Understanding Google SERPs

We use them every day, but when it comes to looking at SERPs (search engine results pages) from the perspective of a website owner, they take on extra meaning and importance.

Every element in a SERP is a potentially valuable piece of web page ‘real estate’ that could entice visitors to your site. Therefore, as a website owner, your goal is for your site or sponsored links to appear with relevant, useful information in the prime positions. Alkemi can help you achieve this with our SEO and conversion services.

Below is a breakdown of the various elements in a SERP.

• PPC advertising / sponsored links
  These are the paid advertising links generated by Google AdWords that link to sponsor sites. They appear across the top of the results list, or just beside them.
• Organic listings
  These result listings comprise: 
  • Title – Devised from your Title tags
  • Description – Description of the site in question. Usually this is taken from the Meta Description tag, or (in its absence) what the search engine bot saw of the site.
  • Site links – A new feature for sites with strong search engine positioning. These are a subset of links to specific pages on your site. They sit under the main listing, and are very desirable to get.
• URL
  Your URL is your ‘Universal Resource Locator’, or your web address e.g. “http://www.myurl.com".
  
• Cached content
  A snapshot of what Google saw of the page in question when it was last crawled.
• Similar pages
  The result list continues with other sites the search engine identified as also being relevant to the search query, 

Make your SERP material work for you

As the SERP is the first thing your potential visitors see of your site, you want to make it work as best it can for you. This means ensuring that you not only get a top position, but that your SERP information that appears (your title, description, url, cached content etc) is relevant, valuable and enticing to people searching the Internet.

Priming your website to look its best on SERPs is an important, but often overlooked element of SEO. With our vast experience in SEO and conversion, Alkemi can make your SERP listings not only get a top position, but also make them compelling to help drive traffic your way. Speak to Alkemi today & find out more about our SEO services.