1998 – the official launch of Google and the beginning of a new world where information would be forever at our fingertips. In the 23 years since, Google has experienced thousands of algorithm updates, with its SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) undergoing substantial changes, evolving into dynamic, AI-powered answer engines.
The evolution of Google’s SERPs has changed how businesses operate online marketing, shifting from traditional blue links that simply listed websites to dynamic, intent-driven SERP features, like featured snippets, AI summaries, videos, and images.
Today, Google says it prioritises high-quality content and user experience, providing the best answers for its users rather than relying on Black Hat SEO tricks like keyword stuffing and purchasing links to increase a site’s ranking.
Zero-click searches have become increasingly prevalent, allowing users to obtain information they need without clicking through to a website. When aligning content with user intent, businesses are able to enhance their chances of getting featured in such dynamic elements, maintaining visibility even if users do not visit their website.
By creating high-quality, authoritative content that aligns with Google’s EEAT guidelines, optimising AI overviews, and implementing schema markup to help search engines understand content better, businesses can adapt to the ever-changing SERP landscape, remaining visible and ensuring high click-through rates.
Understanding Google’s new SERP features
Google’s latest SERP features have been designed to improve user experience with quick answers and additional information provided right on the results pages. In turn, this helps attract more clicks and drive organic traffic to a website.
Several features are noteworthy:
- Rich Snippets
- Featured Snippets (position zero)
- People Also Ask (PAA)
- Knowledge Panels
- Local Packs
- Image & Video Carousels
Rich snippets, also known as rich results, provide extra information about a website page in standard search results. Typically, snippets are more visually appealing to users, and include elements like prices, images, and ratings. Common snippet examples are reviews, recipes, events, and products, with Google putting up additional details from schema markup located in a specific webpage’s HTML.
Featured snippets address a user’s search query directly, offering an explanation found on a webpage. This will also include a link to that source page. Featured snippets tend to appear at the top of the SERP, coming in different forms such as lists, short paragraphs, or tables.
People Also Ask (PAA) boxes show related questions to a user’s original query, providing a short answer and a link to the source of the information. When clicking on a question, the box will expand, displaying the answer as well as further related questions.
Google Knowledge Panels are information boxes typically appearing on the right side of a search results page. These displays key facts and data about an entity, like a company or place, taken from Google’s internal Knowledge Graph. When appearing in a knowledge panel, a business can achieve a boost to visibility, credibility, traffic, and brand authority.
Local Packs or Map Packs show local business listings when a user searches for nearby services (i.e., “restaurants near me”). Appearing at the top of search results, Local Packs include a map showing business locations, details like address, phone number, reviews, hours, and website, a link to other local results, and data pulled from Google Business Profiles and Google Maps.
Image & Video Carousels are shown when Google believes images or videos best satisfy search intent. The feature typically appears for how-to guides, reviews, and other visual topics.
Google aims to serve matching intent, not just keywords. User intent determines directly what SERP features are shown. Search engines analyse queries to match them with the most useful format to provide the best answer Google can muster.
Rich Snippets: What they are and how to earn them
Rich snippets show extra details in search results, including images, ratings, and prices, helping webpages build traffic. The information is generally collected by Google from structured data markup in a page’s HTML.
For instance, when searching for a new phone, Google will add a rich snippet with an image, price, review count, and delivery information. This makes a webpage appear more attractive and informative to potential visitors.
Schema markup plays an important role in rich snippets, classifying a page’s content and providing information beyond standard titles, URLs, and meta descriptions. When adding this structured data to a website’s HTML, search engines better understand the content of the pages.
For instance, schema markup can specify recipe details (cooking time, ingredients), product information (availability, reviews, prices), event details (location, date), and video information (upload date, duration). When content is marked with schema markup, businesses can increase the chances of search engines presenting their web pages with rich snippets.
Implementation best practices
If a site allows it, Google recommends the use of JSON-LD, a JavaScript notation separate from the body of a page’s HTML. This is the simplest solution to implement and maintain at scale, also proving to be less prone to user errors.
To validate structured data, and sometimes preview how features may appear in Google Search, Rich Results Test is another useful tool. The test is designed to help website owners determine whether their schema markup is eligible for rich results in Google Search, supporting various structured data formats, including JSON-LD, RDFa, and Microdata.
It is important that businesses follow the general structured data guidelines and other stipulations specific to the web page’s structured data type. If these guidelines are not followed, the data may become ineligible for rich result displays.
Local Packs: Optimising for local visibility
Google Local Packs are specialised featured results in Google Search that appear when users make location-based searches, like “coffee shops near Catford”. Google Business Profiles should be optimised to improve visibility in such local search results.
A local pack displays key information to help users decide where to visit, ultimately impacting a web page’s ranking. These can include a Google map showing the locations of relevant businesses in the area, with contact information, customer star ratings, the number of reviews, and, in some cases, pricing, opening hours, and a link to the business’s website.
Schema markup and structured data
As discussed above, schema markup, also known as structured data, is a type of code added to websites to aid search engines in understanding content more thoroughly. Search engines can provide additional details in search results, like prices and ratings (rich snippets), improving SEO performance
The three main formats to add schema markup to webpages are:
- JSON-LD (recommended by Google)
- Microdata
- RDFa
Some common types of schema markup include:
- Products
- Articles
- Events
- Local businesses
- Person (profiles for individuals)
- Reviews
- How-to guides
- Videos
To audit and monitor structured data performance, it is recommended to use a Google Rich Results Test to check if a webpage is eligible for rich results. From here, it is possible to monitor structured data in the Google Search Console, which allows users to see which rich results types are active and track warnings and errors. Updating schema markup, like product details or business information, should be done regularly to ensure information reflects visible content on a webpage.
Creating content for Featured Snippets and PAAs
When creating content for featured snippets and PAAs, short, clear answers are key. It is recommended to provide concise, direct responses, typically 40 to 60 words, to common queries audiences ask.
Content should also be structured in formats that Google snippets favour, like tables for data or comparisons, step-by-step instructions, and lists. Researching keywords and rephrasing them as questions will target specific queries (i.e., “what is…”), followed by a precise, short answer.
SEO tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs help identify snippet opportunities, including questions an audience is searching for, and keywords that trigger PAA or Featured Snippets boxes. Moreover, FAQ schema markup in question and answer format that Google can understand easily helps content appear directly in Rich Results.
Best practices and common mistakes to avoid
Always use accurate, relevant markup, ensuring structured data matches visible content on the webpage. This provides a clear, truthful representation to search engines. Content should be updated regularly to reflect current information and align with user search intent. It is also important to follow Google’s structured data guidelines to remain eligible for Rich Results.
Rich Results Test and Schema Markup Validator are helpful tools for testing structured data and finding any possible errors.
It is recommended that spammy or excessive markups are avoided, as overused or irrelevant structured data can lead to possible penalties or actions by Google. Structured data alone will not guarantee rich results nor improved rankings, so don’t rely on schema alone for visibility. Quality content and high-quality SEO basics an integral part of achieving good visibility.
Conclusion
Users can achieve significant benefits when optimising for Google’s latest SERP features, including enhanced visibility, stronger brand authority, and improved click-through rates. SERP optimisation should be treated as an ongoing strategy, one that merges technical elements like schema markup with user-focused, top-quality content. When maintained, webpage owners have a higher chance of long-term success, even in the evolving Google SERP landscape.
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