A SERP, or search engine results page, is the page a search engine returns after a user submits a query. It contains some combination of organic results, paid advertisements, and SERP features such as featured snippets, knowledge panels, image carousels, and, increasingly, AI-generated answer blocks. Understanding the SERP for a given query is the starting point for any content strategy.
Ten blue links is a relic. A Google SERP in 2024 and beyond is a layered page where organic results are often pushed well below the fold. The features that commonly appear above them include:
AI overviews: AI-generated answer blocks that synthesise sources and display citations. These now appear on a large proportion of informational queries and are the feature with the greatest impact on click-through rates for organic publishers.
Featured snippets: A single page's content extracted and displayed in a box at position zero. These have existed since 2014 and remain highly valuable for brand visibility even when the user does not click.
People Also Ask boxes: Expandable question-and-answer dropdowns that dynamically load related queries. Each expanded answer cites a source, making PAA boxes a secondary citation opportunity.
Local packs, image carousels, video results, shopping listings: Vertical-specific features that dominate for commercial and local queries.
The composition of the SERP for a query tells you what Google believes the user wants. A query that returns a local pack wants a local page, not an article. A query dominated by an AI overview is one where ranking position alone will not deliver traffic. Reading the live SERP before commissioning content is not optional: it tells you what format to use, who you are competing against, and whether the query is winnable at all. A content strategy built without SERP analysis is guessing.
Related: What is answer engine optimisation? · What is a featured snippet?
Quarrybank reads the live SERP for every target query and validates your content angle against what is actually ranking, so you only build pages that can win.
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