SERP For Your Website

 SERP Made Simple – Even Your Kids Can Do It!

Check My SERP

One thing that never ceases to amaze me  is the amount of abbreviations that abound when it comes to the world of cyberspace ! There are always questions:

• how is your website traffic?
• what is your SERP position?
• how can you google check your SERP?
• just what is SERP and how does it affect the TRAFFIC to your website?

Do you know what SERP means? I know I had NO IDEA until I started doing some research for this article. And NO, it is not short for ‘serpent’!

According to Wikipedia:

‘A search engine results  page (SERP) is the page displayed by a search engine in response to a query by a searcher. The main component of the SERP is the listing of results that are returned by the search engine in response to a keyword query, although the page may also contain other results such as advertisements.[1]

So, to break it down in ‘layman terms’, it is simply what happens when you put a keyword in a search engine (which can be Google, Yahoo!, Bing, – the major search engines) in order to see what comes up. The ‘keyword’ here is ‘keyword’! No pun intended.

There are three basic characteristics of SERP:

• the search query showing in the search box
• the organic SERP result
• the sponsored SERP result

Let’s take a closer look.

The search query showing in the search box

This is the basics. You open your browser and type in Google [for example] and then search for ‘website traffic’.

As you can see, Google has generated a list of possibilities. This is a simple search query based on the keyword you typed in.

The organic SERP result

This search is more based on a set of algorithms used to compile and generate a list based on what is typed in the search box. The algorithms are based on web-content, the trustworthiness of the website, and external factors such as backlinks, social media, news, and advertising. It usually lists up to ten listings or less, on the first page. This is viewed as the ‘place to be’ due to the ‘CTR’ or ‘click through rate’ associated with the specific search.

The sponsored SERP result

This is as its name suggests – it is paid advertising. Take a look at the screenshot above, you will notice that the very first item yielded by the search has ‘AD’ at the beginning of the description. This is where the search engine gets paid to show the listing within a day or less once the keyword is ‘searched’. These paid search listings can also be referred to as PPC – ‘pay per click’.

SO, the next time someone asks what is your SERP position, all you have to do is Google it and see where your website appears on the list. And this will help determine the amount of traffic that is being generated to your site.

Obviously, if your site is on the first page of the returned search list, then you must be doing something to get Google’s attention.

Much success and please share your feedback in the comment box below. Thank you.

References:

[1] BJ Jansen, A Spink (2008) Investigating customer click through behaviour with integrated sponsored and nonsponsored results. International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising 5 (1-2), 74-94.