When a user conducts an online search, their preferred search engine provides several relevant links to web pages they can follow on their search engine results page (SERP). The links to the different pages also include additional information.
Most SERPs present a few paid ads at the top, followed by organic results below. The SEO traffic results depend on the keyword used to search.
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Understanding Google SERP
The Google search engine remains the most popular since it’s used for 88% of searches, followed by Bing and Yahoo. Search engines aim to help people find information by organizing it and presenting it in a useful way.
Types of Google SERP Listings
Google only makes money by selling ads and does not charge for appearing on their search engine. However, ads will only appear during a search when they are relevant to the search terms and are always labeled. Besides ads and organic search results, searchers also see other SERP features.
Let’s dive a little deeper:
Organic (Unpaid) Search Results
Out of the trillions of searches made on Google annually, most clicks go to organic search results, making SEO immensely important. The reason is that the higher ranking results get the most clicks, with one study showing that the first position gets 31.73% and the fifth only get 9.51%.
Some of the most important ranking factors for organic sites include on-page factors like content and meta tags. Additionally, they include off-page factors like backlinks.
Most importantly, your basic search snippet is a significant on-page factor, and the more information you can provide, the better. Therefore, where a basic snippet will include the URL and navigational links, the title link, and a description, you can enrich the information with additional parts. These include a rating, an image, and other links.
Known as “rich snippets,” these can bring more visitors to your website, even without higher rankings, because they make your results stand out.
Paid Search Results
A listing can appear above or below organic results on Google’s SERP when you pay for cost-per-click advertising on Google Ads. For example, users searching for a physical product see Google Shopping Ads from eCommerce stores somewhere on the page. These ads include product images and less text.
SERP Features
Any search result not a regular organic or paid search is known as a SERP feature. These have become very important to marketers because one-third of all searchers click on an organic result, especially SERP features, because they provide helpful information when needed.
Sometimes a slight change in a keyword increases its “Click Potential” by introducing two different SERP features:
- The “People Also Ask” box in the search engine
- A placing on a Google maps “Local Pack”
Therefore, even two keywords with the same number of searches per month won’t always have the same “Click Potential,” meaning that you need to check the SERP features of keywords. Featured Snippets can make a difference because even if you cannot climb the standard organic rankings, they can bring a large share of traffic.
Other Important SERP Features
There are over 20 different types of SERP features. Let’s look at the most important ones that you can use to increase your website’s click potential:
Featured Snippet – Google highlights a summary of important information from the content of a webpage into a Featured Snippet and places them at the top of the organic SERP. Sometimes they include images, embedded videos, or are text-heavy, making them an effective feature.
People Also Ask – A list of questions related to the original search appears in a box, especially if the original query had informational or commercial search intent.
Related Searches – Related searches to an original search query are displayed at the bottom of the SERP.
Knowledge Panel – When someone searches an entity available in Google’s Knowledge Graph, the SERP will display a text disruption, an image, a list of facts, and links for more information.
Local Pack – Local needs queries will show a map with information about businesses nearby that the search.
Google Flights – Flight search queries will display a basic or interactive feature on SERP.
Organic Google Shopping Results – Google also has organic shopping results that, based on a keyword search, will show an image, product name, brand, retailer, price, a short description, and average star rating.
Image Pack – Google SERP also displays images in regular search results, which can take users to the Google Images search results page when they click on one. If the image is from a retailer’s product page, it will have a shopping tag icon.
Video Results – The SERP will show Video Results, usually from YouTube. You can pair the video listing with key timestamps.
Recipes – In a recipe search, Recipes displays three options with a prompt to show more recipe options.
Direct Answers – With Direct Answers, a short piece of information to a simple question is displayed at the top of the SERP.
Top Stories – When a person makes a query about something on the news, the SERP Top Story feature is displayed at the top of the SERP. For other searches, it’s lower down.
Twitter – Google has indexed tweets in real-time since 2015, allowing users to see the tweets of active businesses or people, providing visibility on SERP.
Bold Solutionz and Your SEO Journey
SERP requires careful planning and understanding of on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. Understanding how they work and their implementation can benefit your website’s Click Potential. Let Bold Solutionz effectively connect you and your users.
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