Chapter 5: The Search Results Page (SERP)

Last updated: November 1, 2026.

The page we see when we search on Google is called the search engine results page (SERP).

I think if we only look at the SERP to ask “What position am I in?”, we miss a big opportunity. Because Google’s search results page tells us a lot about that keyword.

Let’s go through a simple example. Imagine we search Google for “how to make coffee.” If the results mostly show:

• Recipes
• Guides
• Videos
• Q&A content

Google is actually telling us this:

Most of the people making this search are looking for information.

Now let’s search for “coffee machine.” This time the results might have more of these:

• E-commerce sites
• Category pages
• Products
• Comparison content
• Shopping results

Because the search intent has started to change.

So the SERP isn’t just a list of our competitors.

It’s a snapshot of how Google interprets that query.

When I’m going to work on a keyword, I find it important to look at the results page first. So what are we going to look at?

1. What types of pages does Google show?

What’s in the top 10 results?

• Homepages?
• Category pages?
• Product pages?
• Blog posts?
• News?
• Forums?

This is very important. For example, if Google mostly shows category pages on the first page, trying to compete for the same keyword with a blog post may not be the right strategy.

2. What content format does Google prefer?

I don’t just look at the page type but also at the content format. Which of these dominate the results?

• “Top 10…” lists
• How-to guides
• Comparisons
• Q&As
• Videos
• Breaking news

If a format keeps repeating on Google’s first page, there’s usually a reason for it.

3. How fresh are the results?

For some queries, content created years ago can rank perfectly well. For others, Google keeps showing new content.

For example, a good piece of content from a few years ago can still be valuable for “how to make coffee.” But for a query like “when is the new iPhone coming out,” freshness matters much more.

The SERP gives us clues about this too.

4. Who’s on the first page?

You shouldn’t judge competitors only by brand size.

With the e-commerce clients we work with, very large sites like Trendyol and Hepsiburada, Turkey’s biggest online marketplaces, almost always show up as competitors. When you tell the client this, they can naturally get discouraged and ask “How are we supposed to compete with these giants?”

But from what I’ve seen, competing with big brands on specific topics can sometimes be much easier than we think. Because a big site doesn’t have to be very strong on every topic.

Trendyol may be a very big site overall. But in the very specific category or query you’re targeting:

• Its content may be thin.
• Its category structure may not be good.
• It may not answer the user’s question well enough.
• It may not have a page that specializes in that topic.

That’s why, rather than how big our competitor is overall, we need to look at how strong it is in the area we’re working in.

Sometimes a small site that’s entirely focused on one topic can get ahead of a very big brand. That’s why, when studying the SERP, I find it more accurate to look not just at domain names but at the competitors’ pages for that query.

5. What does Google show besides the classic results?

Today a Google results page isn’t just 10 blue links. Depending on the search, we can see different areas like these:

• Images
• Videos
• Map results
• Shopping results
• Featured snippet
• People also ask sections
• News

Each of these gives us a different clue about what users are looking for. For example, if there are a lot of video results for a query, we can assume users want to learn that topic visually. If local businesses show up, the search may have local intent.

6. Don’t confuse ads with organic results

For some queries, Google may show ads at the top of the page. Especially for keywords with high commercial value, the first organic result can end up quite far down the screen.

That’s why when we say “I’m number one on Google,” we need to know what we mean. An ad? A Shopping result? A map result? Or the first organic result?

When doing SEO, the area we mainly track is the organic results. But where the organic result appears on the user’s screen matters too.

What do SERP features tell us?

Let’s put the areas I listed above, plus the others we come across most often, into a table. Each feature says something different about the query and changes where the organic results sit on the screen. You can see Google’s own list in the Google Search visual elements gallery.

These features aren’t fixed. A box that shows up for a query one day may not show up another day, or may move to a different spot. That’s why it’s better to study a query at regular intervals rather than with a single look. I cover local search in Chapter 37.

What is a single organic result made of?

We’ve looked at SERP features. Now let’s take a closer look at a classic organic result itself. The same Google gallery also describes the parts of a text result. Not all of them show up on every result, but these are the ones we see most often:

• Site name and favicon: The site’s name and small icon at the top of the result.
• Visible URL: The domain and sometimes a breadcrumb that shows where the page sits on the site. Since January 2025, Google shows only the domain instead of the breadcrumb in mobile results (Google Search Central).
• Title link: The clickable title of the result.
• Snippet: The description text under the title.
• Date: The date Google estimates the page was published or updated.
• Sitelinks: A few links from the same site shown under some results.

There’s an important point to know here: Google builds most of these parts itself. For the title link it looks at the page’s <title> element, but it can also use the main title on the page, the H1, other prominent text on the page and the anchor text of links pointing to the page. This process is completely automated (Google Search Central). The snippet, on the other hand, mostly comes from the page content. Google uses the meta description only when it thinks it describes the page more accurately. The snippet can also change depending on the query (Google Search Central).

That’s why it helps to look at competitors’ titles and snippets when you study a SERP. Which titles and descriptions Google highlights for a query gives you a clue about what users want to see at first glance. Check your own page’s result too: Is Google showing the title you wrote, or has it picked some other text? I explain how I write titles and meta descriptions in Chapter 14.

Taking notes on your SERP review

Looking at the SERP isn’t enough on its own. If we don’t write down what we see, after a few keywords it all gets mixed up. Noting this information for each keyword makes our job easier:

• Keyword and date: Since the SERP changes over time, we need to know which day we looked.
• Device and location: Results can differ on mobile and desktop and in different cities. I explain why in Chapter 6.
• Dominant page type: Are most of the top 10 results products, categories or guides?
• Dominant format: Is it a list, a comparison, a how-to or a video?
• Freshness: When was the content on the first page published or updated?
• Sites and pages on the first page: Big brands, or small sites focused on the topic?
• SERP features: Which areas are there, like ads, Shopping, maps, videos or People also ask?
• Position of the first organic result: When you open the screen, can you see the first organic result, or do you have to scroll down?

When you put these notes side by side for a few related keywords, like in the coffee machine example, it becomes much clearer which keyword fits which page.

Reading Google’s clues

In a sense, I see SERP analysis as asking Google a question.

What do you want to see for this keyword?

And Google answers us with the results on the first page. Of course, Google doesn’t directly say “Write a 3,000-word article” or “Use a category page here.” We look at the results and try to understand what they have in common.

That’s a big part of SEO anyway:

Correctly interpreting the clues Google gives us.

That’s why, before working on a keyword, I wouldn’t just look at search volume and difficulty score. I would type the keyword into Google and really study the results page.

Because sometimes a 5-minute SERP review can save you from spending hours creating the wrong content.

Practice

• Search for your 3 most important target keywords on Google and take notes based on the points above.
• Is the dominant page type in the top 10 results the same as the type of page you created for that keyword?
• When you open the screen, is the first organic result visible? How far down do ads, Shopping or map results push it?
• Open the big sites’ pages for that query on the first page. Is there a point where your page gives a better answer?
• Copy the questions in the People also ask box. Which of them does your page not answer?
• Look at your own page’s result. Are the title and snippet Google shows the same as the title and meta description you wrote?

Previous: Chapter 4: Search Intent · Contents · Next: Chapter 6: Why Doesn't Everyone See the Same Rankings?

This chapter was first published in Turkish on X (September 2, 2026).