Want to rank your website’s pages high on Google and other search engines? You’ll first need to understand the basics of SERPs.
One of the top ways your website can gain exposure and attract visitors is through search engine results pages. But what are SERPs? And how are they important for businesses?
What Does SERP Mean?
SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page, which refers to the page you see after entering a query on a search engine such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
How Do SERPs Work?
Search engine result pages provide users with high-quality, useful, relevant pages that directly relate to their search queries.
We don’t fully know how search engines work and rank pages, as by revealing too much of their process, they become susceptible to websites that might try to manipulate their algorithms.
Fortunately, we do have a general understanding of the ins and outs of search engines and SERPs.
Search engines follow a process called crawling, which uses ‘spiders’ to explore and catalog content throughout the internet. These spiders gather information related to each site’s content, links, and layout, and all collected data is stored in the search engine’s index, which is a large database.
When any user enters a search query, each search engine’s algorithm analyzes the query, determines the user’s intent, and assigns rankings to pages within the index.
Pages with high relevance, authority, quality, and usability, which have been discovered by the crawlers, will be ranked higher by the algorithm. After pages have been ranked, which can take only milliseconds, they are displayed to the user on the SERP, with the top page displayed first.
Over time, user interactions also impact how pages are ranked on SERPs. For example, Google regularly conducts core updates to its search algorithm to ensure it promotes high-quality content and ignores any pages that include spam tactics or otherwise do not benefit users.
What Is the Difference Between SEO and SERP?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SERPs are closely linked, but they refer to different aspects of how search engines work. While, as we’ve discussed, a SERP displays results from search queues, SEO is a practice that websites follow to appear on these pages.
The Importance of SEO
Through SEO, your website can rank higher on search engine results pages, making your pages more visible to potential visitors.
By targeting a keyword, which is a specific word or phrase that people use in search queries, and making changes to optimize your website’s usability, responsiveness, and speed, you can ensure search engines prioritize your website pages.
On the other hand, by neglecting SEO, your pages will end up far down on SERPs, and anyone who has searched your keyword won’t easily find your content.
Without any high-ranking web pages, you’ll experience lower website traffic and, as a result, fewer conversions or sales for your business.
Key Features of SERPs
Each search engine has its own layout and features, but for this section, we’ll focus on Google.
Google holds over 80% of the global desktop search market, making it, by a huge margin, the most popular search engine in the world.
However, other search engines still share similar features and structures in their SERPs.
Paid Results
Paid or sponsored results are usually at the very top and sometimes also at the bottom of SERPs. Websites pay Google for their ads to appear in these positions by bidding on specific keywords.
When a user enters a search query, the ads that appear are determined by a combination of the bid amount and the ad’s quality score.
Quality Score is measured on a scale from 1 – 10 and calculated based on the ad’s expected clickthrough rate (CTR), relevance (concerning the user’s search intent), and the usefulness of the ad’s landing page.
When searching for a product such as “cat food” on Google, users will typically see several sponsored results like this –
Organic Results
An organic result in Google’s SERPs is an unpaid listing that appears due to its relevance to a user’s search query. These results are usually displayed at the top of SERPs or under any paid result listings. You can find out your search engine ranking with this helpful guide.
When businesses create website pages, they can create title tags (the primary text) and meta descriptions (the secondary text). These written elements can be curated to improve the rankings of each page.
For instance, including the target keyword naturally in both the title tag and meta description can increase the page’s relevance to search queries.
Title tags should be approximately 40 – 60 characters, while meta descriptions should be around 120 – 160 characters.
The key to getting your website pages to the top of SERPs is focusing on on-page SEO, technical SEO, and link building.
Featured Snippets
Featured snippets also appear at the top of SERPs and provide quick answers to search queries. Content from these snippets is extracted from web pages in Google’s index to display relevant information directly on the search results page.
According to Ahrefs’ data, around 12% of search queries have featured snippets in their search results.
Featured snippets often come in various formats, including definitions, lists, tables, and step-by-step instructions, helping users find answers without clicking any links.
