Website owners worldwide want one thing: to make their business rank higher above their competition. On Google’s search engine result pages (SERPs), we see different websites showing up for a certain search query, giving people relevant content.
In recent times, Google has innovated its approaches to providing relevant information to users. With 61% of internet searches coming from mobile devices, Google transforms how users see results. One of such introductions is the Google SERP features.
What are SERP features?
They are blurbs curated from the long-form post. They provide instant answers to queries at the top of the search results.
SERP feature examples include:
● Featured snippets.
● People Also Ask.
● Image Pack.
● Video Carousel.
● Local Map Pack.
● Knowledge Panel.
● Knowledge Card.
● Top Stories.
● Sitelinks.
● Top and Bottom Paid Ads.
● Shopping Results.
These features have indirectly made SEO harder for most business owners. It almost seems people will not bother to click a website if they can see the answers. However, it comes with a unique opportunity that businesses can take advantage of.
This article explores the importance of organic SERP features and how to optimize your website.
Why Is It Important to Win a Google SERP Feature?
Most digital marketers will argue that winning Google SERP features isn’t important to web traffic. However, taking advantage of the features come with several benefits.
Organic SERP features provide users with useful information relevant to their search. This enables them to make informed decisions or carry out actions. Leveraging these features can give your business an advantage over the competition.
Take the example below:
A newbie looking to identify equipment a disc jockey needs can read all the information on the page. They are more likely to click the link to read the best of the article. If the website is an eCommerce that deals in DJ equipment, it might be able to make revenue and boost its bottom line.
Featured snippets account for about 35% of all clicks on organic search positions. Thus, optimizing your website for SERP features will improve your click-through rates and increase your website traffic.
How Do I Find My SERP Ranking?
There are different tools to check your website’s SERP ranking for targeted keywords. One of such tools is the Ahrefs Free Keyword Rank Checker. All you need to do is input the keyword and your website URL and click Check Rankings.
It will automatically scan SERP features and provide you with the position of your website.
You can even see the websites ranking higher than others on the result pages for that keyword. You can use this free tool to identify the position your competitors rank for certain keywords.
This will guide you in optimizing your website for higher rankings.
Difference Between Paid and Organic SERP Features
SERP features come in two forms: paid and organic. So, what’s the difference between paid vs organic SERP features?
The answer is simple: the cost. Paid SERP features allow web admins to pay to feature their web content in search results. This benefits digital marketers looking for instant results for their strategy.
As long as the content displayed is engaging, users will click on the link to get the whole picture. On the other hand, Organic SERP features utilize SEO to optimize web pages appearing on search results.
While paid SERP features deliver instant results, it costs more in the long run. Organic SERP features may take some time to be visible, but optimizing your website content is relatively cheaper.
Ways to Optimize for SERP Features
There are different ways you can optimize your website for Google SERP features. We will explore all of them below:
Keyword Research for SERP Features
Before optimizing your website to show up on SERP features, you must research the keywords that trigger such results. You can research your competitors’ SERPs opportunities for targeted keywords.
If your website can provide more valuable content, Google could replace their snippet with yours.
Semrush Organic Research provides a comprehensive list of all the organic SERP features of a website. All you need to do is:
● Type a competitor’s website and run a search.
● Click the Positions tab to see the SERP features for the analyzed domain.
From the SERP Features tab, you can track SERP features they don’t rank for. Thus, you can optimize your website to rank for that specific feature.
Optimize Content for Featured Snippets
Next, you need to optimize your website content to appear on the featured snippet. Most digital marketers would opt for writing compelling content that is better than the competitor. But it isn’t always successful in the long run.
Google will not quickly replace a featured snippet on a whim. However, there are different strategies you can deploy to convince Google to put up your content on the featured snippet.
There are different types of featured snippets. They include:
● Videos.
● Tables.
● Paragraphs.
● Lists.
One efficient way to create content that will make Google choose it is to keep it simple. Your content should be easy to read and understand.
Ensure that the content is not chunky or long-form. The easier it is for people to understand, the better it becomes for Google to feature it.
You should deploy the following strategies:
● Make your posts easier to read.
● Use numbers and bulleted lists.
● Include images, GIFs, videos, infographics, etc.
● Structure your content with headers such as H1, H2, H3, H4, etc.
These tips will make your website content easier to read, and Google will favor it by placing it on organic search positions.
Optimize for SERP Features With Structured Data
Another way you can optimize your website for Google SERP features is with structured data. This is simply the concept of organizing your website data into a database. For SEO, structured data refers to incorporating markup on a webpage. This is aimed at providing additional details around that webpage’s content.
This markup helps improve Google’s understanding of what that webpage is about. Thus, increasing its chances of being placed on SERP features.
To achieve this, you need to:
● Understand how structured data works.
● Choose the content you want to target for SERP features.
● Take note of the General Structured Data Guidelines and apply them to your website.
● Take advantage of schema.org properties to markup your website content.
● Run a Google Rich Results Test to check for successful optimization.
These structured data tips will help optimize your web content’s appearance on Google SERP features.
Submit Sitemap to Google
A sitemap is a file that provides detailed information about all your website pages. It aids Google’s bots in crawling your website faster and indexing your content accordingly.
Sitemaps inform Google which of your web pages are important to organic search. Sitemaps are essential if your website is relatively new with no external links. It tells Google what content is on your website without depending on backlinks from another website.
It’s also vital for a website with hundreds of pages. If your website has many pages, it will take longer for Google to completely crawl through it. A sitemap makes crawling easier and faster.
Submitting your sitemap to Google improves your chances of being featured. Follow these tips to submit your sitemap to Google:
● Sign in to your Google Search Console.
● Select your website from the sidebar.
● Click on the Sitemaps menu under the Index section.
● Enter the website address of your sitemap.xml file.
● Click submit.
Use Google SERP Optimization Tool
Using a SERP optimization tool, you can also improve your Google SERP features opportunities. It allows web admins to structure their web content, page titles, and meta description to convince Google to place it on organic search positions.
When this happens, it enhances your click-through rate (CTR) and web traffic.
Some of these tools include Higher Visibility, Mangools’ Google SERP Simulator, Wideman’s Google SERP Snippet Optimization Tool, Popupsmart’s Google SERP Tool, etc.
Improve Your SERP Feature Ranking With Abstrax Web
Improving your website rankings on organic search results requires you to have a deeper understanding of how SEO works. If you don’t know how to pull it off, reach out to a professional SEO expert.
Dispensary Growth is an innovative SEO consultancy company tasked with improving your business’ visibility and traffic from organic search. Over the years, we’ve helped both small and large businesses to generate more leads, boost revenues, and increase their bottom line.
Get in touch with us today.
