What is a SERP analysis and why is it important? | compose.ly (2023)

Close of70% of all web trafficIt starts with a search engine query, so it's essential for businesses to optimize their website for search engine pages. A search engine results page (SERP) analysis is the process of examining the highest ranking websites for your target keyword.

A detailed analysis is an important part of the keyword research process andcontent writing. A SERP analysis not only helps content writers for their main keyword, but also provides insight into other valuable keywords to target.

SERP analysis is not reserved for people with advanced knowledge of data methods and algorithms. There are many SEO tools that help with the analysis process.

This guide covers the benefits of SERP analysis, teaches you how to perform one, and provides an overview of the best keyword research tool to use.

What is SERP analysis?

SERP analysis is the study of the highest ranking pages that appear for a specific search keyword. While search engines may not reveal how their algorithm works, SERP analysis helps identify which SEO metrics are most important for ranking. By understanding what works for other sites, you can rank higher in Google and, in turn, get more organic traffic to your site.

Benefits of SERP analysis

Conducting a SERP analysis does much more than increase your organic search traffic. Can also:

• Ensure keyword relevance:Keywords are a key factor in search engine optimization (SEO) and by extension rank high on Google. Doing a SERP analysis ensures you are using keywords that are relevant to your niche and gives you new keyword ranking opportunities.
• Give you content ideas:Doing a SERP analysis will not only show you what is working, it will also show you what Google content is missing. You can collect content ideas that your competitors aren't testing to entice potential customers with copy that interests them the most.
• Understanding your ranking probability– Some keywords, topics, and information are harder to rank for than others, especially if a user is just looking for a definition or a yes or no answer. As explored below, Google has a number of resources that can help users get quick fixes.

What constitutes a SERP?

Before going through a SERP analysis, it's helpful to understand the common components found on a Google search results page.

featured snippets

Snippets are the boxes of information that appear at the top of a SERP. Its purpose is to provide users with quick results for their search queries. GoogleExplainlet your system determine which web listings would provide the most relevant response to the user. It then renders that webpage as a fragment.

Snippets usually consist of lists, how-to steps, or simple definitions.

Featured snippet for the search "When was Google created?"

knowledge panel

Knowledge Panels appear to the right of a Google SERP, displaying essential facts and figures related to a person, place, or organization. These panels only appear from reputable sources on the subject. Knowledge boards sometimes include images if Google deems them relevant.

Knowledge Panel for the search "When was Google created?"

"People also ask" and "Related searches"

"People also ask" are boxes that appear on a SERP that contain questions commonly associated with the search query. They aren't just useful for users looking to learn more about a topic. You can also use them to get more keywords and content ideas.

"People also ask" checkbox for "How to change a tire" search.

Similar to "People also ask", "Related Searches" displays popular user related searches for a topic or keyword. They are usually not in the form of a question, so it can be more work to find the right content angle for the keyword, but they can at least give you a good starting point.

"Related searches" box for the search "How to change a tire".

featured stories

Top stories appear when a user's search query has recently appeared in news articles. The publication source and publication time are included in each news article block. Google features news articles that provide clear, accurate and non-misleading information.

Main news of the search "Soccer game".

visuals

Other typical features you'll find on Google's SERPs include image and video bundles. Adding visuals to search queries helps give users more context, especially for searches that would benefit from a visual. Google's system uses an image filename, alttag, and URL to decide which images to place.

The first type of visuals are image packs. These are horizontal lines of images that appear just below the search bar.

Image pack for the search "dog breeds".

Video carousels have a drop-down list of videos that users can view. Along with each video's thumbnail, the carousel also includes its title, source, and hosting site. Typically, the first video that appears will also have a "key moments" feature that allows users to skip to the most important parts of the video. Similar to image packs, Google selects videos that it believes are relevant to the search query.

Featured video for the search "How to train your dog".

Organic and paid results

Regarding the results that appear on Google's SERPs, the search engine offers two options: paid links and organic links. Paid links appear at the top of Google's SERPs, marked with the word "ad" so users are aware. Companies compete for these spots by bidding on keywords.

Paid results for search "Best cat food".

Organic results consist of unpaid links and are ranked based on relevance, usefulness and high quality content. How they produce organic results12% more clicksInstead of paid results, many companies choose to put their efforts into organic ranking.

Organic results for the search "The best cat food".

How to perform a SERP analysis

Now that you know the benefits of running a SERP analysis and the key features to look for in a SERP, you can start the actual SERP analysis process.