For example, if a user searches “When were the first Olympics,” this snippet is displayed at the top of the SERP –
These snippets stand out on SERPs. Since they are one of the first results users will see, websites should aim to optimize their content to be featured.
You can increase your chances of earning a featured snippet by including concise answers to the query you’re targeting, including relevant images, adding tables, or creating lists.
However, it’s ultimately up to Google’s algorithm to decide which content gets featured in a snippet, and even with well-optimized content, there’s no guarantee of being selected.
People Also Ask
Like featured snippets, People Also Ask blocks provide quick answers to user questions directly on the search results page. Rather than being an answer to their specific question or search phrase, People Also Ask provides answers to related questions.
These blocks typically appear as expandable sections with questions related to the original search query. When a user clicks on one of these questions, a brief answer appears with a link to the source page.
For instance, these are the questions featured in the People Also Ask block when a user searches “Gym workouts.” As you can see, these block offers users a fast and easy way to discover more information without having to refine their search.
The best tactic for appearing on People Also Ask blocks is to provide short answers to clear questions in your content. These answers should be limited to one or two sentences to be featured.
Local Pack Listings
Google’s Local Pack listings include a group of three businesses that best match when a user enters a search query with local intent.
For instance, a user from Santa Clara County, CA, may be searching for the top coffee shops in their area and would receive Local Pack search results like these –
Local Pack results are also accompanied by a map of the relevant area, allowing users to explore more options. This feature helps businesses reach local audiences and land higher on SERPs without solely relying on SEO.
Local Pack rankings are determined by Google based on how closely the website’s Google Business profile matches a searcher’s query, the distance the business is from the user’s target location, and how important the business is related to the user.
Business can improve their chances of appearing on SERP’s Local Pack rankings by:
- Including up-to-date and detailed information on their Google Business profile
- Adding photos to their business listings, such as menus or storefront pictures
- Verifying holiday hours and adjusting their profile if business hours change
- Building backlinks from local directories or organizations
Top Stories
If a news-oriented query is searched, top story blocks can appear when Google matches the search with current news content. For example, a user can search “global warming” and after paid results, organic results, and a people also ask block, they will encounter a top stories block.
Top stories blocks were first introduced by Google in 2016 to better inform users by suggesting trusted websites.
Businesses can improve their chances of ranking for a top story feature by:
- Complying with Google’s News policies (e.g., avoiding hateful content, deceptive practices, or profanity)
- Including clear data and bylines
- Providing information about the authors, publication, and publisher
- Including contact information for the company or network behind the content
Video Recommendations
Sometimes, when a user has a search query, a written answer may not suffice, and visual content can be more beneficial. In these cases, Google SERPs also include video recommendations.
A video recommendations block usually appears after a people also ask block and includes three main videos along with a link to see Google’s full list of recommended videos. For example, here is the video recommendations block for the search query, “How to fix a leaky faucet.”
Here are our top tips for optimizing your videos to appear in Google’s video recommendation blocks on SERPs:
- Use HTML elements commonly used for embedding videos, such as <video>, <embed>, <iframe>, or <object>
- Create a dedicated watch page for each video, such as a video landing page
- Use a supported video file type, such as MP4, ACI, MOV, MKV, and WMV;
- Provide a relevant, high-quality video thumbnail image.
Rank Higher on SERPs for Online Success
Search engine results pages provide plenty of opportunities for websites to gain visibility to their target audiences.
However, mastering search engines is an art in itself. While creating SEO-friendly web pages seems straightforward enough, you have a mountain of competition and a range of factors to consider that can impact your rankings.
It’s not just about incorporating the right keywords, but you also need to focus on content quality, site speed, mobile optimization, user experience, and backlinks.
If you want to get the most out of SERPs and dominate search rankings, it’s worth investing in SEO and paid advertising services.
Contact us for a custom quote or arrange an SEO audit today and kickstart your journey to better visibility in search engine result pages.
