Author: Gus Pelogia
Have you ever had a client who wanted to rank their commercial page for a broad, highly competitive keyword? You can’t exactly fault them—common sense says to go after the biggest opportunities with your best-converting page.Unfortunately, much of that choice is not up to you (or the client). It’s up to Google and what it thinks searchers really want to see for that keyword. The question you should then ask (and what you should actually prioritize if you want long-term success with SEO) is:
“Do I stand a chance at ranking for this keyword?”
In this blog post, I’ll show you, step-by-step, how to run a search engine result page (SERP) analysis to answer this question as well as how to adjust your strategy to increase your chances of ranking.
Table of contents:
What is a SERP feature?
SERP features are, as the name suggests, special results displayed on Google, Bing, and other search engines. (This makes more sense when you consider that, back in the early days of search, Google’s results would consist primarily of just a few ads and ten blue links.)
As years passed, search engines added new elements to their results. Google started providing users with additional information before they even clicked through to a website. SERP features are how this additional info gets organized and displayed.
Just as there are many different types of searches a user can conduct, there’s a long list of Google SERP features designed for those particular results, which is why they’re so helpful in reverse-engineering what it takes to rank for a given query.
Common SERP features include:
Featured snippets
Local pack
People also ask
Top stories
Image carousel
Video snippets
Sitelinks
Rich snippets
You don’t need to pay attention to (or optimize for) all of them, but you do need to get familiar with the ones that show up regularly for keywords that you want to rank for.
SERP analysis: What it is and why it’s essential
Understanding whether you can realistically rank for a given keyword is easy once you can read the hints the SERP gives you. These hints vary by sector/industry, and that’s where your SERP analysis starts.
When analyzing a SERP, ask:
How is the search engine displaying results relevant to your business?
What SERP features are relevant for your website? (I.e., local packs, knowledge panels, product listings, etc.)
Do you have the right assets (pages, images, videos) to compete in this space?
You may run into a situation where a client wants to rank for a competitive keyword with their commercial page (product page, sign-up form, etc). Before you can commit resources to optimizing that page, you need to analyze the SERPs for how Google interprets the intent users have when searching those keywords.
Broadly speaking, searches have one of four keyword intents:
Intent | Explanation | Example queries |
Informational keywords | Searchers are seeking information or answers to certain questions, so these keywords often contain phrases like what is or how to. |
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Navigational keywords | Searchers are looking for specific sites, pages, or places (in the case of local search) that they already know about, so these terms often include the names of brands, places, or things. |
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Commercial keywords | Searchers are edging closer to converting and want to research the service or good, compare products, read reviews, and look for offers to help them make a decision. |
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Transactional keywords | Searchers have made up their minds and intend to make a purchase or complete an action, so these terms often contain phrases like for delivery, for sale, and buy XYZ online. |
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We’ll go into examples below, but essentially:
If all results on a SERP are informational, you’re very unlikely to get a commercial page to rank for that term. This is less about what you or your client think is right or ideal, but rather about what Google (or another search engine) has decided. If you want to stand a chance, you need to play by their rules.
Let’s dive into some examples that represent various scenarios and industries that you might have clients in.
Example 01. [hotels in NYC] — An aggregator’s paradise
![The Google search results for [hotels in NYC], showing two sponsored ads, a local pack, and the ‘people also search for’ SERP feature.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a484d4_e7d4134f28f7462285b93796c7d1ace1~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_267,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/a484d4_e7d4134f28f7462285b93796c7d1ace1~mv2.jpg)
Which hotel in the city wouldn’t like to rank for this keyword? [hotels in {location}] tends to be the highest search volume keyword for visitors looking for a hotel in the city (which is why it’s our first example). However, similar to any other large city, there are only a few opportunities for hotels themselves to rank—there are hundreds (if not thousands) of hotel websites and the search is so broad that, even as a human, it’s difficult to assess what to rank.
Let’s analyze this SERP, feature by feature. On page one, we have:
Local pack
The local pack is a widget that shows Google Maps results; in this case, highlighting three hotels. Clicking on this result leads the user to the hotel’s Google Business Profile (GBP), listing their reviews, website, directions, operating hours, and other details.
For most search results where a local pack appears (e.g., hotel, tourist attraction, restaurant), there’s a high chance that users will continue their research using the local pack, sometimes never reaching your website.
To rank in this SERP feature, businesses should follow local SEO best practices. Wix has a wide range of local SEO articles and guides that dive deep into these techniques.
Pro tip: While this is true for a lot of results with local packs, hotels have a unique feature—Google displays a list of online travel agencies to book the hotel through, allowing travelers to choose dates, see nearby attractions, and so on. You still have an opportunity for visibility, however, bookings might happen through a third party.
