Search engine results pages (SERPs) have become so integral to life that most people don't even think about how often they use them. Chances are, in the past 24 hours, you entered a query on one of your devices. Maybe you were searching for a place to buy furniture, a local restaurant that serves pho, or for a list of this month's Netflix releases. No matter what information you sought or what search engine you used, the page that came up was a SERP.
SERPs are for consumers looking for relevant information about goods, services, or answers to burning questions. And while Google still reigns supreme as the go-to search engine, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and other smaller alternative search engines are also available.
Search engine results pages typically display paid ads, sponsored listings, and organic results. You may also see sections for "related searches" or "people also ask," as well as different ways to view results — such as image, map, news, or video. This helps increase relevance, like when you're looking for a how-to video or a picture of a product. The results themselves include things like a title, snippet, URL, and site links. And while paid ads typically live at the top of the page, 95% of searchers click on the organic (unpaid) results.
For many businesses and brands, the goal is to land on the coveted first page. Especially since 75% of people never make it past the first page of Google's results, and the first result gets 31.7% of all clicks. One component of today's successful ranking strategies is localization.
To provide its users with the best possible search experience, Google continues to push for better local content from businesses. Regardless of future algorithm updates from Google, investing in high-quality and locally relevant content will help businesses compete in the local pack and rank higher on search engine results pages.
For businesses to appear in Google's local pack and rank high on SERP, they need to have a comprehensive local SEO strategy in place. This requires a combination of optimized content on a business' website, as well as up-to-date data across business directories.
Here are a few things your business should start with if you're looking to rank high on SERP:
Ensure your business' NAP Data is accurate and up to date across all online entities. Accurate NAP data not only increases how many customers arrive at a physical business location but also increases the visibility of its listing to consumers on a search engine results page.
Enhanced content such as images, videos, and product lists is another key part of SEO and can also help businesses rank higher on the SERP. Search engines are wary of local listings that are not rich with details about a business and favor results that are reliable, accurate, and consistent. This often includes listings that include a lot of enhanced content.
Yext can help your business rank high on search engine results pages through accurate digital knowledge across all online entities — including maps, apps, directories, search engines, and more.
Learn more about using schema markup, a helpful way to increase your ranking chances, or look at solutions like Search.
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