Structure the snippet to resolve the core question while signaling there is essential depth still on the page: answer the what, and make them click for the how, why, and exceptions. The technique is answer-the-headline-tease-the-depth. You give Google a clean, direct response to the literal query, enough to win the featured position, but you frame it so the searcher can see the real value (the steps, the reasoning, the edge cases) lives on the page itself. Done well, you win the snippet without giving away the whole answer. Done wrong in either direction, you either hand over everything and trigger zero clicks, or withhold so much that you lose the snippet to a clearer competitor.
The balance lives in what you put in the snippet-eligible passage. Lead with a concise, complete-feeling answer to the headline question, because Google rewards a direct response and a vague one will not win the spot. Then make sure that passage answers only the surface of the query, not its depth: name that there are steps without listing all of them, state the rule without every exception, give the verdict without the full reasoning. The searcher gets a real answer and also a clear sense that the substance, the part they actually need to act, is one click away.
So write the snippet section deliberately. Open with a direct answer to the core question, keep it to the what rather than the full how and why, and reserve the actionable depth (steps, exceptions, reasoning, examples) for the body. Format the page so the snippet-target passage is useful on its own while the substance lives below it, rather than dumping the entire answer into a single paragraph Google can lift whole. Then check the live snippet to confirm Google is pulling the headline answer and not the whole thing, and adjust if it lifts too much. This is worth re-checking over time, since how snippets are drawn shifts.