What is SERP?
The competition for good rankings in the organic results - pages that you naturally work to get high up in search results - is fierce. Combined with technological developments in search, it's more important than ever for digital marketers to know how search works and what they can do to maximize visibility.
SERP - Organic results
SERPs typically contain two types of content - organic results and paid results. Organic results are listings of web pages that appear as a result of the search engine algorithm (more on this shortly). Search engine optimization professionals, commonly known as SEO specialistsThey specialize in optimize web content and websites to rank higher in organic search results.
SERP - Paid results
Paid results, unlike organic results, paid results are those that are paid to be shown by an advertiser. In the past, paid results were almost exclusively limited to small text-based ads that typically appeared above and to the right of the organic results. Today, however, paid results can take a wide variety of forms and there are several advertising formats to meet advertisers' needs.
How SERP works
Search engine results are web pages served to users when they search for something online using a search engine, such as Google. The user enters their search query and the search engine presents them with a SERP.
Each SERP is unique, even for search queries performed on the same search engine using the same keywords or search queries. This is because virtually all search engines personalize the experience for their users by presenting results based on a wide range of factors beyond their search terms, such as the user's physical location and browsing history. Two SERPs may appear identical and contain many of the same results, but often have differences.
The appearance of search engine results pages is constantly evolving due to experiments conducted by Google, Bing and other search engine providers to offer their users a more intuitive experience. This, combined with new and rapidly evolving technologies in the search space, means that today's SERPs are very different from their older predecessors.
