The search results page you see today bears little resemblance to the Google SERPs of just two years ago. If you’ve been working in SEO for more than a couple of years, you’ve probably noticed that the traditional “10 blue links” format has given way to something far more complex and dynamic. The SERP landscape has undergone a fundamental transformation that’s reshaping how we think about search engine optimisation.
Recent studies show that zero-click searches (where users get their answers directly from the search engine results page without clicking through to a website) now account for over 50% of all searches. This represents a seismic shift in user behaviour and search engine functionality. For SEO professionals, this means that traditional metrics like organic traffic and click-through rates are becoming less reliable indicators of search marketing success.
The statistics paint a clear picture of this transformation. Featured snippets appear in approximately 19% of search queries, while People Also Ask boxes show up in 8.5% of searches. Local packs dominate location-based searches and AI Overviews are rapidly expanding across informational query types. These SERP features aren’t just additions to the search results, they’re fundamentally changing how Google displays information and how users interact with search.
What makes this transformation particularly significant is the speed at which it’s happening. The most dramatic changes have occurred in just the past 24 months, driven primarily by Google’s integration of artificial intelligence into core search functions. This has not been a gradual evolution, more a search landscape revolution that demands immediate attention from anyone serious about maintaining online visibility.
The period from 2023 to 2024 will likely be remembered as the turning point when search engines transitioned from link-based results to AI-powered information delivery. Several major developments during this period have fundamentally altered the search experience and created new challenges for SEO professionals.
Google’s introduction of AI Overviews represents perhaps the most significant change to the SERP landscape in over a decade. Initially launched as Search Generative Experience (SGE) in testing phases, AI Overviews became widely available throughout 2024 and into 2025, fundamentally changing how Google presents information to users.
Unlike featured snippets, which extract existing content from web pages, AI Overviews synthesise information from multiple sources to create comprehensive answers. This AI-powered feature appears at the top of search results for many informational queries, providing users with detailed responses that often eliminate the need to visit individual websites and ushering in the ‘zero-click’ era.
The rollout hasn’t been without challenges. Google faced criticism for inaccurate information and unusual suggestions in early iterations, leading to refinements in how the system evaluates and presents information.
For SEO professionals, AI Overviews represent both a threat and an opportunity. While they can reduce click-through rates to organic results, websites that frequently appear as sources in AI Overviews often see increased brand recognition and authority. The key is understanding how to optimise content for AI extraction and synthesis rather than traditional ranking algorithms.
The People Also Ask (PAA) feature has evolved significantly beyond its original simple question-and-answer format. These boxes now appear in 8.5% of searches and have become more sophisticated, offering context-aware questions that adapt based on user behaviour and search intent.
Modern PAA boxes integrate with other SERP features, often working in conjunction with AI Overviews to provide comprehensive information coverage. The questions themselves have become more nuanced, reflecting Google’s improved understanding of user intent and search context. Instead of generic related questions, PAA boxes now present queries that address specific user pain points and information gaps.
This evolution has created new optimisation opportunities. Content that addresses PAA questions directly often captures multiple SERP features simultaneously. SEO professionals are finding success by structuring SEO content to answer not just the primary search query but also the related questions that appear in PAA boxes for their target keywords.
The interactive nature of PAA boxes also means they generate additional search sessions, as users often click through to explore related topics. This creates a ripple effect that can increase overall visibility for brands that consistently appear in PAA results across related search queries.
Local search results have become increasingly sophisticated, with local packs evolving far beyond simple business listings. Modern local packs integrate rich visual elements, including photos, reviews, hours of operation and even real-time availability information for restaurants and service businesses.
The integration of shopping results within local searches represents a significant development for businesses with both online and physical presence. Searches for products now frequently display local availability alongside traditional e-commerce options, creating new competition dynamics between local retailers and online-only brands.
Google’s improved understanding of search intent means that queries like “coffee shop near me” no longer just return basic local listings. Instead, users see comprehensive local packs with reviews, menu highlights, current wait times and integrated ordering options. This evolution has given local businesses unprecedented opportunities to capture users at high-intent moments.
For multi-location brands, the enhanced local pack features require more sophisticated local SEO strategies. Each location needs optimised Google Business Profiles with complete information, regular updates and active review management. The businesses that succeed in this new local landscape are those treating each location as a unique entity while maintaining brand consistency across all touch-points.
Featured snippets have evolved from simple text extracts to comprehensive answer formats that often include visual elements, structured data and even video content. Google’s algorithm now better understands which content formats best answer specific question types, leading to more diverse snippet presentations.
The integration of featured snippets with other SERP features has created more complex optimisation challenges. A single search query might trigger a featured snippet, followed by video results, a People Also Ask box and organic shopping listings. This means that capturing the featured snippet position no longer guarantees top-of-page visibility and neither does the fabled #1 organic ranking.
