To be the first on the web, you must know well what the SERPs are
SERPs Explained: Navigating Search Engine Results Pages
Unravel the mystery of SERPs—Search Engine Results Pages—and learn how they work to display web content. Our guide offers insights into how SERPs influence SEO strategies and the visibility of your website in search results.
To be the first on the web, you must know well what the SERPs are. Be one of the first options in the SERPs. How to appear in the SERPS? What are SERPs?
SERPS means “Search Engine Results Page” or in its Spanish translation, “search engine results” and these results are those that appear among the top 10 options on Google pages, or any other search engine.
If you work in the digital world or study digital advertising, pay close attention because this information may be valuable to you.
Surely you have heard about “SERPS” but, what are they really? What are they for? And how do they work?… If you want to know more, don’t get detached from this article where we will deal with this subject in depth so that its concept and how to use it to make the most of your brand or the brand of your clients is clear to you.
What are SERPs?
Whenever I have trouble learning a word or term, I try to associate it with a similar word that is easy to remember and leads me to the word I’m looking for. With the “SERPS” the same thing happened to me; I always compare it with “SERPientes” so I never forget how it is pronounced or its meaning, even though it has nothing to do with snakes.
SERPS means “Search Engine Results Page” or in its Spanish translation, “search engine results” and these results are those that appear among the top 10 options on Google pages, or any other search engine . The idea with the SERPs is that your brand is located in the first places. Surely you are already wondering: and how to achieve it? Let’s look next:
Optimize much more than texts.
The first thing I want to emphasize here is to make it clear that the fact that the search engines return the combined results implies a high effort to be able to position it. It must be taken into account that it is no longer enough to optimize a website with texts as it was done in the past, since it is necessary to optimize images, videos, news.
Next we will see an image of the google search engine and its themes.
Keep in mind that more visual content strongly reduces the rate of clicks you can receive, in addition to this they push you down the search engine results page. The result is that if you are not ranked well in many formats, it can be difficult to achieve the expected visits. It can be said that the images attached to Google make the format heavier, which is why Google reacts by placing it lower in the search engine list.
Classes of content in the serps
Currently, there are 8 types of content in serps searches.
Websites:
A website is the virtual place on the web that stores content so that people interested in your brand can access it. These sites are those created in HTML. In order to see these results, you only need to be in the organic results of the search engine.
Images:
This is a new option from google, since they modified the algorithm and started showing images directly from the top of the search. Surely we have seen or downloaded an image from Google, since it is one of the most relevant options for the user. In most of the times, the embedded images are extracted from the image index, these can be incorporated automatically.
Videos:
You can append videos in the results from Google, Bing or Vimeo. Video searches increase every day thanks to the high impact that YouTube has on today’s society.
Maps
When you search for a place on Google, it sends you to Google maps to show you the space searched from images, thus facilitating the search for users.
News:
Depending on what you are looking for, relevant and current news will appear over time. For example, if you search for Brazil in the search engine, the results returned are extracted from the separate index that is only accessible if you meet the requirements.
Local pages:
If you have a business and want to start promoting it on Google, you have the option of creating a local page with Google My Business, for free.
Local pages are extremely important results and occupy a considerable part of the SERPs. If you have a business or the business of your clients, do not miss the opportunity to appear in them. Remember that search engines do not use their general page indexes, but rather a new system of company listings as indicated by their own, for this Google Places is used, a tool added a short time ago by Google.
Products:
Google has a product index that is displayed when someone searches for an item. For example, if you have a sportswear brand and your intention is to appear here, you will have to upload the images of your most relevant products in the search engine index. For this type of action, there is Google shopping.
Social networks:
This is the last but not the least important, however, you have to know that these types of results seem like ghosts, since once you see it, it is likely that the next time it is gone. But it’s not that it’s lost, it’s just that tests are still being done on how to append social networks to the results.
What are the results obtained in the SERPS?
