I’ve been writing a lot about changes to Featured Snippets lately. I started by explaining how results may no longer appear in the top spot, then compiled a more thorough analysis of this change.

One of the aspects of my full research piece was that this change impacts only a very small portion of Featured Snippets (not all). They are effectively Knowledge Panels, but do meet the more general FS criteria.

For a site like Wikipedia, which makes for an easy reference in this regard, had less than 1% of all their Featured Snippets not appearing in the top position. This is a very low number and important to note.

After I published my research piece, Abby Reimer of Uproer pointed out to me on LinkedIn something that I’d completely missed in my post. Something that I really needed to do a double-take on.

It appears as though this new type of Featured Snippet has the ability to have it’s URL repeated in search results. Basically the same as what the FS world was like pre-deduplication.

I looked at a bunch of queries that I’d used in my research and the URL repeating was definitely happening for some, but not all. Looking back at my Search Engine Land post, even the “bio oil” example I used had it.

So, there you have it. Some Featured Snippets may not show in the top position and some of those may have a URL repeated… But remember, these aren’t your typical Featured Snippets.

Because they align closely to Knowledge Panels, trying to obtain them isn’t the same as your typical FS. And this change is, again, going to be pretty rare to stumble across.

I think these new types of Featured Snippets may need to be named something different. Ability to not rank in the top spot and also have URLs repeated is pretty unique to their situation.

If you had an idea for a suitable name, let me know. Might be easier if they had a specific reference (for SEOs and tool providers).