Organic search results are the unpaid website listings that appear at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). They appear because of their relevance to the search term the user has typed in.
Let me explain:
Organic search results are determined by a complex algorithm that shows the most relevant, helpful and trustworthy results.
Think of them like “natural results”.
Google evaluates each website using many different ranking factors.
These factors ultimately decide which websites appear at the top of organic search results and in what order.
That’s why many business owners invest in search engine optimisation (SEO).
The better “optimised” your website is, the higher you will rank.
Ranking for specific keywords can have a HUGE impact on your business. It’s essentially a free way of driving targeted traffic to your website.
Who doesn’t want that, right?
What Will I Learn?
Organic search results are important because they offer a higher level of trust to searchers.
Users tend to perceive organic results as more “credible” and “trustworthy” than paid advertisements.
Why?
Short answer: Because you have to earn your place at the top (not buy it).
But that’s not all…
Organic search results are one of the best traffic sources for businesses.
They are more sustainable and cost-effective in the long run than paid advertisements.
Google traffic also converts better than most other sources of traffic.
That means that SEO traffic can spark huge growth in your business – Driving real leads and sales.
The difference between non-organic and organic search results is how they reach the top of the SERPs.
Non-organic results appear at the top of the SERPs because people pay to be there. Organic search results earn their position through effective SEO and building trust with search engines.
Non-Organic traffic is paid. Organic traffic is earned.
That’s why SEO is seen as such an effective marketing strategy.
Organic search results also include different SERP features that enhance the user experience.
These SERP features include:
…and more.
Here is a list of the top SERP features in the organic search results:
Featured Snippets are concise excerpts that appear at the top of Google’s search results.
They are designed to quickly answer a searcher’s query and provide the website if the user wants to dig deeper.
The featured snippet is pulled from web pages in Google’s index, giving users quick and direct answers.
As a website owner, you want to be in as many featured snippets as possible. It’s a great way to increase search traffic and visibility online.
Local Results are relevant listings of local businesses or services that appear in the organic search results.
They only appear for “local” search queries, where the search is related to the user’s physical geographical location.
These results display Google My Business listings.
The “People Also Ask” box is a dynamic SERP feature in the organic search results. It provides users with additional questions related to their original query.
Each question can be expanded to show the answer and the website it was pulled from. This makes it easier for users to delve deeper into the topic if they want.
The Video Section highlights video content related to the search query.
Most videos displayed in the search results are from YouTube (also owned by Google). Social media user statistics also show that YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world.
This video section in the organic search results is designed to offer more useful visual and auditory information.
Related Searches appear at the bottom of the organic search results page.
They offer users other searches related to their original query, which has been searched by other users before.
This goal is to help users explore related topics and find more comprehensive information.
The Top Stories section only appears for search queries related to timely content.
The best example of this is recent news-related content.
Top Stories mainly displays the latest information on recent events and developments related to specific interests.
Google’s AI overviews offer brief summaries that are displayed at the top of search results for specific queries.
How does it work?
Google uses generative AI to provide tailored responses that specifically answer the user’s search intent.
This allows Google to provide more personalised results for users and handle complex queries better.
It’s important to note that Google AI overviews aren’t shown for every search.
They only appear when Google’s systems think an AI-generated answer would be better for the user.
Learn how to disable Google’s AI overviews in the search results.
There are more than 200+ known Google ranking factors.
Here are the top 5 ranking factors to know:
You must have high-quality content if you want to rank.
Content is the backbone of every SEO strategy.
It’s how you target multiple keywords and reach people in your target audience while ultimately building trust with them.
What does quality content mean?
Simply put: Comprehensive content that provides value to the reader.
That means covering topics thoroughly and adding unique insights from your own experiences.
You should also include rich media like images, videos, graphics, bullet points and tables to bring your content to life.
Good UX design is essential for keeping visitors engaged on your website and reducing pogo-sticking.
It doesn’t need to be fancy, but it should help users find relevant information quickly.
That means mapping out a great silo structure and adding internal links to other relevant pages. Make your website visually appealing and create a clean navigational structure.
User experience has now become an essential part of SEO!
Google now indexes the mobile version of your website first and uses that as the base of your rankings.
What’s more?
63% of all searches are done on a mobile device.
In other words…
Your website must look good on mobile and offer the best user experience possible.
When designing and updating your website, focus on mobile first!
Faster websites provide a better user experience and are favoured in rankings.
Here’s why:
Google tracks your website performance and benchmarks it against your competitors to see how you stack up.
This is all done in the form of Core Web Vitals and Page Experience.
The faster your website loads, the higher you will rank!
Check out our increase website speed guide to learn more.
Google ranks websites they trust.
How do they know which websites to trust?
Short answer: Because of their backlink profiles.
Building links is like adding fuel to the fire. If you have done everything else right, your rankings will get a significant boost.
It’s the best way to increase your domain authority and rank higher in SERPs.
Ensure that you ONLY use proven link building strategies that help you build ONLY high-quality links.
Getting backlinks from reputable websites allows you to leverage their reputation with Google to build your own.
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