SERP Analysis Guide
Reading a results page to work out what Google is rewarding for a query.
SERP analysis · Published
The short answer
Pull the current results for the keyword in the country you care about, then answer three questions: what kind of pages are ranking, what do the top few have in common, and how much room is left for an organic result after the features on the page.
Do this before writing anything. The results page is the closest thing available to a brief for what Google currently rewards for that query.
Read the page type before anything else
The single most useful signal is what kind of pages occupy the first ten results. If they are all product categories, a blog post is unlikely to break in however well it is written. If they are all tutorials, a product page will not either.
This is intent expressed as evidence rather than as a label. A tool can classify a keyword as commercial, but the results page shows you what Google actually decided, which is the thing you are competing against.
Features take the clicks that positions imply
Position one is not what it used to be, and how much it is worth depends entirely on what sits above it. A plain page of ten blue links gives the top result far more than the same position on a page carrying an AI overview, an answer box and a people also ask block.
When you check a results page, count the non-organic blocks before you get excited about a keyword’s volume. High demand on a heavily featured page can be worth less than modest demand on a clean one.
| What you see | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| ai_overview | A generated summary above the results. Pushes the first organic result well down the page. |
| featured_snippet | One result promoted above the rest. Worth targeting, and worth knowing you are competing for one slot. |
| people_also_ask | Related questions. A good source of subheadings, and a sign the query has follow-ups. |
| local_pack | Map results. The query has local intent, and a national page will struggle. |
| shopping | Product listings. Transactional intent, and paid placement is taking the top of the page. |
Location changes the answer
Results differ by country, and often by city. Checking a keyword from where you happen to be sitting tells you about your location rather than about your market. Set the location deliberately to the market you are targeting, and check a second one if you sell into more than one.
Your own browser is also the worst place to check, because Google personalizes results using your history. A tool that queries without a signed-in profile attached gives you a cleaner read.
Look at the pages, not just the domains
Once you know the page type, open the top three results and look for what they share: how the page is structured, what it covers that you would not have thought to cover, and whether it is a dedicated page or a section of something larger.
The goal is not to copy them. It is to work out what the minimum credible entry to that page looks like, so you can decide whether you can clear it before you spend a week on the attempt. What a winnable results page looks like goes into the specific signals.
Positions move, so date your evidence
A results page is a snapshot. Rankings move daily, and a check from last month is a description of last month. Any tool worth using tells you when it fetched the page, and this one does.
For tracking movement over time you want repeated checks rather than one, which is a different job from the research this guide describes.
Related guides
- Keyword Research GuideHow to go from one idea to a short list of keywords worth targeting.
- How to Find Low Competition KeywordsFinding terms you can realistically rank for, including long-tail variants.
- SEO Competitor AnalysisWorking out what a competitor earns from search, and which parts of it you can take.
Check the SERP for every keyword you research
In Keyword Explorer the results page sits beside the keyword data, so you can go from an idea to who owns it without switching tools.
Open Keyword Explorer