've done, the results of all the tests I've performed, and key takeaways. Things didn't quite go as planned, though. We had technical difficulties that interfered with our ability to broadcast live, and lots of folks were left with questions after the recording that we weren't able to answer in a follow-up Q&A.

The next best thing to a live webinar Q&A? A digital one that you can bookmark and come back to over and over again! We asked our incredibly patient, phenomenally smart attendees to submit their questions via email and promised to answer them in an upcoming blog post. We've pulled out the top recurring questions and themes from those submissions and addressed them below. If you had a question and missed the submission window, don't worry! Ask it down in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for the original webinar, you can register for it on-demand here:

Watch the webinar

And if you're here to grab the free featured snippets cheat sheet we put together, look no further — download the PDF directly here. Print it off, tape it to your office wall, and keep featured snippets top-of-mind as you create and optimize your site content. 

Now, let's get to those juicy questions!

1. Can I win a featured snippet with a brand-new website?

If you rank on page one for a keyword that triggers a featured snippet (in positions 1–10), you're a contender for stealing that featured snippet. It might be tougher with a new website, but you're in a position to be competitive if you're on page one — regardless of how established your site is.

We've got some great Whiteboard Fridays that cover how to set a new site up for success:

Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist

10 Basic SEO Tips to Index + Rank New Content Faster

How to Rank: The SEO Checklist

2. Does Google provide a tag that identifies traffic sources from featured snippets? Is there a GTM tag for this?

Unfortunately, Google does not provide a tag to help identify traffic from featured snippets. I'm not aware of a GTM tag that helps with this, either, but would love to hear any community suggestions or ideas in the comments!

It's worth noting that it's currently impossible to determine what percentage of your traffic comes from the featured snippet versus the duplicate organic URL below the featured snippet.

3. Do you think it's worth targeting longer-tail question-based queries that have very low monthly searches to gain a featured snippet?

Great question! My advice is this: don’t sleep on low-search-volume keywords. They often convert really well and in aggregate they can do wonders for a website. I suggest prioritizing long tail keywords that you foresee providing a high potential ROI. For example, there are millions of searches a month for the keyword “shoes.” Very competitive, but that query is pretty vague. In contrast, the keyword “size 6 red womens nike running shoes” is very specific. This searcher knows what they want and they're dialing in their search to find it. This is a great example of a long tail keyword phrase that could provide direct conversions.

4. What's the best keyword strategy for determining which queries are worth creating featured snippet-optimized content for?

Dr. Pete wrote a great blog post outlining how to perform keyword research for featured snippets back in 2016. Once you've narrowed down your list of likely queries, you need to look at keywords that you rank on page one for, that trigger a snippet, and that you don't yet own. Next, narrow your list down further by what you envision will have the highest ROI for your goals. Are you trying to drive conversions? Attract top-of-funnel site visitors? Make sure the queries you target align with your business goals, and go from there. Both Moz Pro and STAT can be a big help with this process.

A tactical pro tip: Use the featured snippet carousel queries as a starting point. For instance, if there's a snippet for the query "car insurance" with a carousel of "in Florida," "in Michigan," and so on, you might consider writing about state-specific topics to win those carousel snippets. For this technique, the bonus is that you don't really need to be on page one for the root term (or ranking at all) — often, carousel snippets are taken from off-SERP links.

5. Do featured snippets fluctuate according to language, i.e. if I have several versions of my site in different languages, will the snippet display for each version?

This is a great question! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do international/multi-language featured snippet research just yet, but hope to in the future. I would suspect the featured snippet could change depending on language and search variation. The best way to explore this is to do a search in an incognito (and un-logged-in) browser window of Google Chrome. If you've performed research along these lines, let us know what you found out down in the comments!

6. Why do featured snippet opportunities fluctuate in number from day to day?

Change really is the only constant in search. In the webinar, I discussed the various tests I did that caused Moz to lose a formerly won featured snippet (and what helped it reappear once again). Changes as simple as an extra period at the end of a sentence were enough to lose us the snippet. With content across the web constantly being created and edited and deprecated and in its own state of change, it's no wonder that it's tough to win and keep a featured snippet — sometimes even from one day to the next.

The SERPs are incredibly volatile things, with Google making updates multiple times every day. But when it comes down to the facts, there are a few things that reliably cause volatility (is that an oxymoron?):

If a snippet is pulling from a lower-ranking URL (not positions 1–3); this could mean Google is testing the best answer for the query

Google regularly changing which scraped content is used in each snippet

Featured snippet carousel topics changing

The best way to change-proof yourself is to become an authority in your particular niche (E-A-T, remember?) and strive to rank higher to increase your chances of capturing and keeping a featured snippet.

7. How can I use Keyword Lists to find missed SERP feature opportunities? What's the best way to use them to identify keyword gaps?

Keyword Lists are a wonderful area to uncover feature snippet (and other SERP feature) opportunity gaps. My favorite way to do this is to filter the Keyword List by your desired SERP feature. We’ll use featured snippets as an example. Next, sort by your website’s current rank (1–10) to determine your primary featured snippet gaps and opportunities.

The filters are another great way to tease out additional gaps:

Which keywords have high search volume and low competition? 

Which keywords have high organic CTR that you currently rank just off page one for?

8. What are best practices around reviewing the structure of content that's won a snippet, and how do I know whether it's worth replicating?

Content that has won a featured snippet is definitely worth reviewing (even if it doesn’t hold the featured snippet over time). Consider why Google might have provided this as a featured snippet:

Does it succinctly answer the query? 

