Pop quiz: What do the following questions have in common from a digital marketing perspective?

• How does cremation work?
• How much does cremation cost?
• What are the steps for preplanning a funeral?

They're all great, keyword-rich subheading options for cremation and funeral care marketing blogs. They're also all things people might type into search engines.

But the answer we're looking for is that each of those questions shows up in a featured snippet such as "People also ask," "From the web," or "Other sites say" when someone searches Google for related keywords (such as "funeral cost").

Perhaps you've heard of featured snippets in general or "People also ask" questions, but you might be wondering: What are those other snippets? And why is Google always changing the layout of the search engine results pages?
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Let's take a deep dive into Google's new feature snippets testing and what it means for deathcare marketing.

Also called "answer boxes," featured snippets are short pieces of content Google takes directly from web pages to display in search engine results pages. For Google, the goal is to provide the searcher with as much relevant information on the search page as possible.
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For example, as of the writing of this piece, The Annuity Expert held the featured snippet for the search "how much does a funeral cost." Google displays the following text in the answer box, along with the URL and link to the page the content came from:

On the same search engine results page, Google presents a box with "People also ask" questions—queries it deems the searcher might also be interested in. For this search, some questions included "Is $10,000 enough for a funeral?" and "What is the cheapest funeral cost?"

For cremation services and other deathcare firms, these snippets and boxes provide another way to show up organically on the first page of Google search results. If Google thinks you provide the best, most relevant answer to a specific question, it scrapes your content to include on the page along with a link to your site.

You can show up in the answer boxes even if your page doesn't rank in the top 10 results for that keyword. Even better, you can show up in the top 10 and in an answer box, providing you more presence on the first page and an increased likelihood of winning the click.
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Having other ways to land on the first page of Google is great news for businesses that provide cremation services. Three-quarters of people never click past the first page of search engine results, so if you're not on page one, you're probably not getting seen or driving organic traffic.

Snippets and answer boxes are such good ideas, Google is trying out more of them. Throughout early 2022, the search engine has tested "From the web" and "Other sites say" features.

• From the web: This feature presents a box that gathers a handful of answers to a query from what Google deems are top pages. On average, the collection includes two to five results from the web, presenting 20-25 words of relevant content from each page and a link to click on. So far, when "From the web" answers show up, they replace the featured snippet.
• Other sites say: In other cases, Google keeps the featured snippet but appends an "Other sites say" section to it. This gathers three pages that also address the question or topic and presents a short content snippet (less than a sentence) along with links to the pages in question.

Both boxes provide searchers with more choices that Google has deemed highly relevant and potentially high-quality.

For cremation service businesses, these new tests are mostly good news. If Google moves to regularly providing more link options in answer boxes, that's more real estate on page one of the search results.
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Of course, if you already own a featured snippet, this change comes with a small bit of bad news: You'll have more immediate competition for the click. If Google rolls this change out over all pages and keywords—including those related to cremation—anyone driving traffic with featured snippets might experience a drop in traffic.

Many marketers and SEO firms make the mistake of focusing exclusively on Google properties like answer boxes. They tailor all their content to win the featured snippets, and when Google makes a change like this, a lot of their work must be rethought.

As a deathcare firm engaging in digital marketing, you should never load all your eggs in one basket. Is there value in asking relevant questions and answering them with short, concise paragraphs? Absolutely. Users love this, because it helps them scan content for exactly what they need (which is why the FAQ page remains a popular format). And if your answers win you an extra link on page one of Google results, even better!

But avoid writing content just to win answer boxes. Google's move to add more links to those properties dilutes the power of them, and you can diminish the quality of your content by focusing solely on these things.
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Instead, stick with tried-and-true content marketing best practices:

• Write relevant content. Think about the keyword and the intent of the searcher, then answer it with your content.
• Write high-quality content. Make sure your content is easy to read, includes good information, and is grammatically correct.
• Write useful content. Create content that is actionable or helpful for the reader. If you're targeting "cremation preplanning," write about the steps people should take and the benefits of funeral preplanning specific to cremation. Don't simply define cremation preplanning and leave it at that.

