I'm guessing that you just read my blog that reveaked what are the most popular search engines around the world. Now, let's explore the search results page of one in particular: Google Search.
The definition of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) may be implicit in the name. The SERP commonly refers to the webpage where the results of your search are displayed.
There are several webpages, which will seek to respond to specific users searches. As you can imagine, there is a lot of competition among millions of webpages for a spot in front of users.
When you enter a search query, the search engine scans its index to find webpages with keywords that match your query. It then ranks these pages based on relevance, considering factors like content quality, keyword usage, and page authority. The most relevant pages are displayed higher in the search results.
You and I may enter the same statement in the search bar but receive different results. This is because the search engine relies on context, like location, interests and browsing history, to personalise the results for each user. If you are logged in to the browser or the browser has permission to access your current location, then the results will be localised.
Here is a demonstration of the Google Search Engine Results Page when I search in incognitio mode.
Let's start with a simple search: "pizza delivery in Toronto."
Here is the start of the results I'm shown.
For me, the top result on the page is an ad by Skip The Dishes.
EDIT: In 2024, instead of "Ad", you will see "Sponsored" as the label on the paid results.
Skip The Dishes is not a pizza shop. It is a website or an app, through which I can order food from any number of restaurants and have it delivered.
Look at the text in the ad. Notice that the words “pizza” and “delivery” are bold. If the word “Toronto” appeared here, it too would be bold. Those are the three words I typed in the search bar. This search engine is showing me that the search result is relevant because the words I typed appear in the text displayed.
Did you read the entire ad?
Did you even absorb any of the headlines?
Probably not!
That’s exactly how most people use the web. We don’t take it all of the information. We expect to know at a glance whether we care about what’s put in front of us. Keep that mind when you're wondering why keyword alignment is so important.
As I scroll down the results page, below the Skip The Dishes ad is the map of Toronto with location pins for some pizza restaurants. There is also a list of pizza locations and the option to view the full list of pizza restaurants for which Google has Toronto addresses.
Below the map and the restaurant locations begins the list of organic search results. These are relevant to the search for pizza delivery in Toronto.
There are three (3) things I want to call out here:
None of these has the word “Ad” or "Sponsored" at the start, so neither of these is a paid search result.
The words “Toronto”, “pizza delivery”, “pizza” and “pizzas” are all bold here, because these are the words I typed in the search query.
The search engine makes no distinction between “pizza”, which is singular, and “pizzas” which is plural.
Additionally, the standard display format for search results leads with the URL and follows with the page description. There are some elements of the SERP that deviate from this format, which we will see shortly.
Still scrolling on the same page, beyond the organic search results there are MORE paid results.
Notice the word “Ad” at the start of each of these messages from Pizza Hut, Dominoes and Pizza Nova.
Paid results, those with the word “Ad” or "Sponsored" can appear at the top and near the bottom of the search results page.
At last, we reach the bottom on the scrollable space.
Here we see that below the second list of paid results, Google includes a Discover More Places section.
In this section, if I click any of the tiles here, then Google will execute a new search using the search terms shown in the examples, such as “family-friendly dinner”, “late night food” and “pizza takeaway”.
Next, the page includes a list of Related Searches. In the example, I see Pizza Nova, Pizza Pizza and Pizza Nut, which are 3 major pizzarias in Toronto.
In this section, if I expand any of these list items, then I see an excerpt from Wikipedia about each restaurant.
Next, the page includes more suggested or related searches. Google is extending additional options for me to find what I want. After all, if I’ve naturally scrolled all the way to the bottom of this page, then it’s safe to assume that the earlier page results did not satisfy my interests.
Finally, there is the option to navigate to successive search results pages. However, users rarely push past page 1. 🔍The last time I visited the second page was probably a decade ago, when search habits were different.
You may have heard the statement, “the best place to hide a dead body is on the second page of the search results.” 😂 Nobody goes there. Nothing beyond page 1 will be seen.
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