Characteristics of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)

Characteristics of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)

Very few SEO experts need to learn Google’s SERP (Search Engine Result Pages). To be honest, the biggest platform for SEO experts to earn money financially is the SERPs of these search engines.

Anyway, today we will try to know about that SERP. We will know today what the subject of this SERP is and what is very important for you to know as a search engine optimizer.

Because thousands of people are making their living depending on this search bar and search result page, a big industry like SEO has developed with a current market value of 80 billion dollars.

See, as an SEO expert, your main job is to rank your or your client’s website on this search engine. So how can you rank your site if you need to learn it?

Moreover, due to the presence of various features in Google’s search engine, if you know well how to rank, then the CTR of your website will increase immediately. And increasing CTR means increasing visitors.

So you understand how useful and important it is to know about SERP properties.

Why Is It Important To Know About SERP?

Why Is It Important To Know About SERP?
Why Is It Important To Know About SERP?

At the time, Google’s results page consisted of only blue headlines and some text written in black letters. But with age now, they have changed.

But it does not mean that blue ink has become red ink; blue ink remains blue. Only features are increased.

The features we usually see on the results page are called SERP Snippet Preview.

It generally has three parts.

1. Search Result Title

Search Result Title

In the above image, the area marked in blue is the search result title.

This topic is often called Meta Title in the language of SEO.

Best Practice

  • Add your brand name to the search title if possible.
  • The title should be kept within 55 characters.
  • Use keywords and try to diversify keywords.

2. Interpretation of Search Result

Interpretation of Search Result

Google also provides a short description of the search results on its results page, just like the search title. Many people call this Meta Description. If your meta description is well written, then it can be expected that it will help a lot in increasing the CTR of your site.

Best Practice

  • Meta description should be between 150 and 160 characters.
  • The meta description must be attractive enough to compel the user to click.
  • Primary keyword must be used (primary keyword must be placed at the beginning).

3. URL Information in Search Results

The link or URL that appears on your website in Google search results also plays a very important role in your website’s SEO.

Best Practice

  • URLs should be kept short.
  • Include targeted keywords (try to keep them as short as possible)
  • Use hyphens to separate words in URLs.
  • Use lowercase letters.
  • Avoid using parameters (as much as possible).

Characteristics of SERPs

Characteristics of SERPs
Characteristics of SERPs

Now that we have some idea about search engine results. Let’s Google that presents some more complex features; Let’s go a little deeper to find out.

Here is a list of some of the features of SERP.

  • Featured Snippets
  • Knowledge Graph
  • Knowledge Record
  • Local pack
  • Local Teaser
  • Top stories
  • Video
  • Image
  • Tweets
  • People’s Also Ascd
  • Related research
  • Review
  • Dictionary
  • Site link
  • Google Ads
  • Shopping Results

I’ve provided examples below of what each feature looks like on Google and what an SEO professional should be aware of.

Feature Snippet (Answer Box)

  • Answering by fetching information from a page on Google.
  • Question-related many questions come up.
  • Google puts a lot of emphasis on the top half of its page and prioritizes where it gets more clicks than organic results.

SEO Considerations
These features are especially valuable for understanding search intents and providing information. By analyzing the different search results on the first page of Google and the Answer Box analysis, an SEO Expert can easily determine what is required to rank a website.

Knowledge Graph

  • When we search for something on Google, the page that will show on the right side of the search result; is the knowledge graph.
  • Search will show related companies, people, and places.
  • These data are collected from various data arrangements of Google, from Wikipedia pages, or from various company web pages.

SEO Considerations
Although optimizing these factors is not very easy, Google takes these factors from data from various websites. So you must keep all your information up to date and display the data as optimally as possible.

Also, make sure all off-site information is correct (Google index). For example, company business listings.

Knowledge Card

Knowledge Card
Knowledge Card
  • Data-related information is displayed in knowledge records.
  • Google collects and stores data to provide information to users.
  • Humans or Google provides this data.
  • There is an “Explore More” option.

Local Pack

Local Pack
Local Pack
  • It has been shown in search because it has local intent.
  • It usually displays 3 business listings and displays the businesses name, address, and mobile number along with their ratings.
  • Here are other business-finding options. More from here if you want.

Businesses can be viewed from here.

  • These features take up half of Google’s first page when searched on desktop and are even more prominent on mobile now.

Local Teacher

Local Teacher
Local Teacher
  • It’s indexed because it has a local intent, like a local pack.
  • They often come up in searches about hotels and restaurants.
  • Relevant locations are displayed on a map with valuable information, including hours, prices, ratings, and photos.
  • It is important to know which properties are displayed in the local search, Although this may not be relevant for all traders.

