There are billions of websites on the internet, but nothing is as crucial as the search engine results pages (SERPs) for brands and their marketing plans.
Search engine optimization specialists, along with PPC advertisers and anyone involved in SEM or search engine marketing, know the value of ranking on a SERP.
Google is the most popular search engine, and most people turn to it for information regarding product or company research along with reviews and other vital factors in their buying decision.
SERPs and online reputation management go hand in hand, as negative content ranking on search results will turn customers away. As mentioned above, ranking on a search results page is valuable, no matter your industry.
With the growth of competition to rank on a SERP, it’s more important than ever for digital marketers to learn the ins and outs of search engine results pages to help their content rank and maximize your brand’s visibility.
Search Engine Results Pages, What It Is and How It Works
What is a Search Engine Results Page?
Search engine results pages are the web pages that appear when a user searches for something online using an online search engine like Google.
The user will type in their query or specific phrase, often referred to as a keyword, and Google will present the user with the results page for that term or question.
Each search is unique and indexed a certain way by Google using its specific algorithm. Because each search is unique, the results in one location may vary from another, but by using SEO techniques, or paid advertising, some results may rank higher or lower than organic search results.
How Does A SERP work?
When a search term or question is searched on Google, Google sends crawlers all across the web to search for specific keywords, mentions, and other clues to then index or rank the most relevant information to answer the specific question or search term of the user.
Because new information is constantly published on the internet via social media, newswires, and blogs, the search results are unique each time a keyword is searched.
One thing to remember when first learning about SERPs is that most people only look at the first page of Google and sometimes go to the second page. But, users are less likely to look past page two when looking for answers to a question or searching for a specific term.
As you begin your digital marketing campaign and strategize with your team to rank on Google, keep this in mind so you can maximize your team’s resources and efforts.
You can do a few different things to rank on Google or other search engines. Gaining organic traffic is made possible by search engine optimization, and paid search tactics drive many users to your website.
More details are outlined below regarding these two different yet effective ways to use SERPs to your advantage.
SERP Strategies To Help Make Your Brand More Visible Online
Organic Results
Organic results are different than paid results simply because organic results are web pages naturally indexed by Google’s algorithm, whereas paid results are paid for by the advertiser.
However, organic traffic is not just left up to chance. This is where search engine optimization specialists come into play. SEO experts use various tactics to optimize internet content and websites to help these things rank more highly in organic search results.
Once you understand how SERPs work, you can learn a bit about SEO and how best to optimize internal and external content for your company. Our SEO experts and brand defenders can help if all this information seems overwhelming.
Our team has many years of experience helping brands, individuals, and businesses rank highly in organic search results and specializes in helping these companies improve their overall online reputation.
Google My Business
Many different things are considered organic traffic on Google. For instance, when you first search for a company’s name, especially a local company, there will be a panel on the right of the search results known as a knowledge panel.
This panel is often a Google My Business listing giving users valuable information about your company, including location, pictures, store hours, and contact information. It even has a spot for customers to leave reviews.
Keeping this information updated and accurate is a great way to rank on Google and keep up with organic search results. A Google My Business listing is also free; any company can create and verify a GMB profile for their business.
Related Search
Related search is usually a panel of questions or searches that relate to what the user is searching for.
For example, if a user searches for ‘iPhone 14,’ some questions that may come up in the related search are ‘How much does the iPhone 14 cost?’ or ‘What are the latest features on the iPhone 14?’
This is a small example of how the related search works. Google uses an algorithm to know which questions are most popular regarding a specific search term or question to help generate more content and help the user find the best answer.
The related search cannot be optimized to help a company, but it is essential to pay attention in regard to monitoring your online reputation and managing your brand.
External Content
You can publish third-party content optimized to rank well on search results pages through SEO work. Using specific keywords and developing a strategy for your internal and external content can help in this process.
Search engine optimization can help aid in organic results, but paid results can also help you build brand awareness and more visibility around your business, especially in driving traffic to your website.
Paid Results
In contrast to organic results, paid results have been paid to be displayed by an advertiser. Paid advertisements on SERPs have evolved over the years and take many forms, and many advertising formats take to the advertiser’s needs.
Typically when a user is looking for a specific product or service, as a more generic search term, the results are flooded with paid results. For instance, if you search for a laptop on Google, you will most likely get paid results on the SERP.
These results will be all the different companies that sell laptops, and each of the paid results will have an ‘Ad’ to the left of the result, so you know that that company is paying for a spot on the search result.
Paid results are a great tool to help rank for these generic searches, and ads cost different amounts. So whether you are a small local business or a big box brand, you can use paid results to your advantage to gain more traction and grow your customer base, no matter your budget.
Using organic and paid results together will help you grow your business best and gain visibility for your brand. Understanding a little bit about each of these ways to rank on Google can help you develop a solid strategy to help your online presence grow.
Own the SERP
There are more tactics and strategies to help your company own the SERP. We can help you use organic growth strategies and paid advertising to appear on the search result page for multiple keywords.
Our team of brand defenders and SEO experts knows the ins and outs of SERPs and how to help businesses rank well. We specialize in brand and reputation management, which can be anything from cleaning up your company’s search results to being proactive and helping you own the SERP.
Overall, our team is ready and willing to help with whatever your SERP needs are; whether it’s paid or organic results, BRANDdefenders has you covered.