With AI-based features rolling out, your trust, visibility, and conversions are all being hijacked by advanced SERP features. The search engines are basically citing information from various sources and displaying those sections on their result pages so that the viewer does not have to visit a webpage and look for a tiny bit of information.
The SERP features are becoming an important concept in modern SEO. They are collectively responsible for a significant drop in click-through-rates (CTRs) across multiple domains such as science, careers, and shopping. In the new age, they are shaping how users see and engage with a search result.
What Are SERP Features?
The era of SERP presenting a list of blue links is long gone. The organic search result page is turned into a complex, multi-dimensional attention seeker demanding a click every now and then. Based on different queries and the search intent, a SERP now displays either a feature snippet, an Overview, a listicle, or multiple sets of Images.
Searchers usually interact with these results the moment they see them, as the results are placed right at the top of the page. This placement is oftentimes called the ‘Position Zero,’ for its appearance above the first organic result. These, in turn, provide a “zero click search” view for the website Google is citing information from.
Why Are SERP Features Important in SEO?
The advanced SERP features are used to provide direct, relevant information to users without any need to click on a single website. These are particularly significant in improving search visibility and driving organic traffic.
They are key contributor to SEO in multiple ways, including:
Increasing Visibility and Clicks
Building Authority and Trust
Adaptation to Evolving Search Behavior and AI
Maximizing SERP Real Estate and Competitive Advantage
Diverse Purposes and Benefits Across the Funnel
Increasing Visibility and Clicks
Due to their placement at the top of the SERP, the benefits of the rich media features include the ability to capture attention, brand recognition, and drive possible traffic to any website. They enhance visibility and access to any content for users, generating clicks, even for content not appearing at the top of an organic listing.
Some studies indicate that SERP features capture almost 65% of a search result’s total visibility, making the rank 1 no longer enough for competing effectively.
Building Authority and Trust
When your content is featured in the advanced SERP features, it signals to users that your content is helpful and reliable. This, in turn, would build credibility and establish your brand as an authoritative source on the topic.
Featuring in position zero also implies that your content has valuable and well-structured information that is also highly relevant to the user’s query. This trust often leads other publishers to backlink to your site, further enhancing authority.
Adaptation to Evolving Search Behavior and AI
Search results are witnessing a rise in voice search, mobile browsing, and zero-click searches. Marketers need to optimize for these features to get a competitive edge. The way AI is integrated into digital marketing means that optimizing for AI Overviews and AI Mode is becoming an essential element for future SEO success.
Understanding how natural language is processed using natural language processing models (NLP) like BERT models is crucial. These models are responsible for understanding the context and intent of your content, making your content more or less likely to be featured.
Maximizing SERP Real Estate and Competitive Advantage
By featuring at the top of the SERP, advanced SERP features allow you to occupy more space. This pushes competitors further down and increases your brand’s share of voice. Optimizing for these features is crucial for staying competitive online. The more eyes it gets, the more clicks your page receives.
Diverse Purposes and Benefits Across the Funnel
SERP Features are broadly based on the intent of the query. A search term with an informational query invites SERP features like featured snippets, knowledge panels, and “People Also Ask” boxes, which provide quick answers. Similarly, Navigational queries invite sitelinks that help users find specific pages. Transactional queries provide product listings and local packs businesses for purchases and connecting purposes.
These can be beneficial at all levels of the marketing funnel, from introducing new people to your site to helping those at the bottom of the funnel make final purchasing decisions.
10 Google SERP Features & How to Optimize for Them
1. Featured Snippets
This is the most common SERP Feature you see on the result page. It is used to provide a direct answer to the user’s query in the most concise manner possible. They can appear in the form of paragraphs, lists, tables, or even videos.
How to Show Up on Featured Snippets?
Identify question-based, long-tail keywords that answer “How to” and “What is” queries. Then, research and try to answer those questions in a clear, concise, and direct language. Your answers must not exceed 40-60 words, and they must be present immediately after the question heading. Use structured formatting like lists or tables and appropriate HTML markup to score better on readability for search engine bots.
2. AI Overviews
Formerly known as the Search Generative Experience (SGE), AI Overviews are another advanced SERP feature. This feature is famous for generating high-quality AI-generated summaries. This feature pulls up information from multiple trustworthy websites and creates a summarized section delivering the desired information.
How to Show Up on AI Overviews?
To feature in AI Overviews, focus on creating in-depth content that directly answers user questions. Build a strong online brand presence and implement schema markup like FAQ Page, how-to, and WebPage. This will define relationships, making your content easily digestible and summarizable by AI.
3. Popular Products
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Popular products are the images, prices, ratings, and links of multiple products appearing in a carousel or grid format. This feature allows any buyer to compare products from various brands directly within the SERP.
