SERP, or Search Engine Result Page, is the page that shows up after you’ve searched for a term in a search engine like Google. These results have been sifted through by the search engine’s crawlers to bring you the most relevant results.
Two Types of SERPs
There are two main types of SERP results:
- Organic results are results that has been indexed by the search engine’s crawlers and deemed the most relevant.
- Paid results are results that have been paid for by an advertiser to appear on the top of the page. (This type of content will generally have “Ad” posted next to it to indicate that it’s a paid ad.)
For example, if you live in St. Louis and type in the query “BBQ,” local search will bring up BBQ restaurants in St. Louis, recipes for barbeque, and more. These result is considered organic because Google’s algorithm have decided those pages are relevant. However, if a restaurant has paid for their website to show up on the first page after someone asks for BBQ in St. Louis, that would be a paid result.
In addition, remember Google Map and local business listing results are not paid results. These results are organic results based off of the user’s location.
SERP & SEO
A site’s listing in SERPs is generally dependent on white-hat Search Engine Optimization (SEO) since this method helps improve visibility. It’s recommended that you hire a professional SEO agency rather than try to do it yourself for the best results. Not only will it save you time, but it will also deliver better results.