Modern featured snippets also demonstrate Google’s improved entity understanding. Rather than simply extracting text that matches search queries, the algorithm now identifies authoritative sources and extracts information that provides complete answers to user questions. This shift has made experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) signals more important than ever for snippet optimisation.
As we move through late 2025, the SERP landscape has stabilised into a new normal that’s dramatically different from traditional search results. Current data shows that the average first page of Google results contains 4.2 different types of SERP features, compared to just 1.8 in 2019.
The distribution of SERP features varies significantly by search intent and industry vertical. Informational queries are most likely to trigger AI Overviews (appearing in approximately 40% of these searches), while commercial queries frequently display shopping results, local packs and featured snippets. Navigational searches remain relatively unchanged, typically showing brand-related knowledge panels and direct website links.
Zero-click searches have reached a tipping point, with more than 50% of desktop searches and 60% of mobile searches ending without a click to an external website. This trend is particularly pronounced for informational queries, where users can often find complete answers within SERP features themselves.
Industry analysis reveals significant variations in how different sectors are affected by these changes. Healthcare, finance and legal industries see heavy AI Overview integration but with more conservative answer formats due to Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) considerations. E-commerce searches frequently trigger shopping features, especially product carousels. Local service businesses benefit from enhanced local pack features but face increased competition from national brands appearing in mixed results.
The mobile search experience has diverged even further from desktop, with SERP features taking up larger portions of screen real estate. Mobile users are more likely to engage with quick answers and less likely to scroll past the first few results, making SERP feature optimisation even more critical for mobile visibility.
The trajectory of SERP evolution suggests that we’re still in the early stages of a fundamental transformation in how search engines deliver information. Based on current trends and Google’s stated directions, several major developments are likely to reshape the search landscape further by 2026.
Google’s continued investment in artificial intelligence suggests that AI-powered features will become the primary way users interact with search results. By 2026, we can expect AI Overviews to appear in the majority of search queries, with the technology becoming sophisticated enough to handle complex, multi-part questions and provide personalised responses based on user history and preferences.
The integration of Google’s Gemini AI model into search through ‘AI Mode’ represents a significant leap in capability. This evolution will make search feel more like a consultation with an expert rather than a keyword-matching exercise.
Personalisation will play an increasingly important role in AI-generated results. Google’s ability to understand user context, location, search history and preferences will enable AI Overviews and AI Mode searches to provide tailored recommendations and answers. For SEO professionals, this means optimising for entity recognition and topic authority rather than specific keyword phrases.
The future SERP landscape will likely include more interactive and multimedia elements designed to provide immediate value to users. Video carousels are already expanding beyond entertainment queries to include how-to content, product demonstrations and educational materials across various industries.
Augmented reality integration represents an emerging frontier for search results. Google’s investments in AR technology suggest that future searches for products, landmarks or visual information might include interactive 3D models or AR preview options directly within search results.
Interactive product demonstrations and virtual try-on experiences will likely become standard features for retail searches. Users will be able to customise products, view them in different settings or see how they work without leaving the search results page. This evolution will require businesses to provide rich product data and interactive content that can be integrated into these enhanced search experiences.
By the end of 2026, search results will likely become significantly more personalised based on individual user behaviour, preferences and context. Google’s growing ability to understand user intent through cross-platform data integration will enable search results that adapt not just to what users search for, but how they prefer to consume information.
Location-based personalisation will extend far beyond current local pack features. Search results will consider factors like user mobility patterns, local events, traffic conditions and even weather to provide contextually relevant information. A search for “restaurant recommendations” might prioritise results based on the user’s dietary preferences, previous dining history and current location context.
Cross-platform data integration will enable search results that reflect user activity across Google’s ecosystem and beyond. Search results might incorporate information from Google Maps, YouTube viewing history, Gmail content and even partner platform data to provide highly relevant, personalised responses to user queries.
The evolving SERP landscape requires fundamental changes in how SEO professionals approach search optimisation. Traditional strategies focused on keyword rankings and organic traffic are becoming insufficient as metrics for measuring search success. The new reality demands a more holistic approach to search visibility that encompasses multiple touch-points and engagement opportunities.
The shift from traditional rankings to SERP feature presence requires new measurement approaches that capture the full spectrum of search visibility. Instead of focusing primarily on organic position rankings, SEO professionals need to track presence across featured snippets, AI Overviews, People Also Ask boxes, local packs and other SERP features. And that’s not even mentioning AI engine visibility too!
Share of voice metrics have become increasingly important as they measure brand visibility across all SERP features rather than just organic listings. Tools like Google Search Console provide valuable insights into how often your content appears in different SERP features, but comprehensive visibility tracking requires more sophisticated approaches.
