Every day, there are more than 8.5 billion Google searches. If you aren’t taking advantage of everything that Google search has to offer your business, you may be missing out on a lot of organic traffic.
Not only should you be aiming to improve your search rankings through SEO techniques, but you can try to appear in SERP features more often as well. Taking these featured spots in search results can help your website stand out and attract many more visitors.
Let’s talk about some of the available SERP features.
What Are SERP Features?
A search engine results page (SERP) feature is a special element on a Google search results page. This element provides information beyond what is provided by a traditional organic search result and can be even more helpful to search engine users.
A traditional organic search result will include a title tag and a meta description, but a SERP feature may include images, videos, additional website links, and more. Improving search engine optimization (SEO) in order to get SERP features is a great idea that can allow your website’s pages to stand out more in search results.
SERP Features to Pay Attention To
Keep these SERP features in mind:
1. Featured Snippets
One of the most popular SERP features is the featured snippet section. This section appears at the top of search results and displays an excerpt of page content along with an image.
This featured snippet comes from one of the pages that Google finds to be most relevant for a search query and can help users easily find the information they’re looking for. To earn this SERP feature, consider adding more question-based headings to your content that are followed by short paragraphs.
2. Local 3-Packs
A local 3-pack is a SERP feature that relates to local searches. It includes a Google map along with a listing of several businesses in the area.
When local businesses appear in this spot, they’re more likely to get customers to stop by. The chances of appearing here improve if you use local SEO techniques, starting with claiming your Google My Business (GMB) page.
3. Product Results
This type of SERP feature displays products at the top of the search results.
This section may appear if a user is searching for a specific product — Google will suggest various options from different online retailers. This can be a very useful SERP feature for online shops to target and you can easily rank in this section by using Google Ads.
4. Paid Search Ads
Also considered a SERP feature, paid search ads often show up alongside organic search results.
Paid search ads often look exactly like a regular organic search result, but with some alterations as well. They’ll feature an “Ad” label and may link to multiple pages on a website, include a phone number, and more.
Running paid search ads is one of the best ways to get your business into search results quickly and effortlessly, but the privilege will cost you.
5. People Also Ask
In this section, Google lists some popular questions that relate to the search query. A user can easily click on one of these drop-down questions and can get a short answer to each of them.
To get featured in this section, it’s a good idea to use more questions in headings and to create short content which answers the questions and specifically targets the related keywords.
6. Top Stories
The top stories box features a selection of news articles that relates the user’s query. This section will typically include images, article headlines, and posting dates.
Appearing in this section is helpful for any site that posts content that relates to current events. If you spend time adding news to your website, you may find it in this section.
Image Pack
The Google Image Pack can appear in search engine results if Google determines a searcher may be looking for an image. This feature is simply a selection of images at the top of the SERP.
These are the images that users would see if they were click over to the Google Images tab. Properly adding alt tags to images on your website makes it more likely that your site’s images will appear in this SERP feature.
Video Results
As you would expect, this SERP feature will display the thumbnails of several relevant videos. Since so many web users are interested in watching videos these days, this can be a helpful search result.
To appear in this SERP feature more often, it’s important to optimize any videos that you post to YouTube. Be sure to include relevant keywords in video titles, descriptions, and tags.
Knowledge Panel
This feature works similarly to an encyclopedia, displaying important information on a particular subject.
A Knowledge Panel is often located on the right-hand side of a SERP, and the information may come from Wikipedia. This information tends to appear when a user makes an informational search and may be used to define a person, a place, or a thing.
Making the Most of a Search Engine Results Page
You can improve your website traffic by understanding the various SERP features that are available. Working to improve your chances of appearing in these special sections can help you get more website visitors and will strengthen your business.
Need help getting more organic search traffic? Contact us now to learn more about how we can help.
