What does SERP mean in SEO, and how do you do a SERP analysis?

What does SERP mean in SEO?

SERP is short for search engine results page. In SEO the term is used for everything a person sees after typing a query, not only the list of blue links. Google calls this the Google Search results page and documents its parts in the Visual Elements gallery, which was last updated on 4 February 2026.

The term matters because these elements are what people judge before they click. Two pages can rank in similar positions and still get very different attention, depending on the title link, snippet and extra details shown with each result.

What appears on a Google results page?

Google groups the visual elements into several result types:

• Text results, with a title link, snippet, byline date, sitelinks, an optional image and rich attributes such as review stars.
• Rich results, which use a page's structured data for graphical or interactive features.
• Image results and video results, with thumbnails and attribution.
• Exploration features, such as the related searches group and the related questions group, also known as People also ask.

Each result also carries attribution: the favicon, the site name and the visible URL, which is made up of the domain and a breadcrumb. Results pages can also include AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in those features, and no special files or schema markup are needed, because normal SEO best practices apply.

Which parts of the SERP can you influence?

Google's gallery is useful because it says what a site owner can affect for each element:

• Title links can be influenced, and snippets can be controlled.
• Favicons can be provided, site names can be provided with structured data, and breadcrumbs can be specified with breadcrumb structured data.
• Rich attributes and rich results depend on structured data on your page.
• Sitelinks are automated, though following best practices can improve their quality.
• The related searches group is generated automatically and cannot be controlled, and the related questions group is not directly controllable.

How do you do a SERP analysis?

A SERP analysis compares what Google shows for a query with how your own page appears. A practical order is:

1. Search the target query and note the result types on the page: text, rich, image, video, exploration features and any AI Overview.
2. Look at the top results and note what their title links, snippets and attribution have in common, and what they are answering.
3. Find your own result, if it appears, and check its title link, snippet, favicon, site name and breadcrumb.
4. Mark the elements you can influence using the list above, and leave aside the ones Google generates automatically.
5. Check whether your page answers the same need as the pages Google is showing.

How do you measure your SERP performance?

Search Console's Performance report shows how your site is doing on results pages. For each query you get clicks, impressions, click through rate and average position. Average position is an estimate of where your link appeared, with 1 as the top spot. Google records the topmost position your link held for each query and averages those values.

Google notes that traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is included in the Web search type of the Performance report, so it sits within the same figures. Group the data by query or page, compare it before and after changes to titles or structured data, and use the result to decide what to work on next.

Sources

• Google Search Central: Visual Elements gallery of Google Search
• Google Search Central: AI features and your website
• Search Console Help: Performance report (Search results)
• Search Console Help: What are impressions, position and clicks?

Frequently asked questions

Are AI Overviews part of the SERP?

Yes. AI Overviews and AI Mode appear within Google Search, so they belong in any review of a results page. Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in them, and no special files or schema markup are needed, because normal SEO best practices apply. In Search Console, traffic from these features is included in the Performance report under the Web search type.

What does average position mean in Search Console?

Average position is an estimate of where a link to your site appeared on the results page, with 1 as the top spot. For each query, Google records the topmost position your link held, then averages those values across all queries where it appeared. It is shown only for Google Search results. A dash in the report means no position was recorded because the link was never seen for that query.