How to Show Up on Popular Products?
Using a detailed Product Schema Markup is the key to showing up on popular product lists. Use Google Merchant Center and submit your product feed after enabling “free product listings.” Another important way to optimize for this SERP feature is to use high-quality images. You can include relevant keywords in your product titles and descriptions, add customer reviews, and maintain competitive pricing to gain more chances for featuring in popular products.
4. Local Pack
The Local Pack, or map pack, is a type of SERP feature that displays three relevant nearby businesses based on a local search. The results almost always appear at the top or near the top of the SERP and will usually have some combination of your business name, address, phone number, and/or rating.
How to Show Up on Local Pack?
Claim your Google Business Profile, and complete and optimize your information. Make sure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone) is consistent across all directories, and use local keywords naturally within your website content. You can also encourage your customers to leave positive keywords in the reviews they leave for your business, and implement LocalBusiness schema markup to increase visibility.
5. People Also Ask Boxes
Another widely seen SERP Feature is the People Also Ask (PAA) boxes. It shows a list of expandable related questions around a query that users often search. Each dropdown provides a short answer and a link to the source page, and clicking one usually triggers more related questions.
How to Show Up on People Also Ask?
Make sure you use the popular long-tail keywords that are phrased as questions and add them in H2 or H3 header tags, then write simple answers that are conversational and in 40-60 words. Adding dedicated FAQ sections in the content will increase your likelihood of being included in PAA results, too.
6. Rich Snippets
Rich snippets are an advanced SERP feature that displays additional information like star ratings, prices, availability, event times, or images. They present basic product or brand listings with a “formatted” option to consider. They simply present more content or more engaging visuals to consider so that they stand out from ordinary organic search results.
How to Show Up on Rich Snippets?
You need to implement schema markup relevant to the type of content that you are producing, like Product, Review, Recipe, Event, VideoObject, or HowTo, etc. Then, you should ensure that the structured data is a match to the content that your users see on the page. Once you have accomplished those two tasks, you can confirm that structured data is working on the page with Google’s Rich Results Test.
7. Discussions and Forums
The Discussions and Forums feature highlights conversations from platforms like Reddit and Quora. It usually appears for advice-based queries where users want shared experiences or peer-driven insights.
How to Show Up on Discussions and Forums?
Participate in relevant community threads and share valuable, authentic answers without being overly promotional. Add links only if they add real value. Follow each platform’s rules for engagement. You can also build your own forum or community section to gain direct visibility.
8. Image Packs
Image Packs display a set of images in grid or carousel format for queries where visuals are helpful. Clicking an image takes the user to Google Images or the original page.
How to Show Up on Image Packs?
Feature original, high-quality, and relevant visual content. Use descriptive and relevant keywords in the alt text and filename of the images. Optimize image size for speed enhancements. Utilize an image sitemap and use the ImageObject schema to provide Google with a higher level of knowledge about your visual content.
9. Knowledge Panels
Knowledge Panels refer to results that show on the right side of a desktop SERP or the top of a mobile SERP. They contain straightforward facts about a specific person, organization, or company extracted from Google’s Knowledge Graph and other reputable knowledge sources.
How to Show Up on Knowledge Panels?
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Make sure there is factual information found on reputable information sources, like Wikipedia, Crunchbase, or published sources. Claim your Google Business Profile (if a business) and optimize it completely. Utilize structured data (ex., Organization, Person, or Product schema) and include sameAs links to help establish credibility.
10. Video Carousels
Video Carousels are scrollable rows of video results, usually from YouTube, shown for queries with visual or instructional intent. Each snippet includes a title, thumbnail, duration, and uploader details.
How to Show Up on Video Carousels?
Create high-quality, engaging videos that directly address user intent. Host them on YouTube or other trusted platforms. Optimize video titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords. Use the VideoObject schema if embedding videos on your site and include transcripts or timestamps for added context.
How to Track Your Site’s SERP Features
To rank on these advanced features, creating outstanding content is just the beginning. You will also need to effectively track your site’s SERP rankings using professional SEO tools and analytical approaches. This will allow you to monitor how and where your content appears and what actions to take for increased visibility.
1. Use Professional Tools
Use platforms like SEMrush, Afrefs, Moz Pro, SERPWatcher, and Advanced Web Ranking to track SERP features for your target keywords. Add keywords, group them by topic, and monitor when you appear or drop from features.
2. Leverage Google Search Console (GSC)
GSC shows you how your website is performing in rich results. Using this, you can track keyword rankings, CTR, impressions, and any structured data errors in GSC. You can see which queries cause your website to show up in rich features like snippets or image packs, or in video carousels. You can also fix schema issues to keep your website eligible.
