In the world of SEO, securing the ever-important number one spot within Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) has always been, and always will be, the aim. But as these pages evolve, it's become increasingly clear that having the top position is not the only way to generate more organic traffic. In 2025, the additions to SERPs, such as AI mode, have made the available real estate even larger. Here we've put together our own guide on how the SERPs have evolved and actionable steps to make sure your website appears in all areas.
Gone are the days when plain text links were the only type of listings in Google's search results. Thanks to frequent algorithm updates and shifts in technology, the search engine results pages are always evolving. It is crucial to deploy all the best SEO techniques to keep on top of the game and ensure your website is appearing in those top positions, as well as the new SERP features that can appear above these.
Today, Google is always striving to deliver a better user experience: "Focus on the user and all else will follow." (Google's philosophy). In order to do this, SERPs are now packed with images, videos and knowledge panels. Not only this, but users now see the information they need without even having to click through, suggesting Google is adapting to changes in user behaviour. People want answers and they want them quicker than ever.
All of this means marketers must navigate the changes, adapt and use new SEO strategies to target these new elements effectively.
To stay in the game and above the competition, more than the basic SEO tactics are now required.
When we say SERP real estate, what exactly do we mean? In simple terms, it's all about the various elements that Google displays on its results pages, alongside the traditional text links. Each part of the search results has huge potential for you to increase your brand's visibility and click-through rates. Owning prime real estate on Google's SERPs is harder than ever, and standing out requires delivering an excellent experience for the user.
If we break up the available real estate within search results pages, we can see that each element serves a different purpose and targets different user needs. Do they want visual cues? Do they want a short answer without reading a full article? Optimising a website for all of these different needs is a challenge, but ranking in just one area of prime real estate can boost traffic significantly.
It's thought that there are now upwards of 30 SERP features; however, this figure is always changing as Google introduces new ways to rank. Here we'll focus on a handful of the top organic features which are currently dominating the search results pages.
What?
Rich snippets showcase additional information alongside the basic text-only results. This includes ratings, prices and product details. Star ratings are immediately eye-catching and can make or break a user’s decision on what link to click on.
How?
To show rich snippets alongside your search result, structured data needs to be implemented. This helps Google understand your content and the information it should index.
Why?
By putting a spotlight on products, events, ratings, and other relevant categories, you tap into a strategy that improves organic click-through rates and increases visitor engagement on your website.
What?
Having only been launched in the UK in August 2024, AI Overviews are one of the newest elements to appear. AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries of search results that appear right at the top of the page. They answer users' queries immediately and are leading to the rise of "zero-click searches". They usually consist of links to multiple websites.
How?
To optimise for AI overviews, we know that it's all about answering the search query as simply and concisely as possible. If the user clicks through to your page, can they find the information they need straight away? To help with this, ensure that the content is structured in an easily-readable way, e.g. bullet points, headers, or even a "key takeaways" section.
Why?
As they take up a lot of real estate in SERPs, if you are not appearing in AI overviews, you are missing out on a lot of traffic. Also, AI isn't going away, so it's important to adapt and stay ahead of the game.
What?
Similar to AI Overviews, Featured Snippets appear at the very top of SERPs. For this reason, they are also referred to as "position zero" - as they appear above the traditional first organic result. Essentially, they are a concise summary of an answer, typically taken from one website. They can appear as paragraphs, lists or even tables.
How?
Targeting frequently asked questions is a great way to increase your chances of appearing in a featured snippet. You can provide the best, most concise answer to a question users are looking for answers to. Another way you can increase the chance of a Featured Snippet is by adding schema markup to your website. This essentially clarifies to Google what information you want to convey.
Why?
Positioned at the top of search results, these snippets can offer a significant boost in visibility. As Featured Snippets offer immediate answers, they show how valuable your content is before even clicking on the link, therefore increasing CTR tenfold.
What?
