Will AI Answers Replace Featured Snippets in 2026?

For nearly ten years, winning the position zero was the holy grail of SEO: that response block displayed at the very top of Google, above the blue links. Then AI answers arrived, and the question imposed itself: does this historic format still have a future?

The figures are stark, and they must be faced. But the conclusion often drawn from them — the pure and simple disappearance of the featured snippet — is wrong. The reality is more nuanced, and above all more actionable: the snippet is not dying, it is changing role.

Here is what the data says, what is really at stake between these two formats, and how to adapt your strategy.

Key takeaways from this article

• Featured snippet visibility dropped by 64% between January and June 2025 on tracked queries.
• AI Overviews appear on approximately 58% of searches at the start of 2026.
• The featured snippet is not disappearing: it is becoming a base material for AI answers.
• Pages that held a snippet are cited approximately twice as often in AI Overviews.
• Optimising for position zero remains the best path to being cited by AI.

Featured Snippet and AI Answer: What Are We Talking About?

Before comparing, let us define the two formats, as they resemble each other in appearance but function differently.

Definition: featured snippet

The featured snippet, or position zero, is a block extracted from a single web page and displayed above classic results. It presents a direct answer, in the form of a paragraph, list or table, accompanied by the title and URL of the source. A page ranked fifth or sixth can win it if its content is well-structured.

The AI answer, or AI Overview, works differently. Generated by the Gemini model, it synthesises several sources into a single text, with links to the pages used. Where the snippet cites one page, the AI answer aggregates several. It is this capacity for synthesis that explains Google’s growing preference for this format on complex queries.

What the Figures Really Say

The transition has been anything but gradual, it has been brutal. According to Ahrefs, the visibility of featured snippets dropped from 15.41% in January 2025 to 5.53% in June of the same year, a fall of 64% across more than 860,000 tracked keywords. Other analyses point to a replacement rate of around 83% over eight months.

At the same time, AI Overviews established themselves on approximately 58% of searches at the start of 2026. The correlation between the decline of snippets and the rise of AI answers is very strong. One might therefore conclude with pure and simple replacement. This would be an incomplete reading, as it overlooks what happens to the absorbed snippets.

Featured Snippet and AI Answer Compared

The Featured Snippet is Not Dying, it is Changing Role

Here is the discovery that upends the debate. Google has not discarded featured snippets: it uses them as material to build its AI answers. The two formats are not rivals, one feeds the other.

The Digital Applied data is unambiguous: pages that held a featured snippet are cited in AI Overviews at a rate approximately twice that of pages that did not have one. In other words, position zero has become the best entry ticket to being cited by AI. The work of clean extraction, direct response and clear structure — the very work that won a snippet — is exactly what the model is looking for to build its synthesis.

The snippet therefore does not disappear from your strategy, it becomes its first step. Optimising for position zero is no longer an end in itself, it is the most reliable path to visibility in generated responses.

Where the Featured Snippet Retains its Full Value

The decline of snippets is not uniform, and this is a key point for allocating your efforts. AI Overviews dominate informational queries, those that begin with how, why or what is. However, they appear far less often on transactional and navigational queries.

On these commercial and practical queries, the featured snippet retains an excellent click-through rate and represents the best return on investment for 2026. It also remains central to voice search, with assistants like Google Assistant or Alexa frequently drawing their answers from this format. These are all areas where targeting position zero still makes complete sense.

How to Optimise for Both Formats?

Good news: the best practices converge. Optimising for the snippet and for the AI answer is the same underlying work.

• Answer before developing: place a clear and direct answer at the top of the section, in 40 to 60 words, before going into detail.
• Structure according to intent: a paragraph for a definition, a list for steps, a table for a comparison. The format must match the question.
• Use explicit headings: vague labels like Overview weaken extraction. Phrase your headings as real questions.
• Take care with structured data: rigorous markup helps Google understand and reuse your content, at the heart of on-site technical optimisation.
• Write for two readers: a response block designed for the machine, and the rest of the page for the user. Confusing the two means losing on both fronts.
• Track your position zero rankings: in Search Console, identify the queries where your average position is around 1. These are your best candidates for AI citation.

Doko, Your Visibility Partner in Lyon

Doko is a human-scale Lyon-based webmarketing agency, based in La Mulatière. A Google Premier Partner, we help businesses secure their visibility as the results page transforms, treating organic search and AI engine search ranking.

Our conviction: position zero is not dead, it has become the entry point for AI answers. We structure your content so that it is extracted and cited, on real data and without promising miracles. Want to stay at the top of the page despite the shift? Request a quote.

FAQ: AI Answers and Featured Snippets

Will Featured Snippets Disappear?

No, but their visibility is declining sharply on informational queries. They are not disappearing however: Google uses them as sources to build its AI answers, and they hold firm on commercial and navigational queries.

Should You Still Optimise for Position Zero in 2026?

Yes, more than ever. Pages that hold a featured snippet are cited approximately twice as often in AI Overviews. Targeting position zero remains the most reliable path to AI citation.

What is the Difference Between a Featured Snippet and an AI Answer?

The featured snippet extracts the answer from a single page and displays it as-is. The AI answer synthesises several sources into a text reformulated by Gemini. One cites a page, the other aggregates several.

What Content Still Wins a Featured Snippet?

Direct, well-structured responses adapted to intent: a paragraph for a definition, a list for steps, a table for a comparison. Transactional and practical queries remain the most favourable.

How Do I Know if I Hold Position Zero Rankings?

Open Search Console and filter queries where the average position sits around 1. Tools like Ahrefs or Semrush then confirm snippet ownership query by query.