SERP or SERPs, short for Search Engine Results Pages, are the pages that a search engine displays in response to a search query. If you use Google, for example, Google Ads are usually listed at the top. These are search results that advertisers pay money for to appear at the top. Below the sponsored search results, you will find the organic search results, which are checked by Google for relevance to the search term and other factors, such as SEO, and ultimately receive a ranking.
The importance of SERPs
How important are SERPs for you?
Online visibility offers enormous untapped potential for many companies and most likely for you too. Your customers already exist – on the Internet even in masses – you just have to find a way to become visible to them.
High rankings in SERPs are crucial for online companies, e-commerce platforms, content publishers and especially for local service providers such as restaurants, craft businesses or medical practices. These groups benefit significantly from a good ranking, as potential customers often search for products, services or information via search queries. For B2B companies and start-ups, visibility in SERPs is also important to gain awareness and generate leads.
A high SERP ranking is less critical for companies that already have an established customer base or rely mainly on word of mouth or direct customer relationships, as well as for internal or specialized platforms that are aimed at a narrowly defined target group and are not dependent on broad online visibility. More online visibility is of course always good, but for such companies SERP rankings are not essential and more emphasis can be placed on other technical aspects.
Which strategy leads to high rankings in the SERPs
Google has a fair ranking system. Anyone who tries hard enough and informs themselves comprehensively, or even invests money, can make it to the top of the SERPs.
Investing money in Google Ads is the quickest way to get to the top and generate a lot of sales in a short period of time with the right strategy. To get to the top in organic searches, on the other hand, is a lengthy and permanent process.
However, it is important to understand that if your content is organically high up in the SERPs and you then also want to place Google Ads, you can also work more budget-friendly. You will already be found across the board and can fine-tune and “fill gaps” with Google Ads. So good organic SERP rankings are also very important in this respect, as you can use your advertising budget more effectively or achieve even better results with less budget.
For most users, only the organic search results are often relevant and Google Ads are often skipped. It is therefore important to evaluate whether it makes sense for you to launch Google Ads campaigns and ensure that they generate clicks with the right approach.
Why Google Ads?
Google Ads are particularly effective for online and e-commerce businesses, local businesses, B2B companies, startups, content publishers, event organizers and education providers, as well as developers of apps and digital products. The platform allows advertisers to target their products, services or content to potential customers who are actively searching for similar offers. With extensive targeting options, ads can be customized to specific demographics, locations and interests, significantly increasing the likelihood of conversions. Local businesses benefit from local advertising campaigns that attract customers in their area, while B2B companies can reach decision-makers in their industry. Startups and new brands use Google Ads to quickly gain visibility and brand awareness. In short, Google Ads is a powerful solution for almost any business that wants to increase its online presence and achieve specific business goals and has some budget to do so.
We have been running successful advertising campaigns together with our customers for several years and can also work out a suitable strategy with you, click here to contact us.
Measures to optimize for organic SERPs
1. keyword research
It all starts with the right keywords. Understand what your target audience is searching for and strategically integrate these search terms into your website content, meta tags and URLs. This requires extreme accuracy and patient research, and keywords affect your SERP rankings more than anything else. We therefore also use keyword tools that provide you with accurate data, but these will cost you money if you want to use them yourself.
2. local listing
Local listings signal the geographical relevance of a company to search engines. This improves the visibility of the company in local search results when users search for products or services in the vicinity.
3. SEO
If you know the term SERP, then you will also know SEO. In short, SEO is all the measures you can take with your web content so that search engines can interpret your website correctly and send it to the right people on the web. However, it would go beyond the scope of this article, which is why we have created a PDF with all the important information for you here, completely free of charge.
