According to a digital marketing speaker Hong Kong, many people are familiar with the term SEO but not with SERP. For a social media agency Hong Kong, an SEO strategy begins with SERP. On the other hand, a video marketing agency Hong Kong highlights that SERP can make a video stand out from the rest. Below, let us take a look at the anatomy of SERP.

WHAT IS SERP?

A search engine results page or SERP is a list of suggested returns for a specific phrase or word query. It includes URL (Uniform Resource Locator) links, web page titles, plus a brief description of the content. In some cases, the links point to relevant interests within a website. SERP may show zero to millions of returns, depending on the content availability of a particular search.

In most cases, search engine users will look at only the first one to three pages of hits (results). Web designers and site owners use search engine optimization (SEO) methods to make their sites and pages appear at or near the top of a SERP. There are three main types of results on a SERP: Pages that the search engine spider has crawled and indexed; pages that have been manually added to the search engine’s directory; and pages that appear as a result of paid inclusion. The highest-ranking hits generally link to the most useful information; links grow less relevant as they move farther down the list. These include:

  • Images or Photos
  • Knowledge Graphs
  • Local Listings
  • News Articles
  • Organic Results
  • Paid Ads
  • Products and Services for Sale
  • Relevant Suggestions
  • Videos

Many brands and businesses want their content to be at the top of the first page of search results. It is because the higher you rank on SERP, the higher the traffic you will receive. In most cases, searchers only click the first three results on the first page of SERP. Yet, the more complex the search is the more willing searchers to explore beyond the first page of SERP.

4 MAIN ELEMENTS OF SERP

There are 4 main elements of SERP. These are the search bar, paid search ads, organic results, and related searches. Let us take a look at each of them one by one.

Search Bar

The search bar is also called the search box, search field, or search query. Every web browser has a search box. While the web searches on the search box have three categories. These are informational, navigational, and transactional. If a user wants general information for a product or topic, the search is informational. If a user is looking for a specific brand or entity, the search is navigational. If a user is looking to buy or connect to a brand or business, the search is transactional. The best way to rank on SERP using a search bar is to include your business name and location for every search content category. It helps a brand or business get discovered by consumers.

Paid Search Ads

Paid search means paid advertisements, either through Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Pay-Per-Impression (PPI). Through PPC, the brand or business pays for the ads every time it’s clicked. Through PPI, the brand or business pays for the ads every time it’s displayed a thousand times. Paid search ads are the surest way to rank on SERP. But there are several factors to take into consideration. These include:

  • Being the highest bidder for a keyword or key phrase (Bidding).
  • Frequency of Keywords
  • Including phone numbers and web pages on a listing (Ad Extensions)
  • Quality of the ads and landing pages (Content Quality Score)

Organic Results

Organic results are unpaid web page listings. They are pieces of web content that rank based on a search engine algorithm. For organic results, it is best to follow SEO best practices to rank on SERP. That means using the right keywords and writing quality content.

Related Searches

Search engines can sometimes read people’s minds. That is why they commonly have a related searches section. For brands and businesses, they are another way to rank on SERP. Using keywords that searches commonly search for can help web pages land on related searches. Putting categories and topics is another way to be on related searches.

Reference: https://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2022/06/23/search-engine-results-page-serp/