Definition
Featured Snippet
A featured snippet is a short answer Google extracts and displays at the top of search results, lifted directly from a page. It predates AI answers but rewards the same thing: concise, well-structured, directly-answering content.
The habits that earned featured snippets, a direct lead answer, question-style headings, clean lists, are the same ones that earn answer-engine citations today.
Are featured snippets the same as AI answers?
Not identical, but closely related. Both lift concise, well-structured answers from pages. Optimizing for one, direct answers, clear headings, FAQ content, helps with the other.