Fundamentals

SERP (search engine results page)

A SERP is the page a search engine returns for a query. Modern SERPs mix organic links with ads, featured snippets, map packs, shopping carousels and AI-generated answers.

The composition of the SERP decides how much a ranking is worth. Position one on a clean page of ten blue links captures roughly a quarter of the clicks; the same position under four ads, a snippet and an AI Overview can capture a fraction of that. This is why any traffic forecast has to be built from the SERP as it actually looks today, not from a generic click curve.

SERPs also differ by device, by location and over time. The same query returns a map pack on a phone in a city centre and none on a desktop two hundred kilometres away, and Google reshuffles result types continuously. Checking the live SERP for your head terms once a quarter is the cheapest competitive research available, and it regularly changes content priorities more than any keyword tool does.

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