SERP analysis coupled with your keyword research is a staple of any modern SEO campaign. <\/p>\n
Analyzing search intent is already a process within this. But when it comes to SERP analysis, all too often I see reports that stop at classifying a result by its intent \u2013 and that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
We know that for queries with multiple common interpretations, Google works to provide a diversified results page with differentiations often being:<\/p>\n
And then when planning content we might develop a strategy based on Google ranking some informational pieces on Page 1, so we\u2019ll create informational pieces too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We may also use a tool to \u201caggregate\u201d metrics on the first page and create artificial keyword difficulty scores.<\/p>\n
This is where this strategy falls down, and in my opinion, will continue to show diminishing returns in the future.<\/p>\n
This is because the majority of these analysis pieces don\u2019t acknowledge or take into account source type. I personally believe that this is because the Search Quality Rater Guidelines<\/a> that have led to E-A-T<\/a>, YMYL<\/a>, and page quality becoming a major part of our day-to-day workings don\u2019t actually use the term source type, but it does talk about assessing and analyzing sources for things like misinformation or bias.<\/p>\n When we start to look at source types, we also need to look at and understand the concepts of quality thresholds and topical authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019ve talked about quality thresholds, and how they relate to indexing in previous articles I\u2019ve written for Search Engine Land:<\/p>\n But when we relate this to SERP analysis, we can understand how and why Google is choosing the websites and elements it is to form the results page and also achieve an idea of how viable it may be to effectively rank for certain queries.<\/p>\n Having a better understanding of ranking viability helps with forecasting potential traffic opportunities and then estimating leads\/revenue based on how your site converts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Processing\u2026Please wait.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n
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