Traditional blue link results
The traditional search listings (i.e., the blue links) are usually the arena in which SEOs fight hard to rank, but in this specific case (for hotels in large cities), most SERPs are packed with online travel agencies (not websites from individual hotel brands).
![The search results for [hotels in denver] showing that the majority of blue links are from online travel agencies like Kayak, Tripadvisor, Hotels.com, etc.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a484d4_a6fce8caadf64964972a6ca4f026cbb8~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_48,h_66,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/a484d4_a6fce8caadf64964972a6ca4f026cbb8~mv2.png)
For this particular SERP, all page results are large aggregators (such as Booking, Expedia, and Trivago), except denver.org. In this scenario, not only are you competing with large travel brands with huge budgets, but also with a certain type of page: aggregators with hundreds of hotels, a high volume of user reviews, tons of filters, and many more details.
If you’re a hotel chain, creating a similar experience might give you a chance to rank. List all of your properties in NYC (or your target city), add filters, price, etc. If you manage just one hotel, the chances that you can rank for this type of query are very low and it’s unlikely the effort would pay off.
Having worked with hotels in the past, I found the most success with blue links when targeting smaller areas, such as [hotels near {city}] or hotels in small cities, where the results are more of a blend of travel agencies and local hotels.
People also ask (PAAs)
PAAs are common follow-up questions from the initial search. Google already displays them expecting users to consider that as a next step. The results shown in this feature tend to be informational, which means they’re a step further from conversion.
In this case, after a broad search ([hotels in NYC]), travelers are likely to narrow their search to the best areas to stay, average hotel cost, the cheapest areas to stay, and where celebrities stay in NYC (as shown below).
If your hotel has a potential answer for any of the above, then you stand a chance to rank in this feature. Long-form content tends to rank here and the PAAs are not dominated by a handful of websites, meaning that the barrier to entry is lower (given that your website is relevant to address these searches).
Related searches
Despite its placement all the way at the end of the SERP, this is a relevant feature for hotels. Google knows that users will narrow their search with more criteria until they find their ideal hotel. Smoke-free, great views, fireplaces, and bars are listed as related searches for this query, but any attributes a hotel has can appear here.
Similar to the local pack, you should focus on local SEO (e.g., earn user reviews mentioning this amenity) and highlight these attributes on your website. One important distinction from the local pack is that if a user clicks on a hotel, the next SERP is about the hotel itself and features your website front and center, making it a larger opportunity to get a conversion straight on your website.
Example 02. [double bed mattress] — Categories, filters, and shopping results
Google SERPs change completely for this keyword. To start with, you get a shopping experience with filters, such as:
Price (e.g., Under $150)
Type (e.g., Memory foam)
Features (e.g., Water resistant)
On this SERP, nearly all traditional blue link results are to eCommerce websites’ mattress category pages, so the obvious hint here is to create a similar page listing all your products in this category.
Refinement chips
Refinement chips are the little bubbles that appear below the search bar to help users refine their query. Similar to other SERP features, Google is trying to guess what search you’ll need to do next. For a broad keyword like this one, it’s likely that customers will have more requirements before they make a purchase.
If you click on a filter (such as ‘memory foam’), the results become more specific, suggesting that, if you want to rank here, you should have unique pages for ‘double bed mattress’ and ‘memory foam double bed mattress’.
Shopping
Above the traditional blue links, this SERP is packed with shopping results. To be eligible for shopping results, create a Google Merchant Center account and upload your product information.
Google Shopping & Wix
Wix users can integrate their Google Merchant Center account with their Wix store to be eligible for relevant Google Shopping results.
Example 03. [registered nurse] — Broad intent, mixed results
Sometimes the intent of a keyword is not explicit (i.e., implicit intent) and Google guesses what people want by serving a mix of results. In this example, I searched [registered nurse] from NYC and the top 10 blue links are a mix of:
Government website to check and renew registration
Job definitions
Open positions
Career statistics
Considering 40% of results were New York State-related, this tells me there’s a local factor in play (doing the same search from Los Angeles, I found the California Board of Registered Nursing ranking instead). This means you could rank locally from a certain region or city if you target your content to that audience.
Knowledge panel
For many broad queries (such as this one, [registered nurses]), Google shows a knowledge panel. Since the user didn’t specify what they want to know about registered nurses, Google gives you a rich SERP with a touch of everything. This is often the case when people search for established definitions or entities (people, locations, things, etc).
In the example above, the knowledge panel cites sources (beyond just Wikipedia) and pages have a chance to rank both as an answer in the panel and within the traditional blue links.
