What does the acronym SERP stand for?
The “acronym SERP stands for search engine results page. The SERP is a web page that appears when the” user types a query, a phrase or keyword, into a search engine like Google or Bing.
Now let’s look at what the SERP is together
The query results are displayed in the SERP, in the form of organic links that lead to web pages and content such as images, videos, articles, maps and more.
The search engine ranks the results based on relevance and importance, determined by how well a web page’s content matches the query. This ranking system helps users quickly find the most useful information for their search.
Example of a Google SERP
Today more than ever, search engines focus on “originality and usefulness of content, therefore they reward pages and websites that offer truly useful and quality content. Those who have been copying texts or generating them with” artificial intelligence, depriving the text of personality, quality, and originality, risk serious penalties.
How does the SERP of a search engine appear?
The SERP presents organic results and sponsored results that respond to the keywords and queries entered by the user. Paid advertising is displayed along with organic listings and can be more visible than non-paid results.
If you try to do a search, you’ll see that the top spots at the top and bottom of the SERP page are occupied by sponsored ads. The remaining spots on the page are contested by various competitors. Google allocates them to the organic results it deems best.
Positioning in the top spots is a “complex, uncertain activity, not always achievable. This is why” content optimization through targeted and professional SEO activities (Search Engine Optimization) is essential, which should converge into a broader web marketing strategy.
Search engine algorithms are constantly changing. The content and layout of SERPs can vary depending on the search engine used and the query searched. Understanding how SERPs work is essential for optimizing content and positioning it higher in search engine results.
For a website, occupying the top positions of the SERP doesn’t represent a mathematical certainty of increasing sales and revenue. However, the chances of being seen and selected by users undoubtedly increase.
This is undeniable, and greater visibility also contributes to increasing your website’s traffic. However, to do this, the professionalism and “experience of a” certified SEO agency is necessary.
And as we always remind our clients, SEO is a marathon, not suitable for sprinters! It requires patience, tenacity, dedication, analytical attention, cross-disciplinary knowledge, and technical skills. Be wary of those who promise results in 7 days. They’re just fooling you.
Why is the search engine results page important in an SEO strategy?
Search engines need the SERP to display the most relevant web pages and content in relation to a query. When users perform a search, they ask for and want specific and relevant information. For example, “how to increase customers for a hairdresser”, or “haircut in Milan”
If a SERP doesn’t present accurate and up-to-date results, users might not find what they’re looking for or be exposed to misleading advertisements. The resulting sense of frustration, dissatisfaction, and loss of trust would be too high and dangerous a risk that no search engine wants to take.
A well-optimized site and effective SERP strategies help search engines provide more accurate and useful results to users. This increases user satisfaction and trust in the search engine, resulting in increased traffic and revenue for the company.
Ultimately, the SERP is crucial for offering users the best possible online experience, and this, as Google reiterated in its latest update, is the main objective.
Here’s a list of the main elements of search engine results pages:
Compared to a few years ago, today’s SERP, particularly Google’s, has changed and offers different types of content ranging from links, to images, videos, products in shops, and suggestions.
Let’s look together at how a Google SERP page, the most used search engine, appears.
Organic Search Results
SERPs present organic search results, with links to web pages that match the query, positioned without advertising investments, following SEO best practices
Paid Advertising
Sponsored links and advertisements from Google Ads can be seen in the first and last positions of the SERP page. Web marketers and advertisers certainly aim to position themselves at the top of the SERP.
Localized Content
Content is adapted and proposed by the search engine based on users’ locations. For example, nearby businesses such as restaurants, bars, accommodations, and various services are shown. This falls under Local SEO practices.
Example of localized content
Related Searches
SERPs can suggest related queries to help users refine their search and find more specific information. These suggestions are important not only for users but also for SEO specialists.
SERP, example of related searches provided by Google
Analyzing and studying search intents is one of the fundamental activities of SEO. Google and other search engines have the main objective of offering users useful content and not texts that serve no purpose. And for those of us working in web marketing, knowing what information and news users are looking for is the basis of any effective planning and strategy.
Media Content
The media content that the SERP offers includes images, videos, articles, news, maps, and more. If you want your site’s images to appear in the image section, first make sure they are correctly named and have alt text for visually impaired people. If the search engine deems them useful in response to users’ search intents, it might make them visible.
