SERP (Search Engine Results Page)

What is on a SERP?

A SERP is made of organic results, paid results and search features. Google documents each element in its visual elements gallery. Your own listing is built from a title link, your site name and URL, and a snippet.

You do not fully control your listing. Google's documentation says it can generate the title link from other text on your page, and that the snippet comes mainly from page content, with the meta description used when it gives a more accurate description.

Why does the SERP matter as much as the ranking?

The SERP matters because the same position is worth different amounts on different results pages. First place under an AI Overview, four ads and a People also ask box sits much further down the screen than first place on a plain page of links. Look at the page before you judge what a ranking is worth.

How do you check a SERP without your own history skewing it?

You check a cleaner SERP with a private window, signed out, which removes your own search history from the picture. It does not remove location or device, so check on a phone as well as a desktop, and remember that a searcher in another city can see a different page.