The SERP is the results page Google displays after a search, which includes organic results, paid ads, featured snippets, the Local Pack and other special formats.
The SERP (Search Engine Results Page) is the page Google displays in response to a query. It contains multiple types of results: organic results (links from Google's index, unpaid), paid results (Google Ads, above and below the organic ones), the Featured Snippet (direct answer box), the Local Pack (map with 3 local businesses), the Knowledge Panel, People Also Ask, the Image Pack and the Video Carousel. The type of SERP shown depends on the search intent identified by Google.
Understanding the SERP for your target keyword shows you what type of content you need to create, which competitors you need to outrank and which special formats (featured snippet, video) you can win.
Source: Google Search Central — SERP FeaturesKeyword research is the process of identifying the words and phrases your target audience searches for on Google, so you can create content that answers exactly those searches.
A featured snippet is the box that appears above Google's organic results — "Position 0" — showing a direct answer to a question, extracted from one of the indexed pages.
Organic CTR is the percentage of users who click your Google result out of all who see it — an important indicator of how effective your titles and meta descriptions are.
Search intent is the purpose behind a Google search — why the user is searching that term: to learn, to compare, to buy or to navigate to a specific site.
Explore how to apply this concept to your industry and city.