Links, features, boxes and so much more: a guide to today Google SERPs

SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page: although there are billions of web pages online, none perhaps takes on more value for digital marketing and SEO than Google’s SERPs, the results page that the search engine offers in response to a user’s query. And while originally the SERP consisted only of the canonical 10 blue links, over time Google’s results page has been enriched to now display a plethora of boxes, features and various elements that have revolutionized its aesthetics and usability with a view to tailoring the SERP to the user’s true search intention, personalizing their experience to maximize their satisfaction.

What are SERPs

SERPs, the Search Engine Results Pages, are thus “simple” Web pages that each search engine provides in response to users who search for something online and generally enter their search query (often using specific terms and phrases known as keywords) in the appropriate box or browser bar (or voice commands, another growing trend).

Each SERP is unique and different: while it is quite intuitable that we will not get the same page if we launch an identical search on different search engines (because each search engine builds the SERP in its own way and evaluates the results according to its own criteria and algorithms), even if we do the same search (using the same keywords or queries) on one search engine we may notice variations, however slight. This is because virtually all search engines customize the experience for their users by presenting results based on a wide range of factors in addition to search terms, such as the user’s physical location, browsing history, and social settings, so as to offer their users a more intuitive and responsive experience.

In addition, the structural appearance of search engine results pages is also constantly changing due to experiments conducted by Google, Bing, and other search engines, often in the wake of emerging and rapidly developing technologies in this area, and thus the SERPs of today differ significantly in appearance from those of a few years (sometimes months) ago.

Why SERPs are important (and why it is important to know them)

Beyond the huge differences between search engines, almost all SERPs today offer (at least) two types of content: “organic” results and paid results.

The former are the result of organic search, and thus lists of web pages ranked on the basis of the criteria followed by the search engine’s algorithm: these are the links that are of interest to SEO activity, the classic positions for which you battle to the sound of optimization in search of visibility.

In contrast to organic links, paid results are shown when there actually has been a payment by an advertiser, who buys a space to display their ad. In the past, paid results were almost exclusively limited to small text ads, usually displayed above or to the right of organic results, but today they can take on a wide range of ad formats to meet advertisers’ needs and win users’ interest and clicks.

The SERPs therefore interest (and are important for) both SEO specialists and PPC advertisers, who strive to conquer what in English is called SERP real estate, i.e. to consolidate their property in the results page and gain valuable space in the most important parts of the page; competition is fierce and technological developments in search, however, impose the need to keep up with the evolutions, aware of how search works and what are the obstacles and features that can diminish the visibility of the results and sometimes make even a first organic position useless.

Any site that has Google ranking as its core business cannot, therefore, neglect the optimal management of all aspects related to these additional features to the classic organic results, starting with the implementation of structured data, a central element of this progressive revolution, because only awareness can help us understand what is the aspect on which it is convenient to focus the strategy and try to work.

Google SERPs, history and evolution

However, it is clear that, of all the page results, the ones we are most interested in are the Google SERPs – if only because Mountain View’s search engine monopolizes the industry, used by almost 92 percent of Web users worldwide and 94