You are probably familiar with SERP features. We define them as any additional element in the search results that adds something new to the typical result format.
They appear more frequently than before, so you should ask yourself: do you know how they help or harm your competitors?
Probably not if you don’t have the right data to draw a conclusion.
We’ve just updated the data in Organic Research if you’d like to take a look. Now you can see if your competition is benefiting from the SERP features they rank for and use that data to find further growth opportunities for your own website.
what’s new
We’ve made many changes to help your site grow. Previously, SERP feature positions and organic positions were combined in one row. Now you can evaluate them separately.
You can track:
- Positions in search results and estimated traffic independent of traditional organic positions.
- Daily trends of SERP features over time.
- Estimated traffic a domain receives from SERP features alone.
What SERP features are we tracking now?
We increased the number of SERP features you can follow from 24 to 38.
Below is the full list. A star means that it is one of 14 new functions that you can proceed with this update.
You can find examples of all the SERP features we track at Semrush in our knowledge base. And you can see new SERP feature data in the following tools:
Why is it important to track data from SERP features?
In the past, Google’s first page had 10 blue links, and as an SEO, you were looking for the right keywords to rank for that coveted first position.
But the results landscape has changed so much that it takes more than just being on top to attract your target audience.
Kevin Indig sums up this trend very well:
Google is showing more and more SERP features to help users. You should try to rank for every SERP feature that triggers your target keyword, right?
Unfortunately it’s not that simple.
Ranking for a SERP feature does not mean you will get more traffic. For example, this featured snippet below. No need to click because the answer is right there.
The solution? Take a holistic approach when looking for new keyword ideas.
For example, keep choosing keywords based on the right search intent, difficulty, and volume. But now you can also consider the SERP features triggered by these keywords and the data associated with them to get a complete picture.
If you don’t, you could be targeting keywords that you think are bringing you search traffic when in fact they aren’t.
Ways to use SERP data in your SEO strategy
It’s easier to come up with an SEO strategy when you know what drives the most traffic to your competitor.
Imagine you are a digital marketing professional and your client is a food blogger who wants to generate more web traffic. Let’s see how you can help your client by understanding your competitor’s SERP feature strategy.
Conduct a competitive analysis
Go to Organic Research and enter the competitor’s domain.
Then navigate to the Positions report. Here you can filter for specific SERP features at the top or look at the SF and Positions columns.
You can then see which SERP features are getting the most traffic by ranking them from highest to lowest.
According to this table, the entered domain gets about 8,200 monthly visits from organic search thanks to the recipe SERP feature that points to the web.
You could help your client create content around an original pasta recipe, and then bookmark this page with the recipe overview to increase the chances of getting a similar spot in the SERPs.
Track SERP feature trends to learn competitor strategy
You can see if your client’s competitors are gaining more traffic over time by looking at the trends in their SERP features in the Organic Research Overview Report
You can see how over time this website has put more energy into getting more unique features on the SERPs and their traffic has increased with it. It might be a trend worth investigating.
Build a more effective content strategy by focusing on the SERP features that bring you the most traffic
Now let’s say that the same client with a recipe blog came up with an awesome cookie dough recipe. To get as much visibility as possible, you can look at a competitor’s SERP features triggered by “cookie dough”.
Let’s use cookclassy.com as the competitor you want to analyze.
Then navigate to the Positions report.
Here we can see what kind of SERP features drive traffic to your competitor’s website from cookie dough search. Click the All Positions filter.
You now have a list of keywords that match your content, as well as the SERP features that lead them to your site.
Take it a step further and optimize your content for a feature in the SERPs that is likely to bring the most traffic to your website.
Here you can choose to prioritize adding a recipe markup over a review on your new recipe. Instead, you can later mark this page as a review.
How do we collect data about SERP features?
We track 3 types of SERP properties:
1) SERP features that enrich an organic position
Also known as “enriched results,” these features add more information to an existing organic position. Some examples are sitelinks, reviews, images and videos.
In our toolkit, they are represented by their unique SERP feature icon and position number.
2) SERP features independent of an organic position
The second group are SERP features that are separated from a standard organic position. Some examples are knowledge panels, Twitter carousels, and recipe blocks.
They are only represented by their unique SERP feature icon in the position column. There is no specific position we can assign to them as they are not linked directly to a ‘traditional’ organic listing like sitelinks or stars.
3) SERP features not associated with a domain
The last group of SERP features that we can look at are either not linked to a domain at all, or we are currently unable to collect this data. Some examples of this category are instant replies, featured images, and flights.
When you’re in organic search, you can tell when one of these traits is in the results for a keyword because it appears in the “SF” column.
You can sort this information with the new Organic Research filter.
Check which SERP features are helping your competitors
When you have data to help you make better decisions, you make better decisions. We believe this update will allow you to:
- Conduct better competitive analysis.
- Scan the SERPs faster.
- Find hidden SEO information.
- Find more search traffic opportunities.
- Report the growth in detail.
Start by analyzing your competitors’ SERP features before they analyze yours. Then come up with a plan to get your brand on all of the SERPs and watch the traffic pour in.
Learn more about the new SERP features you can now crawl with the links below.
- short videos
- web stories
- Application
- application list
- recipes
- Twitter carousel
- Search results in
- indented
- Excellent news
- events
- local package
- See related results
- similar products
- Popular products