1. Start with keyword research

Keyword research is a key step in SERP analysis. You can start the process by compiling a list of keywords you want to rank for, as well as those you'd like to rank for. Type them into Google and take a look at the first organic results that come up. When developing your keyword strategy, consider the following:

Keyword Search Terms

• keyword focus- Your content should always have a focus keyword. This is the exact keyword you want the page to rank for. It should be the main focus of your keyword analysis.
• Secondary keyword opportunities- High ranking pages usually rank for several additional keywords. Identify other related keywords that you can naturally incorporate into your content.
• long tail keywords- A long-tail keyword doesn't have as much volume, but typically has a lower keyword difficulty than short-tail keywords. If your site is new, consider targeting long-tail keywords to start ranking faster.
• keyword density- A common pitfall of content creation is keyword stuffing. Only use the exact keyword in your content when it naturally fits. Otherwise, search engines will penalize you.
• anchor text- Building internal links is an important part of any content strategy. Identify potential internal links to your content and choose your focus keyword or long tail keywords as anchor text.

Analyze top ranking web pages to see how other sites incorporate potential keywords into their content. In what context are keywords used? Are they using terms that aren't already in your keyword list? When done correctly, this can lead to hundreds of keyword ideas for your website content.

Look at the highlighted boxes on the SERP to understand how users are searching for those keywords – the “People Also Ask” and “Related Searches” features are great for this. Is your keyword usage in line with what users are looking for, or is there another angle you could use?

Paid results demonstrate keyword popularity. If a lot of ads appear on the SERP, it's very likely that a lot of users are searching for that word. While this means a greater chance of web traffic, it also means you'll have to find new and unique ways to use your keywords.

2. Understand user search intent

While it's helpful to know which keywords really rank, you also want to understand the intent behind a user's search to ensure you're creating the right type of article or blog post. Search intent will also let you know which SERP features are likely to show up after performing a search.

There are four types of search intent:

• Informative:Informational users want to find information about a topic. SERPs with this intent often include featured snippets.
• Navigation:Navigational intent refers to users looking for a specific website or business. Knowledge dashboards are commonly displayed with navigational surveys.
• Commercial:Those with commercial intent are researching a particular product or service before making a purchase. Users will generally find both organic and paid results here.
• Transactional:Searchers with transactional intent are ready to buy a product or service and look for the best deal. Shopping deals will almost always appear on results pages.

Knowing user intent allows you to create relevant content. For example, those searching for "the best cat food" are likely to have a commercial intent, based on the results displayed on Google. Therefore, for this keyword, it's best to create content with commercial intent, such as reviews or product guides.

3. Do a comparative analysis

A comparative analysis will show you how the quality of your content compares to your competitors. This step involves taking another look at your competitor's content, but this time looking at measures such as copy length, use of visuals, and overall structure of the content.

You can ask the following questions to help with this step:

1. How is the content divided? Is the information easy to read and digest?
2. What are the general issues being discussed about this topic?
3. Could you integrate more useful images, videos, graphics or illustrations that appear in Google search images?
4. What formats do sites use (such as lists, walkthroughs, or in-depth articles)?

A comparative analysis aims to identify opportunities for you. What can you contribute to the topic that others lack? Also, how can you improve your current content?

The best SERP analysis tools

Fortunately, there are a variety of SERP analysis tools you can use to help at various stages of the process. Using these tools can provide a richer perspective that unaided research cannot reveal.

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

HeAhrefs Keyword Explorerhas a database of over 7 billion keywords, giving you an almost infinite number of keyword ideas to choose from. However, the tool does much more than just suggest keywords. It also looks at other keyword factors including search volume, keyword seasonality, and the difference between paid and organic clicks per keyword. Also, it lets you know how hard it would be to rank for a particular keyword among competitors.

This SERP tool also allows you to see the history that the top ranking pages have for a given keyword. More precisely, it has access to the backlinks, domain authority and traffic history of the web pages. Armed with this information, you can understand what makes a specific page perform better than others.

SERP checker

One of the best SERP tools,Mangools SERP Checker, focuses exclusively on competitor analysis. Like Ahrefs, you can view metrics like competitor domain and page authority, as well as traffic stats and number of backlinks.

What sets SERP Checker apart from similar tools is the ability to see how successful your competition is with SERP features, including featured snippets. You can see the type of information snippets from competing sites that Google finds most relevant and useful.

SERP Checker also lets you track competitors over time by providing a SERP report of their performance. This helps you decide which SERPs tend to change as new content becomes available. It's better to focus your efforts on trying to rank for these SERPs than to rank for SERPs that rarely change position.

SE Classification

SE Classificationis fully Google-centric and covers all metrics from Google SERPs. It is one of the few free SERP analysis tools, offering free access to twenty keywords before charging for additional services. You can track your site and competing sites in real-time as rankings change.

Plus, you can crawl your keyword results to Google Maps, which is essential for local SEO for businesses. Based on your ranking, you can find ways to improve your local SEO performance, such as finding local keyword data and local external backlinks.

Benefit from SERP analysis for your business

To develop SEO strategies, SERP analysis provides a gold mine of knowledge and data to create better organic content. Conducting a SERP analysis allows you to understand this information and optimize your website content to outperform competitors.

To start your SERP analysis, consider which keywords and phrases you would like to rank high. You can then use a combination of your own search tools and SERP analysis to find gaps in current Google content and provide resources to users that stand out in a sea of ​​content.