SEO for beginners training – Lesson 1.1 

Google’s SERP 
Table of contents 

Learning objectives 

1. ​Google’s SERP 

2. Regular snippets 

Rich snippets 

Sponsored results and ads 

Organic results 

3. Featured snippets 

Knowledge Graph 

Box snippets 

Carousels 

4. OneBox results 

Key takeaways 
 
 

Learning objectives 
In this lesson you’ll learn: 
● what Google’s search engine results page looks like on a computer; 
● which different types of snippets exist. 
 
 

1. Google’s SERP1 
In the video, you learned about how search engines use crawlers to index 
websites. After that, the indexed information is used to create s​ nippets​, 
which are links to sites with a description. These are shown on a search 
engine’s SERP, or ​search engine results page​. In Image 1, on the next page, 
you can see what Google’s SERP looks like on desktop.  
 

1
The SERP interface and it’s snippet formats often change, and it’s difficult for us to keep this 
document updated regularly. Therefore, please note that some of the snippets mentioned in 
this document might look different on your SERP.  
 
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Image 1: A fragment of the Google SERP 
 
Straight away, you notice some distinct features. In the top left you can find 
the home button. Google often changes this up, and it’s inspired by an 
important event of that day.  
 
It further consists of the following elements: 
● a search bar, in which you can type your query; 
● several categories in which you can specify what type of results 
you’re looking for; 
● settings, with which you can change options for your searches in 
general; 
● the Tools option, used to filter the search results you’re currently 
seeing; 
● the amount of results and the time it took Google to perform the 
search; 
● the snippets the search engine provides us with after inserting a 
query.  
 

Snippets, snippets, snippets! 

 
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the top of the search results page. They also provide a link to the 
page they’re connected to if the user wants to read more. 
3. OneBox results, w
​ hich are search results that don’t link to an 
external source like other snippets. 
 
For an overlook of the different subtypes of snippets we’ll discuss, please 
have a look at the t​ able of contents​ at the top of this document. 
 
 

2. Regular snippets 
Now let’s get started with the important part. Let’s take a closer look at a 
snippet in Image 2.  
 

 
Image 2: An example of a regular snippet 
 
A regular snippet has three primary components: 
1. the URL 
2. the title 
3. the meta description 
 
At the top, you see the ​URL ​with breadcrumbs. This shows the website and 
where the page is located within the website. For example, it could show you 
the website’s category that the post or page is part of.  
 
The ​title​ of a snippet is very important, because it’s the first thing that 
people see when they scan across the list. It’s blue to signify it’s a link. You 
want the title to convince the search engine user that this is the page they’re 
looking for.  
 
Lastly, it shows the m
​ eta description​ in grey. The meta description gives 
you a tiny impression on what the page is about. This way, people can check 
if this page is r​ eally ​what they’re looking for. You want the meta description 
to spark the search engine user’s interest, so they want to look further. Also, 
the keywords the search engine user entered in the search query are shown 
in bolded font. 
 

 
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Sometimes the SERP will also show a date in front of the meta description. 
This is useful, because it gives you information on when the page was last 
updated. This can be especially handy when you’re looking for new sources. 
 
With the free version of the ​Yoast SEO plugin​ you have more control over 
how your snippets are shown by the SERP. For example, you can give Google 
a suggestion for what the meta description should say.  
 

Rich snippets 
Depending on the search query, the Google SERP might show extra 
information with a snippet. We call this a r​ ich snippet​. For example, if the 
snippet shows a page about a product, it might show the price, how it’s rated 
and whether the product is in stock. The extra info is shown under the title. 
Image 3 shows what a rich snippet for a zombie apocalypse survival kit 
search query looks like. 
 

 
Image 3: An example of a rich snippet 

Sponsored results and ads 

 
Image 4: An example of a sponsored result  
 

 
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Organic results 
When search results aren’t sponsored, we call them ​organic results​. These 
are the queries that fit the question of the user best, according to Google’s 
algorithm. Improving websites to perform well in the organic results are 
what we at Yoast specialize in. Ofcourse, organic results can be rich, too. 
 
 

3. Featured snippets 
Almost every SERP user loves ​featured snippets​. Featured snippets are also 
known as f​ eatured results​. These are the snippets that give you tons of 
information about the query you entered instantly, without having to click 
through to a website. The main difference between featured snippets and 
rich snippets is the prominence in which featured snippets are shown in the 
SERP. Featured snippets are often shown at the top of the page or side. Rich 
snippets, however, are sprinkled in between the other simple snippets.  
 