Might it sound good as a voice answer? 

Is it comprehensive for someone looking for additional information? 

Does the page provide additional answers or information around the topic? 

Are there visual elements? 

It’s best to put on your detective hat and try to uncover why a piece of content might be ranking for a particular featured snippet:

What part of the page is Google pulling that featured snippet content from? 

Is it marked up in a certain way? 

What other elements are on the page? 

Is there a common theme? 

What additional value can you glean from the ranking featured snippet?

9. Does Google identify and prioritize informational websites for featured snippets, or are they determined by a correlation between pages with useful information and frequency of snippets? 

In other words, would being an e-commerce site harm your chances of winning featured snippets, all other factors being the same?

I’m not sure whether Google explicitly categorizes informational websites. They likely establish a trust metric of sorts for domains and then seek out information or content that most succinctly answers queries within their trust parameters, but this is just a hypothesis.

While informational sites tend to do overwhelmingly better than other types of websites, it’s absolutely possible for an e-commerce website to find creative ways of snagging featured snippets.

It’s fascinating how various e-commerce websites have found their way into current featured snippets in extremely savvy ways. Here's a super relevant example: after our webinar experienced issues and wasn't able to launch on time, I did a voice search for “how much do stamps cost” to determine how expensive it would be to send apology notes to all of our hopeful attendees. 

This was the voice answer:

“According to stamps.com the cost of a one ounce first class mail stamp is $0.55 at the Post Office, or $.047 if you buy and print stamps online using stamps.com.”

Pretty clever, right? I believe there are plenty of savvy ways like this to get your brand and offers into featured snippets.

10. When did the "People Also Ask" feature first appear? What changes to PAAs do you anticipate in the future?



People Also Ask boxes first appeared in July 2015 as a small-scale test. Their presence in the SERPs grew over 1700% between July 2015 and March 2017, so they certainly exploded in popularity just a few years ago. Funny enough, I was one of the first SEOs to come across Google’s PAA testing — you can read about that stat and more in my original article on the subject: Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research and SEO Opportunities

We recently published some great PAA research by Samuel Mangialavori on the Moz Blog, as well: 5 Things You Should Know About "People Also Ask" & How to Take Advantage

And there are a couple of great articles cataloging the evolution of PAAs over the years here:

What’s the deal with "People also ask" boxes? (2016)

How the "People also ask" box is evolving (2017)

When it comes to predicting the future of PAAs, well, we don't have a crystal ball yet, but featured snippets continue to look more and more like PAA boxes with their new-ish accordion format. Is it possible Google will merge them into a single feature someday? It's hard to say, but as SEOs, our best bet is to maintain flexibility and prepare to roll with the punches the search engines send our way.

11. Can you explain what you meant by "15% of image URLs are not in organic"?

Sure thing! The majority of images that show up in featured snippet boxes (or to be more accurate, the webpage those images live on) do not rank organically within the first ten pages of organic search results for the featured snippet query.

12. How should content creators consider featured snippets when crafting written content? Are there any tools that can help?

First and foremost, you'll want to consider the searcher. 

What is their intent? 

What desired information or content are they after? 

Are you providing the desired information in the medium in which they desire it most (video, images, copy, etc)? 

Look to the current SERPs to determine how you should be providing content to your users. Read all of the results on page one:

What common themes do they have? 

What topics do they cover? 

How can you cover those better?

Dr. Pete has a fantastic Whiteboard Friday that covers how to write content to win featured snippets. Check it out: How to Write Content for Answers Using the Inverted Pyramid



You might also get some good advice from this classic Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin: How to Appear in Google's Answer Boxes

13. "Write quality content for people, not search engines" seems like great advice. But should I also be using any APIs or tools to audit my content? 

The only really helpful tool that comes to mind is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, but even that can be a bit disruptive to the creative process. The very best tool you might have for reviewing your content might be a real person. I would ensure that your content can be easily understood when read out loud to your targeted audience. It may help to consider whether your content, as a featured snippet, would make for an effective, helpful voice search result.

14. What's the best way to stay on top of trends when it comes to Google's featured snippets?

Find publications and tools that resonate, and keep an eye on them. Some of my favorites include:

MozCast to keep a pulse on the Google algorithm

Monitoring tools like STAT (email alerts when you win/lose a snippet? Awesome.)

Cultivating a healthy list of digital marketing heroes to follow on Twitter

Industry news publications like Search Engine Journal and, of course, the Moz Blog ;-)

Subscribing to SEO newsletters like the Moz Top 10

One of the very best things you can do, though, is performing your own investigative featured snippet research within your space. Publishing the trends you observe helps our entire community grow and learn. 

Thank you so much to every attendee who submitted their questions. Digging into these follow-up thoughts and ideas is one of the best parts of putting on a presentation. If you've got any lingering questions after the webinar, I would love to hear them — leave me a note in the comments and I'll be on point to answer you. And if you missed the webinar sign-up, you can still access it on-demand whenever you want.

We also promised you some bonus content, yeah? Here it is — I compiled all of my best tips and tricks for winning featured snippets into a downloadable cheat sheet that I hope is a helpful reference for you:

Free download: The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to win your own snippets when you're armed with data, drive, and a good, solid plan! Hopefully this is a great resource for you to have on hand, either to share around with colleagues or to print out and keep at your desk:

Grab the cheat sheet

Again, thank you so much for submitting your questions, and we'll see you in the comments for more.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!