The anatomy of a modern SERP
A SERP is not simply a list of ten links. Search engines add new block types every year, and the competition runs for each of them.
The main elements of a Google SERP
| Element | Description | Query type |
|---|---|---|
| Paid ads (PPC) | Paid listings at the top and bottom | Transactional, commercial |
| Featured snippet | A direct answer (position 0) | Informational |
| People also ask | A block of related questions | Informational |
| Organic results | The ten standard links | Any |
| Shopping ads | Product cards with prices | Transactional |
| Local pack | A map with three businesses | Geo-dependent |
| Video results | YouTube video | Visual queries |
| AI Overview | A generative answer (since 2024) | Informational |
| Knowledge panel | A brand or entity card | Navigational |
Yandex SERPs: how they differ from Google
Yandex is the dominant search engine in Russia and several CIS markets, and its results page is built differently:
- More active instant-answer widgets on informational queries
- A marketplace block from its own shopping service for product queries
- Its own generative AI answers on informational and analytical queries
- Heavier weight on behavioural factors when ranking organic results
How to read a SERP for SEO strategy
A SERP is the engine’s own answer to the question of what a person wants to see. Analysing the results for a target query shows you:
- The dominant content type — an article, a category, a product page, a video?
- Which SERP features are present — is there a featured snippet, a shopping block, a people-also-ask block?
- Commercial density — how much of the screen do ad blocks take?
- Competitor domain authority — how strong are the domains in the top ten?
Important: if a query is taken by an AI Overview or a featured snippet, aim at those blocks specifically — through structured content and Schema.org — rather than only at the traditional top ten.
SERPs and e-commerce
For online stores the key SERP features are:
- Shopping blocks — product cards with an image, a price and a rating directly in the SERP. They require a correct product feed.
- Schema.org Product plus Review — marking up product pages lets the rating appear as stars in organic results, which lifts CTR by 10–30%.
- Breadcrumbs in the SERP — a correct URL structure and BreadcrumbList markup shows the category path under the link.
The 2024–2025 trend: AI Overviews in Google keeps taking more of the informational queries. For e-commerce that shifts SEO priorities — transactional and commercial investigation queries become more valuable than informational ones.