What is a Search Engine Result Page (SERP)?

Search engine results pages (SERPs) are the pages you’re taken to after entering a search term, aka keyword, into a search engine.

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The features on the SERP – for example Local Packs, Knowledge Panels, People Also Ask boxes, image carousels – vary greatly and the features that the search engine includes for any given search term, are dependent on many things.

In the main they feature paid (sometimes referred to as sponsored content) and organic results. The latter is where an SEO specialist is looking to promote your business.

The organic results sometimes include a Local Pack – that’s the map with business listings – which usually but not always, bisects the paid and organic listings.

Each result on the page – also know as a content snippet – in the organic listings is typically made up of three elements – the the url (which is prefixed by a site icon on mobile devices as per the screenshot above right), the page title, and the meta description.

Google, and the other search engines, have devised algorithms to ensure the content snippets returned towards the top of page one in the organic listings, better serve the intent of the search query.

For every search the default SERP is the All results page – or vertical as it is also known. The other verticals are Shopping, Images, Videos, News and so on. These can be accessed via the tabs below the search field.

Google, and the other search engines, promote these other results periodically, once again depending on the query, to provide the most relevant and useful results on the default vertical – including image and video carousels as below.