SERP: The Low Down on Search Engine Results Pages

A SERP is a Search Engine Results Page. This is the page you see with the list of results after performing a search. This is the same for any search engine, such as:

• Google
• Bing
• Yahoo
• YouTube
• DuckDuckGo

The most popular search engine is Google, with a market share of 89% as of October 2024. In most cases, when people refer to SERPs, they are talking about Google. As well as all the search features they list.

This is what we will focus on and show in this post.

The Different Listings on the SERPs

SERPs include two types of listings:

• Organic listings
• Paid listings

Let’s explore what they are in more detail. Starting with organic listings.

Organic Listings

Organic listings are the unpaid results that appear on SERPs.

Each search engine shows the most relevant organic listings for the query at the top of the page. This order comes from the proprietary algorithms and ranking systems. And they’re different for each search engine.

These algorithms can use factors like:

• Quality content
• Backlinks
• Technical SEO
• Keyword optimization
• User experience
• Schema markup
• Social signals
• Brand signals

It’s not possible to buy a place in organic listings. If you want to earn a spot among the top positions, you have to work for it.

Paid Listings

Paid listings are sponsored results appearing on SERPs.

These listings appear at the top of each SERP, which is the place with the highest visibility. Thus giving each paid listing a higher chance at getting clicked.

Paid listings are the primary monetization method used by search engines.

These spots get sold in real-time to the business that (almost always) bids the highest amount.

These advertisements aren’t affected by how well-optimized the page is for search engines. Because they aren’t rated by the same algorithm & ranking system as organic listings.

A Note on Algorithm Updates & How They Impact SERPs

Search engines release new algorithm updates on a regular basis. The goal of these updates is to improve how they rank pages. All so they can try to bring the best results to the top of SERPs.

These updates can change how the SERP looks in a major way. They do this by altering or introducing new criteria on how pages rank. For example, pages can have a big drop in rankings if they don’t meet the new ranking criteria.

It’s believed that Google conducts thousands of algorithm updates every year. But Google only announces some of them. These ‘Core Updates’ represent the most important changes with the highest impact.

Google rarely announces which part of the algorithm changes during updates. This is to prevent people from gaming the system.

Different SERPs for Different Queries

Google shows different SERPs depending on the query type used. This is to better match search intent. This means they will rank different types of pages depending on what the user is trying to do.

Let’s look at some examples.

SERPs for Transactional Queries

Transactional queries happen immediately before a user purchases something.

Some common words included in transactional searches are:

• Buy
• Cheap
• Price
• Discount

These queries are ‘Bottom of the Funnel’ searches. And they often have paid listings due to their commercial nature.

You can also expect to see SERP features like shopping results and local packs. We will talk about these later.

SERPs for Navigational Queries

Navigational searches happen when a user searches to find a specific site.

In essence, the user is using the search engine as a middle step to reach the desired page.

Common examples of navigational queries include:

• Entering the name of a specific company website
• Looking for the login page of a tool
• Looking for social media profiles

SERPs for Informational Queries

Informational queries are searches where the user is looking for answers.

Some common words on informational queries include:

• Who
• What
• When
• Where
• Why
• How

It’s normal to see search engines rank:

• Blog posts
• News articles
• Wikipedia pages
• Forum posts

For this type of search. The goal of the user is to find answers in a short space of time.

In almost all cases, informational queries include SERP features. Google does this to fulfil user intent and answer the question right there, on the SERP.

SERP Features

SERP features are specific results used by search engines.

They are used to display different types of results based on the query entered by the user. These offer better context and functionality. Functionality that is not possible to achieve with a ’10 blue links’ SERP.

In this section you will find more details about the different SERP features used by Google.

Featured Snippets

A featured snippet is a box that appears at the top of a Google SERP. The goal of a featured snippet is to give a direct answer to the user’s query.

This SERP feature extracts the text from a webpage and shows it directly in the SERP. The extraction also includes the page title and URL, like in a regular organic listing.

Featured snippets are common for informational queries. As well as other searches where the answer is concise. An example is looking for the date of an upcoming event:

Knowledge Panels

A knowledge panel shows key information about:

• People
• Businesses
• Events

And other entities on the right side of the SERP. It comes from Google Knowledge Graph data.

These panels can include a combination of:

• Facts
• Images
• Related links
• Related entities

All to provide more context to your search.

This SERP feature helps find concise and correct information about a topic.

People Also Ask Boxes

A People Also Ask (PAA) box is a Google SERP feature showing related questions to the current query. 

By default, the answer to the question remains hidden until the user clicks the arrow to reveal it.

The PAA box is an interactive SERP feature. This means Google will load more questions as users click on the boxes to reveal answers.

Image Packs

An image pack is a SERP feature showing a group of images relevant to the query.

Google displays this when its algorithm thinks users would benefit from these visuals.

This SERP feature usually appears at the 1st position with a link for the users to see more on Google Images.

Local Packs

A local pack displays a map with information about a business or location related to the user’s query. 

This SERP feature can show key data like:

• Addresses
• Business names
• Opening hours
• Star ratings

Google includes local packs on SERPs in specific scenarios. Usually when searching from specific locations. It can also trigger if a user searches ‘near me’ in their query.

A common example is looking for pizza places in downtown New York.

Knowledge Cards

A knowledge card is a SERP feature showing concise information about a search query. 

These cards appear at the top of the page and give an immediate answer to users.

Data from these cards comes from Google’s Knowledge Graph. They display information about well-known entities like:

• Significant events
• Famous people
• Places

This can include helpful features like:

• Stock market data
• Calculators
• Weather information

Shopping Results

Shopping results show product listings related to the query.

This SERP feature is a paid listing. It’s not possible to appear on the listing without running Google Ads.

The shopping carousel appears at the top of the page. It contains product images, prices, and retailer information.

Top Stories

Top stories is a Google SERP feature that displays relevant and timely news. All related to the query the user has searched.

This is usually found at the top of the results page. It provides quick access to breaking news and trending topics. From various online news sources.

Thumbnails

A thumbnail is a feature where Google shows an image near each listing in the SERP.

These images usually appear in other SERP. Such as featured snippets or knowledge cards.

Tweets Box

A tweet box is a SERP feature showing posts from Twitter (X) on Google.

This usually appears when searching for a popular or trending topic.

Google tends to pull popular tweets posted recently. Providing you with real-time updates and insights on the SERP.

Video

A video preview is a SERP feature displaying relevant videos to the query.

These usually have a thumbnail showing more details about the content. And Google can even highlight the most important part of the video to watch.

Google allows users to watch these videos on the SERP by pressing the play button.

Final Thoughts

This article walked you through what a SERP is, its contents, and the most common Google SERP features.

These SERP features are essential to understand as they can give your pages more visibility in the SERP and increase traffic if your pages or business manages to appear in said features.

This knowledge will prove useful in your journey of learning SEO.

Now, if you want to improve your traffic from Google, try SEOTesting! We have a lot of valuable tools and reports to help you use Google Search Console data better. Not to mention that we back up some of your data for more than 16 months, unlike Google Search Console. See it for yourself with a 14-day free trial, with no credit card required to sign up.