Entity coverage tracking represents another critical metric for the new search landscape. Google’s algorithm increasingly focuses on understanding entities (people, places, things and concepts), rather than just keywords. Successful SEO strategies now require mapping your brand’s entity relationships and ensuring comprehensive coverage of topics within your domain authority.
Brand mention tracking across AI-generated results is becoming essential as AI Overviews and other features frequently cite sources without providing traditional backlinks. Monitoring when and how your brand appears in AI-generated content helps understand your authority in the search landscape even when direct traffic doesn’t result. Combining traditional organic search SEO with generative engine SEOis now a necessity.
Creating content that can capture multiple SERP features simultaneously requires a more strategic approach to content structure and organisation. Rather than optimising individual pages for single keywords, successful content strategies now focus on comprehensive topic coverage that can feed various SERP features.
Structured data implementation has become crucial for rich results and SERP feature eligibility. Schema markup helps Google understand your content’s context and relationship to entities, increasing the likelihood of inclusion in featured snippets, knowledge panels and AI Overview sources. The most successful sites now implement comprehensive schema markup strategies that cover not just basic page information but also detailed entity relationships and content hierarchies. Schema markup is now an essential part of all SEO strategies for our clients.
Question-based content optimisation addresses the growing importance of People Also Ask boxes and AI Overview question coverage. Content that systematically addresses related questions and provides comprehensive answers to topic clusters performs better in the modern search landscape than content focused narrowly on individual keywords.
Local SEO strategies require enhanced focus on Google Business Profile optimisation, local content creation and review management. The evolution of local pack features means businesses need to treat local SEO as a comprehensive digital presence strategy rather than just a listing optimisation exercise.
The importance of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) has increased dramatically as AI systems rely on these signals to determine source credibility for AI-generated responses. Building authority for AI-powered search requires demonstrating expertise across multiple touch-points and platforms.
Entity-based SEO focuses on establishing clear relationships between your brand and relevant entities in your industry. This involves comprehensive coverage of topic areas, consistent entity references across content and building recognition as an authoritative source for specific subjects or industries.
Cross-platform presence building has become essential as Google’s algorithm considers signals from multiple platforms when determining entity authority. This includes maintaining consistent information across social platforms, building thought leadership through various content channels and ensuring your brand is referenced by authoritative sources in your industry.
Preparing for voice and conversational search integration requires content that answers questions in natural, conversational language. As search becomes more conversational through AI integration, content that sounds natural when read aloud and provides complete answers to spoken questions will perform better in future search experiences.
What percentage of searches now include AI Overviews and how does this vary by industry?
AI Overviews currently appear in approximately 40% of informational queries and about 25% of commercial searches. Healthcare and finance see lower rates (around 15-20%) due to YMYL content restrictions, while technology and general knowledge topics see higher rates (50-60%). The feature continues to expand rapidly, with Google indicating plans to increase coverage significantly throughout 2025.
How should I measure SEO success if traditional organic traffic is declining due to zero-click searches?
Focus on visibility metrics rather than traffic alone. Track your presence across all SERP features, brand mention frequency in AI-generated results and share of voice for target topics. Monitor how often your content is cited as a source in AI Overviews and featured snippets. Consider tracking brand search volume increases as an indicator of authority building, even if direct traffic decreases.
Will traditional SEO become obsolete with the rise of AI-powered search features?
Traditional SEO principles remain important but require adaptation rather than replacement. Technical SEO, content quality and site authority still matter, but optimisation now needs to consider AI extraction and entity recognition. The focus is shifting from keyword rankings to comprehensive topic authority and multi-feature presence. SEO professionals who adapt these core principles to the new landscape will continue to drive valuable results.
What’s the most important SERP feature to optimise for in 2025?
AI Overviews represent the highest priority due to their prominent placement and growing coverage, but a comprehensive approach targeting multiple features is most effective. Featured snippets remain valuable for immediate visibility, while People Also Ask optimisation helps capture long-tail traffic. The best strategies focus on creating content that can simultaneously compete for multiple features rather than targeting just one.
How can small businesses compete for visibility when large brands dominate AI Overviews and featured snippets?
Small businesses can succeed by focusing on niche expertise and local relevance. AI systems value authoritative content regardless of brand size, so developing deep expertise in specific topic areas can earn feature inclusion. Local businesses have advantages in location-based searches where local pack features provide prominent placement. Building topical authority through comprehensive content coverage and consistent local SEO efforts can help smaller brands compete effectively in the evolving SERP landscape.
Neil is an experienced SEO Team Lead with 10 years in digital marketing. Before joining the agency, he was SEO Manager at Sports Direct, and has worked across a wide range of industries, from ecommerce to lead generation. He currently leads a team of four skilled SEO professionals, driving strategy and performance across a diverse client portfolio.
Based in Belper, Neil is a dedicated Derby County fan and a keen cricket enthusiast, having previously worked at Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Outside of work, you’ll often find him in the gym or catching up on the latest match.
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