A Thorough look into Google's Search Result Pages (SERPs)

Google is the most visited website on the internet, and this is largely due to the search results it provides. The search engine result pages or SERPs are the results you get upon searching for a specific keyword or phrase. The results we see for our searches can vary depending on many factors. We have put together the following information to give you a breakdown of Google’s SERPs.

How The Search Result Pages Are Structures

Every SERP presented by a search engine is unique, even for searches performed for the same keywords on the same search engine. This is because the searches are customized for the user based on factors beyond the search terms such as their browsing history, location, etc.

Google’s search engine result page typically contains a list of paid results followed by organically ranking results. However, the appearance of SERPs is ever-changing as a result of search engines experimenting to provide their users with an experience catered to them. Depending on what you search for, the elements that appear on the result page may vary.

If you are searching for an item you can purchase, like a pair of shoes, you may see shop results on your SERP. However, if you search for a public figure like the pope, you will see a knowledge graph on the right side of your SERP. The way Google’s search result pages are structured, changes with your search terms and the new developments within Google’s search algorithm.

Sponsored Results vs Organic Results

Sponsored or paid results typically appear on top of the organic search results. These results are paid for by individuals or companies to appear in Google’s search results. You can recognize the paid results by looking for the word “Ad” in front of the website link. These search ads can be created using a Google Ads account and cost a certain amount every time someone clicks on the ad.

Organic results include results that are the most relevant to the user's search terms. Organic rankings for websites are decided by Google’s search engine algorithmically. This is carried out by software called web crawlers that search the internet to look for websites to add to a massive database or Google index. This index is used by Google to provide relevant results to a user when they search for something using Google’s search engine.

Utilizing SERP Data

Google is used by millions of people to make several searches and decisions every day. This makes ranking in Google search results an essential part of promoting almost all businesses. SERP data such as ads, organic and paid results, queries, etc. can be analyzed and used to help your website rank higher. You can use this data for better Search Engine Optimization (SEO), monitoring competition and marketing your business on the internet. Extracting this data manually can be a very tedious task and could essentially be ineffective due to bot preventing techniques employed by Google. The ideal way to gather such data would be to use a serp api which programmatically returns such data in a nice JSON format for further evaluation. After gathering such data, it would be a matter of wading through the data using machine learning and big data techniques to find what you are looking for.