What's In The SERPs?

The Most Important Elements Of The SERPs For Lawyers

The Search Engine Results Pages are, without a doubt, the most significant web pages for every marketer. Your main goal is to get on that first page, and while you're not there yet, you should look at the websites at the top and find inspiration from them.

Remember: Whichever page tops the search results is what Google deems the most relevant and helpful page.

Anyone who employs Lawyer SEO understands that these crucial results pages impact the amount of traffic your site receives and, as a result, the long-term success of your law firm. Thus, the goal is to get your website ranked as high as possible on these pages.

Search engines now understand queries and user intent better, so their ranking factors and presentation have become more complex. However, they've also created SERPs with various elements that users can find intriguing and valuable.

The features that appear on a given SERP will differ depending on the search engine's interpretation of the user's intent and the user's device.

Many of the SERP properties listed below are undoubtedly familiar to you, so take a look:

1. Featured Snippets

An answer box is another name for a highlighted snippet. Google highlights a section of content from a website in the highlighted snippet to provide a brief, straight answer to the user's question.

This tool is great when you only need a quick answer and don't need any additional details.

2. Knowledge Card

A knowledge card is a concise, straightforward response to a question posed by a searcher. This saves users time when they need a quick answer.

Try asking Google simple questions like, "What time is it?" or "What is the statute of limitations for Personal Injury in California?" and you'll likely see a direct answer right in the SERPs.

3. Knowledge Panel

A knowledge panel is used by Google to provide a fast summary of specific persons, locations, or things. Significant dates, a brief description of the issue, and some photos are frequently included in these panels.

Google has amassed a wealth of data from the millions of queries done every day over the years and connected it through the knowledge graph. This graph is used by the panels to generate their content.

Casual searchers can use the information to get basic information about their queries without having to visit extra websites. Wikipedia is frequently referenced in the knowledge panels.

For example, you might want to look for things like recipes and other lists.

4. Image Pack

Google will show relevant image thumbnails at the top of the SERPs for selected queries. If a picture can better answer a user's problem, these Google images can help them find relevant results for their questions.

When you use structured data markup, Google will be able to discern your images and display them when they are appropriate.

Remember: Make sure to optimize all the images on your site—because it does matter!

5. People Also Ask

People Also Ask (PAA) refers to questions that Google generates automatically based on searches it thinks are related to your query.

The PAA box questions are linked to responses that users can read on the Google SERPs by clicking on them. This means that users don't have to type in a different question for them to find what they actually need.

Think of PAA like a "further readings" or "related results" section.

6. Top Stories

When users want more information about a major event or breaking news, top stories are the way to go.

Google displays a carousel of news pieces linked to the question or keyword, along with information about when and by whom each story was published.

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