While you're creating great content, look for ways to organically include answers that Google might pick up for snippets. "Organically" means that the questions and answers flow naturally with the content you're creating as opposed to the content coming from a desire to write a featured snippet.

Putting high-quality content first—even above the latest Google change—supports long-term digital marketing success.

No matter what you think about the evolution of the North American Funeral Rite, you have to acknowledge that cremation is, and has been for some time, a major part of society’s expectation of what happens when someone dies. As the demand for cremation services has increased over the past few decades, funeral professionals have responded in a variety of ways to meet their consumer’s expectations. Some have even tried to divert their community’s attention away from cremation, to no avail. Regardless, cremation is now fully integrated into our society’s funeral ideal and shows no signs of changing anytime soon. Funeral service professionals must now add Cremation Specialist to their long litany of talents.

Most funeral service professionals don’t operate cremation equipment, but thankfully, that is not required to have cremation expertise. Knowing what goes on at the crematory, by what means the decedent will travel through the process, and how your firm and the crematory assure the remains that start the journey are the same that are returned at the end will put the family’s mind at rest and create a sense of comfort and confidence that their loved one is in good hands.

One doubt many have, which can be alleviated from the start, is how the decedent’s identity will be confirmed, verified, and documented throughout the journey. This could be put into words during the removal or as part of the arrangement conference. Knowing and confidently clarifying both the ID process and the chain of custody protocols is good practice for a cremation professional. If you don't feel confident outlining the process, talk to your crematory operators. They can walk you through everything in detail and even if you don’t have all of the steps perfectly memorized, sharing with your families that your crematory does indeed have a formal process that is followed consistently is expert-level knowledge.

Most believe that cremation causes pollution. Any time something burns and heat is generated, emissions are produced, but the cremation professional takes an educated approach when answering inquiries regarding emissions and the environment. Modern cremation equipment is designed so well that (when properly maintained and properly operated) the emissions are minimal and insignificant. The sophisticated control systems and airflow design along with the physical design of the equipment assure minimum emissions. According to environmental experts, cremation is one of the lowest sources of pollution and, because of that, isn’t regulated by the US Federal EPA (but are regulated at the local level).

If one has to wait for something, they are undoubtedly going to want to know how long the wait will be. The variables involved in calculating how long it will take seem endless. How busy is the crematory at the moment? Are all of the necessary permits and authorizations in place? Is the deceased of average size or will there be extenuating circumstances that may delay the cremation? (For example, the decedent is a larger individual that will require special handling at the crematory). For the most part, if there are no barriers, the actual cremation takes between 1 and 3 hours to perform. There is also the time needed for processing and packaging the cremated remains. Keeping track of all of these variables can be cumbersome, but navigating all that is something a cremation professional does as part of their service.

Often families will have questions regarding the actual cremation process. Knowing the basics regarding how things work is not difficult. Cremation, by definition, is a thermal (mechanical or other dissolution) process that reduces deceased human or pet remains to bone-like fragments. The process also involves the further reduction of the remains via pulverization of the bone-like fragments into pieces that are usually no more than one-eighth inch. The temperatures involved range from 1400°F to 1800°F depending on the make and model of the equipment. All cremation equipment has multiple chambers that combust and re-combust what is produced during the process so the pollution that is created is eliminated before re-entering the atmosphere. For the most part, what goes back into the atmosphere is breathable, clean air.

Another important characteristic of a cremation specialist is their lack of assumption that the cremation family does not find value in more traditional funeral services. The cremation specialist knows it's their duty to help the family find the right services to honor their loved one in concert with their choice of disposition. This may be nothing more than the removal of the deceased at the place of death, curating the necessary forms and authorizations, and the actual cremation — but it may be more. It may be a full-on “traditional” funeral service complete with embalming, visitation, rosary, livery, procession, church or chapel service before the cremation, and a graveside committal service. It may be something in between. The funeral director cremation specialist is, at their very core, a funeral director regardless of the choice of disposition, and facilitates an event appropriate for their families.
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With any consumer transaction, the more you know about the products and services you offer, the happier your client will be. If someone wants to buy a new Ford F-150 pickup they are going to head to the Ford dealer, not the Volkswagen showroom. Value is perceived (and directly related to) the expertise of the professional facilitating the transaction and funeral service is no exception.