How important is the SERP?

Here at Pumpkin Web Design, we are Preston’s leading web design and web marketing specialists. We work across the region, with businesses and companies in a wide range of different sectors to provide a top quality service, that gets results. Part of the evidence for these results will be an increase in page ranking, as shown by the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). But how important is the SERP? And what can we learn from it?

What is the SERP?

First of all, let’s clarify what we mean when we discuss the SERP. The SERP is the Search Engine Resuslts Page, and put simply, this is the page that is displayed when you enter a search on Google or any other Search Engine. This is an index of websites that have been pulled up as a relevant source of information to answer your query.

But that’s not all that the SERP can offer. With the addition of rich results, you can now expect to see a few selected images, a rich snippet, or even a knowledge box. All of this draws attention to the different sources, and makes them stand out more than the average result.

In addition, the SERP now also places paid advertisements above the organic ranking pages. And these paid slots are becoming increasingly camouflaged, so that your searchers may not even notice that it is an advertisement.

Furthermore, the results displayed on the SERP may well be different for different users. With personalized search, users may see results that are more relevant to websites they have visited before. Alternatively, search engines can filter results by location, so that you will get more “relevant” information. This means that the top website on the index for one person, will not necessarily be the top result nationwide.

So, when it comes to business, how important is the SERP?

Well, the top result for any search query, no matter how obscure, will always get the lions share of the click throughs. We are pretty lazy after all, and even if you create the best meta-description, searchers are just going to click on the first link they are given. But it’s not all or nothing. The remaining 60% of the click throughs are shared between the rest of the top ten results. So while landing in the top spot will generate the most traffic, landing anywhere on page 1 will still generate some traffic. So getting your page ranked on the first SERP will increase traffic to your site, giving you the opportunity to convert more customers, and make more money. And this is completely free, you dont have to buy advertising to rank.

Essentially, the SERP will be your number 1 source of traffic for your website.

At the same time, the SERP is the perfect place to research trends, competitors, and most importantly, keywords.

So what can we learn from the SERP?

As web marketers the SERP can reveal a lot of information, and this should influence the type of content you produce, and the SEO techniques used. Web marketers can:

research relevant keywords and take note of paid advertisements, rich results, and keyword search volume. This can determine the level of competition for the keyword, and the type of content that you should produce to rank highly.
use the SERP to keep track of competitors online
use the SERP to measure recent trends in relevant news stories. Search engines like Google produce a “News box”, and if your industry has relevant news, content should be produced to take advantage of this. This can increase your websites visibility and authority.

For more information or for professional web marketing support, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design.