Search Engine Result Pages (also referred to as SERPs) are a digital marketer’s bread and butter. People use a search engine to find what you need and we want our websites to come up in the results pages. All sorts of content is searched for; images, articles, videos and people use search terms to generate those results.
A SERP contains different elements that will help the user to decide if they want to click through on the result. In this blog post, we will explore what these elements are and how they affect your SEO rankings.
What Is A Search Engine Results Page?
The page that appears after inputting a query into Google, Yahoo, or any other search engine, is known as a search engine results page (also known as a SERP). The design of each search engine’s SERP is different, but because Google has the highest market share (covering a whopping 78% of search queries), we’ll concentrate on their features and algorithms.
Different Types Of Search Query
After a search, the SERP features that appear are determined by the sort of search query entered. The most typical types of searches are navigation, educational and commercial.
When someone searches for a website but does not include the full URL, this is known as a navigational query. Unless the searcher is searching specifically for you, getting to the first page of these results may be difficult.
Take advantage of navigational queries on your site by purchasing advertising for the keywords you wish to rank for, such as the name of your company.
Informational Queries
When a user searches for information, it’s known as an informational query. Someone may search for background knowledge on a subject or how to do a certain task, for example.
The searcher isn’t usually looking to make a purchase; nevertheless, the appropriate content frequently draws them to a particular brand. That’s why it’s so crucial to develop content that is appropriate for your target audience and caters to their demands, wants, needs and interests.
Adding multimedia material to your website might be a particularly successful approach to attract visitors from informational searches. Here are a couple of popular instances to think about:
- The video is a step-by-step tutorial that refers to your product or service blog post
- An infographic that may be shared
- A document that may be downloaded or obtained by request
Transactional Queries
When consumers are looking to purchase anything, they utilise transactional queries. Transactional inquiries have the most money potential, therefore keywords often have a lot of bids for pay-per-click spots. This means that in addition to organic search results for their business queries, customers will also see sponsored goods.
Paid advertising is popular among companies since they are successful. WordStream found that over 65% of clickthroughs on transactional SERPs occur on paid advertisements.
What Are The Features Of A SERP?
Today’s SERP is more visually diverse than it was in the past. In addition to simple site names and metadata, searches may now show photographs, shopping tips, Tweets, or information cards. Let’s take a closer look at how each feature is classified.
- Knowledge graph elements: They may be found in a panel or box on the SERP, usually on the right-hand side. Extra visuals are displayed in a result’s snippet, such as stars in product reviews or images in news results
- Paid results: You may purchase these by bidding on relevant keywords. Paid results will have a label at the top to demonstrate that the result is an ad. These are exceptional outcomes that may be seen alongside organic ones.
The features you may observe in a SERP are listed below. If you want your page to appear as one of these elements, consider how you might improve and rearrange your site to do so.
Google Ads
The top or bottom of the SERPs is where you’ll typically see Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords. The bottom of the page is easier to get an ad on, but you’ll receive more views at the top.
To reach the top of the SERPs, your website and/or pay-per-click bid must be of high quality. Depending on how competitive the keywords are, it may be necessary to invest in a high-quality site and, sometimes, a high pay-per-click bid. There’s a lot to be said for aiming high in the ad world: your commercial will appear before any organic search results.
Featured Snippet
The featured snippet appears in a box on the SERPs, rather than as part of the list of search results. Because it includes material from the site that incorporates the relevant search keywords, it draws attention. If individuals like what they see, they are more likely to click on that link.
To receive a highlighted snippet, a website must already be on the top page of search results. To do so, your site’s content should be informative and contain all of the important keywords.
Image Pack
When Google’s algorithm determines that visual information will be especially valuable to a search, the results page will include a row of pictures and a clickthrough to a Google Images search.
Google uses a different algorithm for pictures than for written material, but following these best practices may assist search engines in finding and ranking your picture content.
Be sure to use:
- Accurate and descriptive file names
- Relevant surrounding text
- An accurate and engaging page title
- A readable page URL
- Rectangular photos of moderate size and dimensions (think 16×9, 4×3, and squares)
If you can get your image hosted on other sites, the possibility of showing up in the SERP image pack improves even more.
In-Depth Articles
To provide exposure to longer-form articles with evergreen content, Google launched in-depth articles. Though they aren’t necessarily the most recent or up-to-date pieces of information, they do contain material that does not go out of date, and they are frequently penned by qualified authors or published by respectable publications.
Knowledge Card
A knowledge card is a box on the SERP that contains selected facts about the searched topic, similar to a small Wikipedia page.
Knowledge Panel
A knowledge panel is similar to a knowledge card but more focused. A navigational search for a specific restaurant, for example, might return a knowledge panel with the restaurant’s address, phone number, website address, and busy periods.
Local Pack
When someone enters a query with a place name, or when Google’s algorithm determines that a searched item is accessible close by, a local pack appears.
A local pack appears as a map with pins representing businesses that are apparently relevant to the search term. Google displays the names, ratings, and contact information for the designated businesses below the map.
For example, a local pack may include a list of the closest pharmacies to you along with their contact information.
News Box
If a search brings up time-specific results or current news articles, Google News boxes may appear. You can submit your website to Google’s News Publisher Center whether you run a full-fledged news site or simply have a section for news. The news box is a fantastic method to obtain views if you have the appropriate sort of content since it will automatically crawl accepted sites.
Many other searches utilise different terms for each search. Google frequently displays these under the heading “People also ask” or “Questions related to [search term],” on a SERP. In recent years, the number of clicks on “related questions” has increased.
Only one link is provided for each related question, and your site must be on the top page of results for that question to qualify. Once you’ve arrived, you can make some SEO modifications to assist Google in selecting your site for a “related questions” answer.
Following a commercial query, review data might show up as star ratings on SERPs. Naturally, results with 4 or 5 stars tend to receive more clicks.
To access the reviews function, you must have a working website with star rating ratings openly displayed. Consider installing a plugin on your website that allows consumers to post testimonials and give your company a star rating.
Understanding SERPs
Search engine results pages are what you see when someone searches for something on Google. The SERPs have many features that can affect how successful your SEO strategy is, and what type of content will show up in the search result listings.
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