diff --git a/caddyconfig/caddyfile/parse.go b/caddyconfig/caddyfile/parse.go
index 6a4db5bbb..58d9b272c 100644
--- a/caddyconfig/caddyfile/parse.go
+++ b/caddyconfig/caddyfile/parse.go
@@ -550,7 +550,11 @@ func (p *parser) doImport(nesting int) error {
 		}
 
 		if foundBlockDirective {
-			tokensCopy = append(tokensCopy, tokensToAdd...)
+			if maybeSnippet {
+				tokensCopy = append(tokensCopy, token)
+			} else {
+				tokensCopy = append(tokensCopy, tokensToAdd...)
+			}
 			continue
 		}
 
diff --git a/caddyconfig/caddyfile/parse_test.go b/caddyconfig/caddyfile/parse_test.go
index 516b7dfd9..9403f7ac3 100644
--- a/caddyconfig/caddyfile/parse_test.go
+++ b/caddyconfig/caddyfile/parse_test.go
@@ -960,6 +960,77 @@ import `+importFile2+`
 	}
 }
 
+func TestImportedSnippetDefinitionRetainsBlockPlaceholder(t *testing.T) {
+	tempDir := t.TempDir()
+	importFile := filepath.Join(tempDir, "snippets.caddy")
+
+	err := os.WriteFile(importFile, []byte(`
+		(site) {
+			http://{args[0]} {
+				respond "before"
+				{block}
+				respond "after"
+			}
+		}
+	`), 0o644)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("writing imported snippet file: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		name               string
+		input              string
+		expectedDirectives []string
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "with nested block",
+			input: `
+				import ` + importFile + `
+
+				import site example.com {
+					redir https://example.net
+				}
+			`,
+			expectedDirectives: []string{"respond", "redir", "respond"},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "without nested block",
+			input: `
+				import ` + importFile + `
+
+				import site example.com
+			`,
+			expectedDirectives: []string{"respond", "respond"},
+		},
+	} {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			p := testParser(tc.input)
+			blocks, err := p.parseAll()
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("parseAll: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			if len(blocks) != 1 {
+				t.Fatalf("expected exactly one server block, got %d", len(blocks))
+			}
+
+			if actual := blocks[0].GetKeysText(); len(actual) != 1 || actual[0] != "http://example.com" {
+				t.Fatalf("expected server block key http://example.com, got %v", actual)
+			}
+
+			if len(blocks[0].Segments) != len(tc.expectedDirectives) {
+				t.Fatalf("expected %d segments, got %d", len(tc.expectedDirectives), len(blocks[0].Segments))
+			}
+
+			for i, directive := range tc.expectedDirectives {
+				if actual := blocks[0].Segments[i].Directive(); actual != directive {
+					t.Fatalf("segment %d: expected directive %q, got %q", i, directive, actual)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func testParser(input string) parser {
 	return parser{Dispenser: NewTestDispenser(input)}
 }
diff --git a/caddytest/integration/caddyfile_adapt/import_block_snippet_invalid_subdirective.caddyfiletest b/caddytest/integration/caddyfile_adapt/import_block_snippet_invalid_subdirective.caddyfiletest
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6936bada1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/caddytest/integration/caddyfile_adapt/import_block_snippet_invalid_subdirective.caddyfiletest
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{
+  admin off
+  auto_https off
+}
+
+import testdata/issue_7557_invalid_subdirective_snippet.conf
+
+:8080 {
+  import test {
+  	this_is_nonsense
+  }
+}
+
+----------
+parsing caddyfile tokens for 'reverse_proxy': unrecognized subdirective this_is_nonsense
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/caddytest/integration/testdata/issue_7557_invalid_subdirective_snippet.conf b/caddytest/integration/testdata/issue_7557_invalid_subdirective_snippet.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d7cb0c9ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/caddytest/integration/testdata/issue_7557_invalid_subdirective_snippet.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Used by import_block_snippet_invalid_subdirective.caddyfiletest
+
+(test) {
+  reverse_proxy {
+    {block}
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file