Google Featured Snippets Go Wrong, Consider Using data-nosnippet

Mar 13, 2023 - 7:21 am 3 by

Google Cover Eyes

On Friday, Bill Elward noticed how a featured snippet had a header above it that read "Advertisement." Bill asked if this was a new Google Ad format from Google for featured snippet placement - the answer was no. The featured snippet simply picked up text on the page that said "Advertisement" and put that in the featured snippet.

When this happens, it can look bad for the site from who the featured snippet is coming up for and it can look bad for Google. But the site does have some control over that featured snippet. they can try to use the data-nosnippet robots meta tag to block Google from using portions of their page for snippets.

Here is what went down on Friday when Bill Elward posted about this:

I replied, this is not a featured snippet Google Ad, it is Google picking up the text on the Mayo Clinic page that says "Advertisement" and showing it in the featured snippet. Featured snippets are not ads.

Here is what I pointed out; notice the featured snippet "Advertisement" text:

click for full size

So I clicked over to the page and first looked for that word, and yep, here it is:

click for full size

Google's Search Liaison confirmed this is where it came from, saying, "Correct. It's just unfortunately picking up the word as part of the featured snippet. Not an ad. We don't have featured snippet "ads." Will pass it on."

Danny Sullivan, the Google Search Liaison, then recommended looking to use the nosnippet metag tag if this occurs. Glenn Gabe pointed out that it would be the data-nosnippet tag you'd want to use.

Anyway, figured I'd share and highlight this from Friday.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: June 13, 2025

Jun 13, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google AI Mode Search, Apple Intelligence Updates, Google Live Search, AI Content, SEO & Google Ads

Jun 13, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google

Google Is Now Rolling Out AI Mode In The US

Jun 13, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Drops Support For Seven Existing Structured Data Markups

Jun 13, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Shows Audience Size For Custom Segments

Jun 13, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google

Google Search Autocomplete With Back To All

Jun 13, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Bing Search Featured Answers Might Be Replaced By Bing Chat Answers