Top Stories

Top Stories
Top Stories
  • News box features need to be replaced.
  • Trending topics and timely information should be displayed.
  • Results should be taken from Google’s new articles.
  • Search should have more information options that will take users to the Google News section.
  • Most websites will be able to rank by following Google’s news submission process. This is usually most valuable for publications and other news sources.
  • AMP must be taken into account when optimizing these features.

Video

Video
Video
  • Video thumbnails are also displayed here (mostly from YouTube).
  • These attributes appear only for certain keywords, According to the search intent.
  • Usually indexed for searches like “how to,” tutorials, etc.
  • Usually, 3 videos are displayed here.
  • Title, Description, Category/Tags, etc. YouTube video optimization is required.
  • Generally speaking, different ways of SEO for YouTube channels should be considered. For example, include relevant CTAS/cross-links in the video description for users to learn more about a topic.

Image

Image
Image
  • As can be seen in the image thumbnail results, the images are taken from various sources on Google.
  • The “More Image” option should be kept to see more images in Google Image Search.

SEO Considerations
The following points should be kept in mind while doing image optimization.

  • File name and title must include keywords.
  • The symbol ‘-‘ must be used while naming files.
  • ALT Text should be added to the description.
  • Image size should be compressed/optimized.

Tweets

Tweets
Tweets
  • Tweets are displayed in search results.
  • Often, the name of the brand (or person) also appears for searches.
  • The “View on Twitter” option displays the three most recent tweets.

SEO considerations
Make sure your brand is active on Twitter. There is no direct SEO optimization here, though; Twitter can be very valuable for promoting the brand, widening the brand, and gaining additional leverage in search engines.

People Also Asked

People Also Asked
People Also Asked
  • Refers to related questions.
  • Google algorithm will suggest some questions based on related searches.
  • It is similar to the snippet feature; it is displayed for query-based search.

SEO considerations
This feature is really valuable for understanding search intent. Analyzing the People Also Asked section provides many beautiful targeted keywords, and you can easily determine what people are searching for.

Related Searches

Related Searches
Related Searches
  • Search results are shown at the bottom of the page.
  • Google algorithm determines it may be relevant.
  • These results are often seen in competitive brands, products, or services; Which is unfortunate for SEOs.

Searches Related To

Searches Related To
Searches Related To
  • These are displayed at the bottom of the search results page.
  • Google Algorithm determines it can be any relevance.
  • Searchers can easily view their queries from here. If they can’t find their information; Then they keep searching until they find the information.
  • It is especially valuable for users’ search intent.

SEO Considerations
Really good ideas for new content can be found here.

Review

Review
Review
  • They show up for searches like software, hotels, products, restaurants, recipes, and more.
  • The page URL is displayed below, and the page description is displayed above.
  • Average Ratings are displayed.
  • Naturally, there are positive reviews and the reviews seem more credible; These work very well to increase CTR.

SEO considerations
Add Schema Markup to review your site. You can encourage review features to appear in search results.

Dictionary

Dictionary
Dictionary
  • Google directly provides a definition.
  • The top half of the page dominates.
  • To expand the features with more information, add a translation, origin, etc.
  • Google trusts the top-of-funnel to determine queries to value search intent.

SEO considerations
Find out which keywords show the definition feature. Still, the chances of ranking in the top position are very small.

Site link

Site link
Site link
  • Sitelink properties are really valuable for brands.
  • Not only this, it helps the user to find the brand they are looking for easily. In this case, the brand may also occupy additional space on the search results page.

SEO Considerations
Adding Schema Markup data to your site will help your site links to show up in search results.

Google Ads (Paid Results)

Google Ads (Paid Results)
Google Ads (Paid Results)
  • Google Ads can appear both at the top and bottom of search engine results pages.
  • Elements include the headline, display URL, description, and call-to-action.

SEO Considerations
Since this is not an organic result, search engine advertising rules and practices should be considered.

Shopping Results

  • Similar to Google Ads, Shopping Results are paid/sponsored placements.
  • Elements include product name, price, rating, number of reviews, and links.

SEO Considerations
It is important for SEOs to be aware of the placement results of a given product and it helps in understanding the intent of the users and prioritizing the main keywords.

Last thought

When it comes to search engine optimization, there are several features of SERPs that should be taken into consideration. I hope it is very important in SERP’s feature, and it will be very helpful in analyzing later.

Have I missed any features that you think are essential in SERP analysis? Please share your comments below.

 

 

 

 

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