New for July 2025, Google has rolled out another SERP feature. It is a new search experience, located in an entirely separate tab, which uses AI to generate results. It uses Google's version of ChatGPT: Gemini. Users can ask the tool anything, and Google will respond with information matching the user's intent and context of their query. It’s a much more powerful, personalised experience than a list of links. AI Mode will typically pull information from various sources.
How?
With this being a very new feature, it is not yet super clear to marketers how to rank in this feature. What we do know is that it's still all about how relevant and useful your content is. Focus on creating high-quality content that directly answers questions that users have, and make sure they can easily find what they are looking for. Ensure it follows E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines as well.
Why?
The introduction of AI Mode signifies a huge change in search, user behaviour and how Google prioritises content. Visibility in search results now depends on much more than just having a page that references your primary keyword. Users now want information even more relevant to their searches, and presented in a concise way. It is important to consider AI Mode in your SEO strategy.
What?
A Local Pack (also known as a Map Pack), displays three local businesses that are most relevant to the search query. It can also display the closest businesses based on the location of the user. This shows Google Maps alongside information such as reviews and opening times.
How?
The most crucial step to appearing in this box is to optimise your Google My Business profile. Ensure it is up-to-date, accurate and utilises all of the information sections you can add. It is also worthwhile creating location-specific pages targeting localised keywords. Not only is this great for bringing extra traffic to your site, but it also signals to Google that you are in the local market and you should be appearing in map packs.
Why?
It is important to appear in these local packs to support your website's local SEO. Appearing in local packs showcases your business and shows you are there, when your users need you. If your revenue relies on local customers or clients, it is especially important that your website appears in this SERP element.
What?
This is a SERP feature which shows questions that are most commonly asked, relating to the search query. They appear as an accordion and show more information when clicked. Unlike a featured snippet, this box lists answers from multiple sources, meaning there are more spaces for your website to appear.
How?
To appear in the PAA element, you can use relevant tools and manual searches to check what questions are currently being asked, related to your keywords. You can then tailor your on-page content to answer these specific questions. If you have this exact question as a heading on the page, then that's even better.
Why?
Appearing in the People Also Asked section can significantly boost visibility and subsequently traffic. It is a great way of appearing higher up on the search engine results page for a competitive keyword that you might not rank that high for with a standard text link.
What?
Google's organic shopping listings are free product listings that appear in multiple places in SERPs. They show alongside paid ads. They can usually appear in a matrix format within the search results page, on the 'Shopping' tab, on the 'Images' tab and other places. The format of the listing looks very similar to a paid Google Shopping ad.
How?
In order to start appearing in organic shopping listings, you need to submit a product feed to Google Merchant Center. The feed needs to include a lot of details about the product, including descriptions, GTINs etc. The more info, the better. It is also beneficial to add product schema within the back-end of your website to signal to Google what information you want them to consider.
Why?
If you have an ecommerce website, you are missing a trick if you don't have Google Organic Shopping set up. This can significantly boost visibility, traffic and ultimately sales.
To analyse where your website appears in the SERPs, you should use tools that track this as a metric. By understanding which parts of the SERP landscape you appear in, you can see how this affects clickthrough rates, traffic and ROI. This data can be used to define your SEO strategy moving forward. One of our favourite tools to measure SERP features performance is Sistrix, as shown above.
As we look to the future of search, we envision SERP real estate changing to prioritise personalisation even more. It is likely that artificial intelligence will continue to provide search results and SERPs will inject this even further.
As ever with Google, it is hard to truly predict what the world of SEO will evolve into, but we do know it will bring even more challenges to digital marketers. That said, as long as we understand what we can do to try and dominate the SERPs, in more areas than just that top text link, we will be prepared for innovation and be able to keep up with competitors.
Alice brings over 11 years of experience in digital marketing, with a strong passion for SEO. She thrives on the challenge of improving search visibility, uncovering growth opportunities, and staying ahead in an ever-changing landscape.
Outside of work, Alice is a big fan of live music and can often be found at gigs and festivals. She’s also an avid traveller and a member of a travel group that explores new countries with strangers.
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