In January, we spoke about advanced SEO in our blog post “Implementing Advanced SEO: A Practical Guide.” If you haven’t already, read this post to learn about Advanced SEO and actionable steps on how to implement it.

Today, we’re going to delve into the topic of SERPs, a key aspect of advanced SEO.

What are SERPs?

SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. This is the web page of results that appears when you search for something on Google. SERPs can appear differently for each user, even when using the same keyword since search engines are customized to each individual user.

How are they an important part of SEO?

The different types of Google search results are known as SERP features, and they are constantly changing. Even if your website ranks #1 organically on a Google search for your keyword, your result can be pushed farther down the page (or pages) by these different SERP features that show up. In summary, ranking #1 no longer guarantees showing up as the #1 result in a Google search.

This is why learning about these SERP features and taking advantage of Google SERP tools is imperative as a marketer to ensure that your results are at “the top of the pile”, or page, to be exact.

 

What are the different SERP features?

The two main SERP features are paid and organic:

1. Paid

Paid results are bought by advertisers, who bid on different keywords through Google Ads. Usually, these ad placements are given to the highest bidder. These types of results are differentiated by Google with the word “Ad” placed before them.

Pro Tip: If a keyword search results in lots of ads, it may decrease your CTR, but seeing this many ad bids also shows there is a high value in that keyword (known as high commercial intent). So, although you may get fewer clicks, those clicks are more valuable. Depending on what you’re marketing, this may be something you want to leverage.

2. Organic

Organic results are not paid for and are determined by Google’s algorithm. These results are “earned”, as the algorithm chooses them based on a multitude of ranking factors, determining them to be the best overall result for a user’s search. 

Key ranking factors include:

• Experience & Expertise: Shows that you have real experience and expertise on the subject matter. Writing in first person about your experience and sharing original media such as images, screenshots and videos helps with this.
• Trustworthiness & Brand Presence: “Trust signals” indicate you have a brand that is well known and trusted by users, such as consistent engagement and good reviews.
• Site Performance: This is indicated by factors such as your site loading speed. 
• Off-page SEO signals: Known as “backlinks”, this is the number of websites linked to your specific page.
• On-page SEO signals: This refers to the keywords you use on your page. 

Implementing these signals increases the likelihood of an organic result being chosen by Google as an optimal result. 

However, like we spoke about earlier, even if you are chosen by Google’s algorithm as the #1 organic result, now other types of SERP features (search results) can crowd you out and push your result further down or completely off of the page.

Other SERP features include:

• Rich Snippets: Contains more data than a normal snippet, such as photos, reviews and customer ratings. Note: Every search result contains the title of the page, the URL and the meta description; a rich snippet has more than that.
• Direct Answer Box: Gives a direct answer to a query. If you ask Google: “How old is Pedro Pascal?”, it displays the answer with no need to click a link.

• Knowledge Panel: A summary on the right side of the screen. For example: if you are looking up a company, it gives the company title, quick description and some key details such as location, CEO and revenue.
• Local Packs: A list of local results shown when looking up things like restaurants and stores. Includes the establishment name with details such as Google maps location, reviews, hours, and more.
• People Also Ask: A drop-down menu feature that shows other questions people often ask in relation to your search query.

Pro Tip: The “People Also Ask” feature is a great place to look for content inspiration. For example, if you are writing a blog post on “how to create a website,” you can use this feature to see what main questions come up for people looking to create a website and then answer those questions on your blog.

How can I manage an advanced SEO strategy for my company with SERPs in mind?

We need to be even more strategic with our keywords amidst the flood of SERP features. In order to keep your organic results from drowning in that flood, you need to find keyword searches that result in mostly or all organic results and, therefore, give a chance for your organic results to stand out and get clicks.

Google has many SERP tools designed to help with this. They can track and analyze your overall SERP ranking and generate specific SERP ranking based on different keywords. 

Four well-ranked SERP tools: 

• WhatsMySerp: A simplified tool using advanced SEO to analyze your website’s overall SERP ranking for up to 25 keywords at once. 

Price: Free

• SemRush: This tool analyzes the competition to help you compete for diversified SERP features such as rich snippets, knowledge panels, and top stories. 

Price: $99.95 per month

• SerpWatcher: With SerpWatcher, you can stay up-to-date with your SERP performance results and ensure your results never slip past page one. 

Price: $29.90 per month

• SerpBook: This organizational tool is ideal for SEO management professionals, designed to help you handle multiple client accounts with ease. 

Price: $30 per month

If you need someone on your team who already has the right expertise and can manage advanced SEO for you and your business, then shoot us an email at support@kmc.digital or give us a call for a free consultation.