In general, the results obtained in the initial SERPS of a search mechanism are content rich in SEO techniques, worked correctly, paid for and that are recognized by the search engine as suitable. Thus, the results presented in the SERPS do not depend solely on the keyword used, they also consider the quality of the pages , metrics and a series of conditions dealt with by content marketing.
The approach to digital marketing, more precisely content marketing, is so important that search engine optimization specialists with SEO strategies and Pay Per Click advertisers are constantly trying to achieve the best positions. This search for the first places is done considering optimization techniques and tools such as sponsored links.
Normally, the SERPS contain two types of content: one free known as “organic results” and another paid “sponsored links”. Organic results are lists of web pages that appear as a result of the search engine’s algorithm. Professionals specialized in search engine optimization, known as SEO, have knowledge about improving content for the web and sites. The results, fruits of organic search, have to be correctly processed, this ensures that they achieve a good ranking in the SERPS.
When you open the Google page and do a search, you may see special content on the right side of the SERP. This is the Knowledge Graph , a resource introduced by the company in 2012. This tool pulls data from different sources on the web and provides more objective answers. Many times, these results offer links to interesting pages.
It is common for some SERPs to offer more organic results than others. This happens because not all searches have the same intention. Thus, they can assume informative, navigational and transactional intent. In informative searches, the user wishes to find information on a specific subject. Already in the second type, the interested party needs to locate a specific site. Finally, there is transactional search. This last type is characterized by having many paid results, it can be said that these searches have an important commercial component.
Types of SERPs
There are two types of SERPS, or SERPS listings: organic and paid.
Organic:
These refer to the listings that appear naturally, which, as its name explains, is when talking about a natural and own content that will live without the need for a paid guideline; rather, he earns his position on his own merit. Here comes the SEO to act and position.
Payment:
Obviously, he is talking about paid content and supported in advertising, these are those that appear in the results thanks to the investment. Do not think that if you invest more, you will be at the top of the search engines, since the positioning depends on other factors. Here comes the SEM to act and position.
As in sports, here you also seek to climb positions.
How to appear in the SERPS?
By understanding that there are two forms of results, one also understands the need to assume two positions that, by the way, are not exclusive. If the company wants to appear in the organic results, it must invest in content marketing and promote the adoption of SEO techniques. When the goal is to establish a presence through paid results, it is important to consider Google Ads campaigns. Through Google Adwords you can develop aggressive campaigns with a good probability of quick return. Both situations demand care, specialized equipment and a lot of knowledge.
Techniques or Pay Per Click: What should I choose?
As the name suggests, SEO techniques – Search Engine Optimization – is the practice of optimizing web sites and pages with the intention of improving their position in the SERPs of search engines. This can be done through on page techniques, that is, tactics that ensure that the content is discoverable, or it can be off page. The latter refers to strategies that affect the site in general.
The PPC is basically a financial strategy. By investing, you can get a good position on the results pages. This mechanism seems simple but it is not, advertisers must undertake quality strategies to achieve the expected results.
After knowing each of the options, the only thing we can say is that choosing between one or the other option varies according to the company’s strategy and objectives. When the intention of the campaign is to improve the relationship with the public, reduce costs, it is worth opting for organic results. When considering a quick solution to make the company known in a short space of time, it may be interesting to choose the paid results. Be careful, nothing prevents you from combining the strategies and working with the two options. This is up to you!
Be one of the first options in the SERPs
You have already learned what they are, what they are for and how to use them, now you must put them into practice and choose the method that serves to put your brand or that of your clients in the first place. Keep in mind that one of the most profitable ways to get more traffic from a search engine is by getting as many results as possible on the first page of the search engine.
The human being has always sought to be in the first positions in everything, at school, at the university, at work and why not, in the hearts of people. With the SERPS it happens exactly the same. Do not forget the tips learned in this article and of course, put them into practice to draw your own experiences and conclusions.