Snippet

A snippet is the preview of a search result on the SERPThe Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is the page a search engine returns after a query. Besides the organic listings it often contains extra elements such as ads, featured snippets or AI Overviews.Open glossary entry →. It usually consists of three parts:

• the page titleThe title tag is an HTML element in the page <head> that defines the page title. It appears in the browser tab and can be used as the clickable title in search results.Open glossary entry → (title tag),
• the URL or breadcrumbBreadcrumb navigation shows a page's path within the website hierarchy. It improves user orientation and complements internal linking.Open glossary entry → structure,
• the description, often from the meta descriptionThe meta description is an HTML element in the page <head> that briefly summarises the page's content. Google can display it as the description in the search result.Open glossary entry →.

The snippetA snippet is the compact display of a result in the search results, usually made up of a title, URL and description. It is what users see before clicking.Open glossary entry → is, in effect, a page's advertising text in search. It strongly influences whether a user clicks, because on the results page a listing competes with many others. However, Google does not always use the stored meta description; it often generates its own excerpt from the page content when that better matches the query.

For a snippet to be convincing, the title, description and page content should align, the most important argument should come first, and a clear benefit should be evident. Good snippets are a quick lever to win more clicks from existing rankings.