You have experience with SERPs, even if you don’t recognize the acronym. What does a Search Engine Results Page mean for your property management company?
When you find a SERP in the course of your online search, it will likely be ordered as such:
- First three pay-per-click ads.
- Map and local results.
- Around 10 organic search results.
- Final three paid ads.
That’s the basic outline of any SERP. Today, we want to take a closer look at what each of these categories actually mean to your property management marketing plans.
What is a Search Engine Results Page?
First on SERP: Paid Ads
How do you know you’re looking at an ad? Well, you’ll see the word ad right next to the search result. But, what goes into a paid ad that puts you on top of the search page?
First, there’s some business information and then the URL. Most results will also have an average rating that’s reflected in stars. This information is grabbed by Google My Business. There’s no need to include it yourself.
Next is a better description of what a company does. You can control what you want viewers to see. Then you have an additional option below that description, where you can choose to include ad extensions. These could be anything – maybe an offer for a free rental analysis.
Do you have other questions about Google ads? Check our blog series on paid online ads.
Local Search Results and Maps
If your search has a location-specific term in it, you’ll probably see a map next. Under that map are three results with companies that reflect information from their respective Google My Business accounts. Don’t focus too much on Google My Business just yet. We’re planning to talk about that in a later video, so for now, just notice that you have an option to click on the local map results, which leads to an expanded map with additional results on the left side.
Organic Search Results
There are 10 organic search results that come next, and these are the pages that Google thinks are relevant to what you searched for.
That’s right, these are pages. Google ranks the pages and not the entire website. This is why we are always telling property managers why it’s important to optimize your content. The text on your webpages needs to be relevant and search-worthy.
If you’re not familiar with what an organic result looks like, don’t worry – you’re not alone. First is the title of the page and then the URL. Then, you’ll see a more detailed description pertaining to what the page actually is.
Don’t worry if you’re not number one on the page. If you can answer the questions that people are searching for, everything else will follow. Traffic will begin to arrive on your page and consistently remain on your website.
More Paid Ads and Why SERP Matters
Three additional paid ads will be found after the organic results. Below that is a summary of other things that people have searched for that might relate to the original search terms.
So, why does SERP matter? Because with the right content strategy, you can actually leverage these to drive more traffic to your website.
If you’re not sure whether your current content strategy is set up to take advantage of how a SERP functions, contact us at Fourandhalf. We’re here to help with content, website optimization, and all your property management marketing needs.