3. Measure Key Metrics
Focus on impressions, clicks, CTR, and conversions. Tracking “position zero” or snippet-driven CTR helps evaluate whether SERP features are actually driving valuable traffic. Segment data in Google Analytics to connect traffic with feature-optimized pages.
4. Analyze Competitors
Tools like SEMrush’s Organic Research show which SERP features your competitors dominate. Filtering non-branded keywords helps you uncover opportunities where you can outrank them.
5. Leverage AI Tools
AI agents like Writesonic’s SEO AI Agent scan SERPs, analyze keywords in bulk, and highlight untapped feature opportunities by combining insights from Semrush, Ahrefs, and GSC.
6. Continuous Optimization
SERP features shift often. Regularly update content, A/B test titles, and maintain schema accuracy. Stay updated with Google’s latest features, like AI Overviews to refine your strategy.
How to See Your Competitors’ SERP Features
Understanding your own position on Google SERP is valuable, but analyzing where your competitors are ranking can provide you with valuable insights. As you track your own rankings, track your competitors to identify performance gaps and opportunities for your own site.
Using Semrush’s Organic Research Tool:
Launch the Organic Research Tool.
Simply put in a competing domain, select the location you want to see data for, and hit “Search.”
Click on the “Positions” report and look for the “SERP Features” tab. Here, you’ll see how many SERP features your competition shows up in.
If you don’t want to figure out branded versus non-branded deserving keywords, you can click the “Advanced filters” drop-down, select “Exclude” and then “Keyword type” and finally “Branded” and hit “Apply.” This will show you all of the keywords that don’t include the competitor’s brand name.
After that, you can then sort through and see if there are terms that would be relevant for you to have your competition show up in the SERP features.
You can also sort the data down to a certain type of SERP features (i.e. “Local pack”), allowing you to see how much traffic is coming from the keywords you’re looking at, for example, keywords showing in the local pack features would be preferable keywords if you are a local business as you obtain traffic from any keyword that shows up in the local pack feature.
Using Ahrefs and Other Tools:
Ahrefs has a SERP feature filter, plus a performance to support finding keywords where you rank for some SERP ranking feature (not prominent for a SERP feature), similar to something you’d see in SEMrush.
Others are Moz Pro and SERPWatcher by Mangools, which also track SERP features and show them on their dashboards with keywords. Plus, Advanced Web Ranking can also track specific SERP features at each search engine type.
Start Ranking on SERP Features
The search landscape is no longer ruled by plain blue links. Advanced SERP features now decide who gets seen, trusted, and clicked. Optimizing for these features isn’t optional; it’s the new baseline for modern SEO success.
From featured snippets to AI overviews, every feature represents an opportunity to claim the “position zero,” building authority and control over SERP real estate. The sites that adapt will continue to grow visibility, while those that don’t will see their clicks hijacked by competitors. The next step is clear: optimize, track, and outpace. If you need someone to handle all the SEO work of your business so you can focus on doing business the right way, give Softtrix a call or schedule a free audit call.
FAQs on SERP Features in 2025
SERP features are elements beyond standard links, like snippets, local packs, and video carousels. They boost visibility, brand trust, and traffic. With AI Overviews now common, optimizing for features is key to staying competitive.
- Informational: Featured Snippets, PAA boxes.
- Navigational: Sitelinks, Knowledge Panels.
- Transactional: Local Packs, Shopping results.
- Visual: Image Packs, Video Carousels.
AI Overviews summarize answers directly in search, often reducing clicks. Content must be clear, concise, and intent-focused. AI favors well-structured, authoritative pages.
Critical. Mobile-first design, fast loading (Core Web Vitals), and correct schema markup ensure search engines can index and display content in advanced SERP results.
High E-E-A-T and quality backlinks build authority and trust, making your site more likely to earn features like Knowledge Panels or snippets.
Claim and optimize Google Business Profile, maintain NAP consistency, earn reviews, use local keywords, and implement LocalBusiness schema.
Gurpreet Bhatt
CEO
Gurpreet Bhatt runs Softtrix Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. as CEO and is an accomplished expert in the field of SEO. Using his knowledge of Industry and SEO,
Gurpreet has earned Softtrix a prominent place in digital marketing. Under his leadership, the agency has accomplished notable goals, one of which is being recognized by
Google as a top PPC provider in India. Not only a skilled marketer, Gurpreet is recognized for being honest, hard-working, and passionate about his work.
He commits to helping his peers, colleagues, subordinates and overall industry, joining in discussions and suggesting tips to raise the standards of SEO and digital marketing.
