What are SERP Features? Question

SERP Features are special results on Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) that usually provide users with helpful information without having to click on a result. These features include results like Instant Answers, Local Packs and Image Carousels. There are a number of ways to research and track SERP Features on SEMrush.

SERP Features in Position Tracking

The following SERP Features can be tracked by our Position Tracking tool:

Featured snippets - Featured snippets give a summarized answer to a specific question asked on Google.

Local Pack - Local packs show location-based results based on the subject of the query and searcher’s geographic location. Local businesses (especially in food / service industries) are commonly found in local packs.

Reviews - Star ratings will appear under a domain’s result if the website’s business has received Google reviews from Internet users.

AMP - Accelerated Mobile Pages are a form of light-weight coding for mobile webpages. AMPs are labelled in Google’s results with a lightning bolt icon that tells searchers that the page will be fast and easy to browse on a mobile device. These are not SERP Features by nature, but we mention it because Google will indicate AMPs on the SERPs and they are important.

Sitelinks - Sitelinks appear below a search result description and offer links to more related areas and subfolders of the website.

Video - Video listings are simply search results that offer videos.
 

Featured video - A featured video is a video result that appears at the top of the results page. Featured videos are more prominent compared to video results, which can show up anywhere in the results.

Top Stories - Top stories are news-related results that appear at the top of a SERP if there are current events or news related to the query.

People also ask - People also ask boxes are additional questions related to the search query that appear on the SERP.

Images - Image results appear for searchers where visual aid is deemed relevant by Google. Image results can appear in any position on a SERP, and draw in the eyes of searchers.

Twitter - Twitter cards generally appear less than halfway down the page and display the most recent or trending tweets related to the query.

Instant answer - These results pop up when Google can serve as a quick answer to a searcher’s query. These answers are sourced from Google’s Knowledge Graph.

Knowledge panel - These panels appear, often on the right side of the SERP, and provide background knowledge about a topic. Knowledge panels are common among queries for a famous person, place or thing.

Shopping ads - These results display product ads of businesses using the Google Shopping network, also known as Product Listing Ads (PLAs). These results are technically advertisements, not SERP Features, but they are on this list because of their impact on a SERP.

Google Ads top - While these results aren’t organic SERP Features (you have to pay for them), they can take up the first four positions on the SERP, which is a valuable real estate for a search marketer. Google Ads at the top of a SERP can indicate a higher level of competition for a keyword. Keep in mind that Google Ads ads are technically not SERP Features, but we include them in this list because their nature in taking up space on the results pages is similar.

Google Ads bottom - While Google Ads ads usually take up the top of a SERP, they can also take up space at the bottom of the results page if there are enough advertisers.

Researching SERP Features with other SEMrush Tools

In addition to Position Tracking, you can research SERP Features in your industry with the following tools:

1. Sensor - Discover which SERP Features are the most relevant to various industries.

2. Organic Positions Report - Enter a domain and filter their organic rankings to find keywords that trigger SERP Features and the SERP Features that the domain has rankings for.

And this is how the tab looks in the remastered version of the report:

3. Keyword Magic Tool - Filter your keyword research by SERP Features.

4. Keyword Difficulty Tool - Display the various SERP Features that a specific keyword triggers.

5. On Page SEO Checker - Receive recommendations to target and rank for various SERP Features.

For a workflow on how to target and acquire SERP Features for your website using SEMrush, read our Winning SERP Features blog post.