Featured Snippet
Featured snippets are highlighted organic results that Google decides to showcase within a box at the top of the SERP page.
These snippets are useful because they provide an immediate, concise, and complete answer to the user, who doesn’t need to click on any other result or read any other text.
They occupy position zero, while the next snippet is in first place on the SERP. Obviously, position zero is highly coveted and useful for increasing traffic and the authority of your website.
To better understand what a featured snippet is, type in Google the query “what is the most visited city in” Italy in 2022. The answer you see at the top and that we show in the photo below is position zero, the much-coveted featured snippet.
Featured snippet example
Rich Results
Rich results were previously known as rich snippets. They are search results that contain additional information. This information is shown to the “user next to the title tag, meta description, and” URL and is taken from the structured data contained in the page.
Rich Results Example
Knowledge Graph
For some keywords and searches, on the right side of the SERP, Google offers a mini-page that, in addition to the information sought, includes other content and insights that serve to deepen the topic. A sort of silent alert with details and notions that the user might not have thought of or not know at all. Try searching for Leonardo da Vinci. The box that appears on the right and contains information is the very useful Knowledge Graph!
What are the elements that make up the single result in the search engine SERP? Read below
The SERP is composed of a series of results called snippets. Each of these snippets contains some fundamental elements, which are the daily bread of SEO specialists, web marketers, and copywriters.
Let’s look together at what the elements of the snippet are:
- Title tag: is the main element that allows Google’s crawlers to identify if the topic covered in that specific search result is relevant to the keywords and queries typed by the user. The title tag must contain the main keyword and should not exceed 60, maximum 65 characters. Otherwise, Google will truncate it by adding ellipsis.
- URL: contains the address of the specific website or page.
- Meta description: is a meta tag that doesn’t affect the positioning in the SERP, but it’s still important that it’s written carefully. An engaging description that contains an inviting call to action has good chances of pushing the user to click and visit the website. The length should not exceed 320 characters and it’s good to always include the keyword.
- Sitelinks: are links that directly lead to some sections of the website. They are visible only if Google considers the website valid, otherwise they don’t appear. There’s no way to obtain sitelinks, only Google decides which sites can have them. Certainly, to try to get them, you need to take care of the structure of the site and individual pages, insert anchor texts and optimize internal links.
Elements of the snippet
How is SERP analysis done in web marketing? We at Qreativa explain it to you
A respectable SEO strategy and web marketing must include “SERP analysis among its main activities. Thanks to SEOZoom, in addition to scanning who is present in SERP, you can have a” morphological analysis that reports the exact search intents. This is fundamental to understand which contents to plan and create.
The analysis provides a scan of the structure of the page with search results and reports interesting information on images, boxes, and features. One of the most important aspects that SEOZoom provides is real-time scanning.
Manual SERP analysis: discover how it’s done
Using a tool like SEOZoom speeds up “SERP analysis and provides detailed and precise information. However, the” analysis can also be done manually. How? Let’s find out together.
After doing the keyword research, evaluating the volumes and the keyword difficulty, you can search for each keyword on Google, using an incognito search page. This will allow the search engine not to be influenced by your previous searches.
At this point, you need to observe each organic result, understand the search intents, study the meta descriptions, title tags and any rich results. By clicking on the snippets, you need to observe how many and which contents the competitors have published.
You need to take note of the number of texts, images, anchor texts, videos and everything that makes others positioned in the top positions of the SERP. Through free extensions made available by Google, you can also know the domain authority of the competitors’ sites.
A good position in the SERP doesn’t guarantee you’ll win over everyone and increase revenue. However, it’s certainly an excellent element that can contribute to increasing your website’s traffic and opportunities to reach more users and turn them into customers.
Achieving a good position isn’t easy. Developing an effective SEO strategy requires experienced professionals with cross-disciplinary knowledge, not just technical skills. This is why you need to rely on an SEO Agency that has been active in the sector for a long time.
The journey is long, but the right expertise and professionalism make the difference. Feel free to contact us without any obligation. We’ll be delighted to run a great marathon with you! Together, we’ll reach the finish line.
