Just a few months ago, we reported that Google may have started showing more featured snippets recently but the data between the tool providers seemed off. It might be how each tool provider tracks those features.
Well, now, it seems that maybe Google is showing featured snippets less often in the search results. Both RankRanger and Mozcast show declines in the percentage of queries showing featured snippets for the queries they are tracking.
RankRanger:
Mozcast:
I have not seen webmasters, SEOs or publishers complain about seeing less featured snippets for their sites. So I am not sure if this is super widespread or just based on the data sets these tool providers are tracking. Or maybe it was a UI change in Google's search results that triggered it.
Are you noticing your site is coming up less often for featured snippets or less featured snippets are showing up in the Google search results? It would surprise me if that was the case, you'd expect Google to show more featured snippets over time, not less.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