You can use s​ tructured data​ to help Google find everything they need to 
make a featured snippet, but this does not ensure that Google will pick your 
content as the best. You can learn more about how this works in our 
Structured data training​.  
 

Knowledge Graph 
Knowledge Graphs​ are infoboxes that show up to the right of the regular 
search results. They will focus on a person, organisation or concept. In Image 
5 you can see an example of this, where the Knowledge Graph gives us 
information about Yoast’s CEO, Marieke van de Rakt. As you can see, it 
provides additional links in the form of social media profiles. The Knowledge 
Graphs shows different types of sources with different topics. For example, it 
will show you the nutrition facts if you search for ‘apple pie’. 
 

 
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Image 5: An example of a Knowledge Graph 

Box snippets 
If you ever tried to google for a guide, you probably know what a b
​ ox 
snippet​ looks like. There’s several different types of box snippets and they 
all have different purposes. Here’s a few important examples: 
 
● answer box​, which gives the answer to a question, or a definition. 
For example, “how many legs does a spider have?” Look at an 
example of an answer box in Image 6; 
● how-to box​, which explains an action in steps. For example, “how to 
bake an apple pie?” There’s an example of a how-to box below in 
Image 7; 
● people also ask​ (also referred to as Q&A box), which answers 
related questions. For example, if you were to search for “can you 
make a doctor’s appointment on sunday?”, Google will suggest other 
questions, such as “can you make doctor’s appointments online?” 
You can find an example of a people-also-ask box in Image 8; 
● map box​, which shows a location, look at an example of a map box 
in Image 9; 
● movies in theatre​, which shows the current movies in a cinema 
nearby, you can study an example of a movies-in-theatre box in 
Image 10. 
 

 
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Image 7: An example of an answer box 
 

 
Image 7: An example of a how-to box 
 

 
Image 8: An example of a people-also-ask box 
 

 
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Image 9: An example of a map box 
 

 
Image 10: An example of a movies-in-theatre box 
 

Carousels 
A ​carousel​ shows different snippets related to the search query, usually 
accompanied by an image. Typically, they show up right below the search 
query. They usually show three to five options, but the carousel can be 

 
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extended to show more. Like box snippets, there’s many different types of 
these, including: 
 
● video carousel​, which shows an array of video’s based on the search 
query. We’ve included an example of what it looks like in Image 11; 
● product carousel​, which shows the user suggestions for products 
that might match the search query. Look at an example in Image 12; 
● Twitter carousel​, which instantly shows a few tweets of the person 
or organisation the user googles. It prioritizes new tweets. Curious 
what that looks like? You can find an example in Image 13; 
● top stories​, which provide the user with news articles that Google 
deems relevant. Have a look at Image 14 to see what it’s like; 
● top things to do​, which offers fun or interesting locations for the 
user to visit, based on their search query. Find an example below, 
Image 15. 
 

 
Image 11: An example of a video carousel 

 
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Image 12: An example of a product carousel 

 
Image 13: An example of a Twitter carousel 
 

 
Image 14: An example of a top stories carousel 
 

 
Image 15: An example of a top things to do carousel 

 
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4. OneBox results 
Google also introduced search results that aren’t linked to a website. Earlier, 
we mentioned box snippets as a possible featured result. OneBox results are 
very similar. The difference is that with a OneBox result, Google doesn’t offer 
a link to a webpage.  
 
For example, maybe you want to know what time it is in Wijchen, the town in 
the Netherlands where Yoast is located. In Image 16, we show you what that 
looks like. Google will just show you the time, without mentioned the site it 
took the information from. 

 
Image 16: An example of a OneBox result 

 
Or maybe you want to know if there’s any football finals coming up. Let’s run 
it through Google and see what it shows. In Image 17, you can see that 
there’s tabs, and I can even click on the expand button below for more 
information. But, most importantly, there is no source link.  
 

 
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Image 17: A different example of a OneBox result 
 
 
 
 

Key takeaways 
These are the key takeaways for this lesson: 
● The Google SERP consists of a home button, a search bar, search 
categories, filter options in the form of Settings and Tools, and, of 
course, search results. 
● There’s a wide variety of snippets, including rich snippets, sponsored 
snippets, knowledge graphs, box snippets and carousels.  
 
 

 
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