What Are Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)?
Search Engine Results Pages, or SERPs, are the screens you see after you type something into Google or another search engine. They show links, short answers, images, videos, maps, and more that match your search.
Definition
Search Engine Results Pages are the pages that a search engine shows for a specific search word or question. Each SERP is built from many different results that the search engine thinks are most helpful and most trustworthy for that search.
Why Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) Matters
SERPs are important because they decide which websites people visit.
- Most people only click results on the first page.
- Higher spots on the page usually get more clicks and more visitors.
- Special boxes like featured snippets or local map results can grab attention fast.
For businesses and creators, understanding SERPs helps them improve SEO so their pages appear in better positions and reach more people.
How Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) Works
When you search, the search engine follows a few main steps.
- It looks through its index, a huge library of web pages it has already crawled and stored.
- It runs ranking algorithms that score pages for your search based on relevance, quality, freshness, and many other signals.
- It builds a SERP that can include blue link results, ads, images, videos, news, local business listings, and rich answer boxes.
- It orders these results so the most useful ones appear at the top of the page.
Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) vs Related Terms
- SERP vs search engine The search engine is the tool like Google or Bing. The SERP is the page of results that the tool shows you.
- SERP vs search result A SERP is the whole page. A search result is one item on that page, for example a single blue link or one image.
- SERP vs SEO SEO is the process of improving a website so it can rank higher. The SERP is where you see the results of that SEO work.
Example of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
Imagine you search for best pizza near me.
- At the top you might see paid ads for pizza places.
- Below that you may see a map with several local pizza restaurants, along with ratings and addresses.
- Under the map you see regular blue links to pizza restaurant websites and delivery apps.
- You might also see filters, such as open now or top rated.
All of these parts together make up that single SERP for your pizza search.
FAQs
What is a SERP position
A SERP position is the spot where a page appears on the results page, for example position 1 at the very top of the organic results.
What is a featured snippet on a SERP
A featured snippet is a special box at the top of some SERPs that shows a short direct answer taken from a web page, often in a paragraph, list, or table.
Are ads part of the SERP
Yes, paid ads are part of the SERP. They are usually labeled as ads and often appear above or below the regular organic results.
Can two people see different SERPs for the same search
Yes. Results can change based on location, language, device type, search history, and test experiments that the search engine is running.
