We call SERPs or Search Engine Results Pages to the millions of results displayed in a search engine such as Google when you type in a phrase or a word. In simple terms, SERPs are the pages shown when a user performs a search query.
The most important results are shown to you differently, depending on how you formulate the search query. Clearly, professionals in the marketing industry aim to show up within the first positions on the first page of the search engine results pages.
There are various tactics regarding SEO that can potentially help marketers achieve their goals. However, achieving that top position has become a more competitive quest today since the algorithm of Google keeps evolving.
Why does this happen? The top spot on Google SERPs is getting the most visits or clicks than any other. The websites that position on the first spot have a 34.36% CTR or clicks through rate. Therefore, pages in the first place have better opportunities of capturing a consumer before competitors do.
To understand how SERPs work, we should clarify the differences between search intent and search queries. It’s also essential to have clear how the algorithm of Google works, influencing the results of both.
SERPs, Search Intent & Search Queries
We call search intent to the underlying intent each user’s search query has as well. Search queries are a series of words users build to conduct a search online in a search engine.
Those particular search queries can be divided into four categories:
- Informational — find an answer or learn something
- Commercial — users searching for products with the intent to acquire them
- Transactional — buying something
- Navigational — finding a particular website on the internet
Understanding the search queries and intent can help professionals in the marketing industry present a better content to their perfect customers.
How Do They Work?
It’s the constantly changing algorithm of Google that determines the SERPs. There are three stages in the process utilized to show the results a user sees when searching online. The three stages are as follows.
- Crawling. Google bots search for updated or new pages to index.
- Indexing. The page’s URL gets examined along with the content, images, and other media files and all this data is placed into a massive database.
- Serving. Determining the most relevant pages to the search before showing them to the user.
However, only going through these three steps won’t be enough to get on the top page of Google SERPs.
Typically, pages that are well ranked have strong SEO strategies behind helping them by providing competitive advantages. In simple terms, it’s in your best interest to follow the SEO rules to help your target audience find your page.
Organic vs. Paid Results
Every time someone conducts an online search, they get two kinds of results, organic and paid ones. Depending on what they’re looking for, they’ll see both or one of these results.
Organic results are positioned after the paid results; if no paid results are present, then the organic ones will appear below the search bar.
Paid results will be the first to appear after entering a search query since they take the top positions at the top before the organic results. You can find them in the form of shopping ads or paid search ads. To make sure they get this place, websites owners bid for the position against their competitors. Naturally, whoever wins that ad space is who offers more money for it.
How to Improve Your SERPs Ranking
One of the easiest ways to help your brand obtain visibility is to use a mix of organic and paid strategies. By implementing a mixed strategy, you can potentially improve your position on SERPs.
Paid search ads are one of the various features of SERPs, also known as PPC or pay-per-click ads. For a business to get a position in those search results using pay per click, they’ll have to bid a certain amount of money that will be charged every time users click on the ad.
Organizations can obtain visibility through PPC ads over pages that organically rank well for the searched phrase or word. Remember that it’s essential to select keywords carefully, set the parameters of when you desire an ad to show up, and track your campaign.
How to Upgrade Your Organic Results
If your company is just starting or more budget orientated, paying for ads can be an unnecessary expense. Organic SEO may be a better fit then but keep in mind that this is a longer game of rank improvement. However, it’s been proven that organic SEO tactics are five times more successful than the paying for ads strategy.
Here are some key points to consider if you’re trying to improve your brand’s ranking organically. You should search keywords that users are interested in and ensure that your content is comprehensive.
Also, consider looking for opportunities to create backlinks, encourage engagement with your content, and optimize your on-page SEO. Additionally, you should prioritize local searches and optimize your content for SERP features.
Last Word
If you’re looking for more authentic results that will potentially last longer than a traditional ad campaign, then you should focus on improving your organic listings. By creating an organic SEO strategy, your brand can drastically improve in ranking.
Now that you understand SERPs and their features, you can evaluate the importance of having the right tools to attract your desired audience. This can drastically improve your digital marketing campaigns in several ways; how you do it it’s up to you. In any case, the sky’s the limit.