How to incorporate your SERP analysis into your content plan
At this point, you know what type of content Google likes for your target keywords and topics. After you identify the keywords you want to target, the next step is to start creating content that matches these intents. You can start with a table like this:
Target keyword | Search volume | Funnel stage | Content type |
[how to choose a mattress] | 5400 | Top | Guide |
[double bed mattress] | 1300 | Mid | Product research |
[walmart queen mattress] | 110 | Bottom | Product page |
A mix of content in each part of the funnel allows you to expand your coverage and be top of mind when potential customers are most open to giving your brand a chance. You can map the opportunity size based on what the SERPs are telling you instead of just hoping search engines will display your pages.
A product page will naturally convert much better than a blog. If you have an average conversion rate per page type, this helps you estimate how many more sales, trials, or leads you can get and avoid missing the mark by just looking at search volume. Put yourself in the shoes of the consumers, who often need to research options (resulting in searches like [phone with best cameras]), and refine their queries (e.g., [iPhone vs Google Pixel 8]) before making a purchase (e.g., [buy iPhone 15 Pro]).
This is also an important time to remember that search volumes are estimations and each tool will return a different number. Take these as a directional indication, not as exact science.
How to run SERP analyses at scale
People search for the same things in different ways. For instance, how many ways do you think people can search for [how to boil an egg]? There are 1,700+ keywords with a total search volume of nearly 180K searches per month in the US alone, based on Semrush data.
Do you need a separate page for ‘soft,’ ‘medium soft,’ or ‘hard’ eggs? Is it different to cook using a generic air fryer vs. a Ninja? Again, our personal feelings and conjecture don’t really matter here. If your intent is to rank on Google, a SERP analysis will tell you what type of page you need.
If you’re analyzing a small group of keywords, do it manually. However, when it gets to 50, 100, or thousands of keywords, this becomes a tedious task. It involves searching every keyword, seeing what types of pages rank, and counting them one by one to define what page type is more likely to rank before creating your content.
To add to the considerations, there’s a good chance that many of the same pages rank for a lot of keywords, which means you could just create one article and be eligible to rank for all of these keyword variations.
This is a heavy lift just to know what content to create—and you haven’t even written a single line yet. Fortunately, many SEO tools can tackle this part of the process for you. I like to use a combination of them.
After you do keyword research using your favorite SEO tool, you can go to Semrush, upload your desired keywords, and use its clustering feature (called Keyword Strategy Builder, fully released in the US and in beta worldwide). You can also just add one keyword and let Semrush come up with a cluster, but I prefer to do all my research first and cluster based on what I defined as target keywords.
Ahrefs has a similar feature: Every keyword has a ‘parent topic.’ In Ahrefs’ own words, to identify the parent topic, “We take the number one ranking page for your keyword and find the keyword responsible for sending the most traffic to that page.”
However, the first SEO software I saw with this functionality was Keyword Insights. At the time, I was having the exact problem that inspired this post: my client wanted to increase product trials and had pages for several product features, but in a lot of cases, Google was only showing listicles, reviews, or in-depth blog posts for these keywords (that we believed were commercial; e.g., [project management software]).
To do this process on Keyword Insights, you upload a list of keywords (based on your own research) and can adjust the similarity level as desired to fine-tune your clustering. For example, if there’s an overlap of pages ranking in the top 10 for a group of keywords (e.g., the same five URLs rank for all the selected keywords), that’s a strong signal that you only need one page to rank. The tool also includes what type of page you should have to target the cluster.
Counteract AI overviews with information gain
There are two important topics in SEO right now that influence both your SERP analysis and the content you’ll write.
The first are Google’s AI overviews, where Google often answers a user’s query straight on the SERPs. This is relatively new and full of unknowns: Will people use them? How often does Google show them? How do you optimize to become a source for AI overviews?
On the back of this discussion, a lot of SEOs are talking about information gain (while this patent was filed in 2018 and made public in 2020; it’s becoming more relevant now). This article by Sarah Taher provides an explanation that’s easy to understand.
Essentially, your article should provide something new (on top of what has already been written on the topic). It could be more information, how it’s displayed on the page, a new angle, new data, quotes, visual assets, etc. For a lot of topics, so much has already been written that Google doesn’t have a reason to rank a new page—unless it can provide more than what’s already available. This is the power of information gain in SEO right now.
For informed SEO, make SERP analysis second nature
SERP analysis is an essential starting point for your content strategy, but it’s also a great way to learn SEO. Google gives hints on what it wants to show searchers and this can open many doors.
Look at what refinement bubbles are in place. Would creating a video be more effective than a product page or blog post? Can you create content for the next logical step your consumer would take? If you do this regularly, it'll become a natural analysis you even notice it’s happening.
Gus Pelogia - SEO Product ManagerGus Pelogia is a journalist turned SEO since 2012. He’s currently an SEO product manager at Indeed, the top job site in the world. Every day, he writes tickets for small and large initiatives and works in a cross-functional team with writers, UX, engineers, and product managers.