By Mehdi HassanWhat is a SERP?
A SERP is the search engine results page: the full page of results returned for one query. The term covers everything on it, from paid ads at the top to the organic results, the boxes in between and the related searches at the bottom.
No two SERPs look the same. The layout changes with the query, the searcher's location and device, and what Google thinks the person wants. "What is a brand sprint" and "web design agency near me" produce completely different pages. It's one of the core terms in our SEO and AEO glossary.
What SERP features appear in 2026?
SERP features are the results that aren't standard blue links. In 2026 the most important are AI Overviews, which write an answer above the results, and AI Mode, a separate conversational search tab. Google's own AI features documentation explains how sites appear in both.
SERP feature | What it shows | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
A generated answer with cited sources | Be the source it cites | |
AI Mode | A chat-style answer on its own tab | Same content work, different surface |
Featured snippet | One page's answer quoted in a box | Answer the question in 40 to 60 words |
People also ask | Expandable related questions | Mirror them in your headings and FAQ |
Knowledge panel | Facts about a brand or entity | Keep your brand facts consistent everywhere |
Sitelinks | Extra links under a brand result | Clear navigation and page titles help |
Ads | Paid results, usually at the top | They push organic results down |
Videos, images, local pack | Rich media and map results | Relevant only for some queries |
What does a real B2B SERP look like?
A real B2B SERP usually mixes three kinds of results: brand results, vendor pages and answer features. Search a well-known software brand such as Figma and you'll typically see its homepage with sitelinks, a knowledge panel and news. Search a category question and the page fills with an AI Overview, People also ask and vendor guides instead.
Brand queries for smaller companies work the same way. A search for a studio's name should show its own site first, then third-party profiles such as a Contra or LinkedIn page. Those profiles matter because they confirm the brand exists beyond its own site, which is the idea behind entity SEO.
Hypothetical example: reading a SERP before writing
For example, suppose you plan an article on "saas onboarding checklist". You search it and find an AI Overview listing steps, a People also ask box with five questions, and the top results all formatted as numbered checklists.
That SERP tells you what to build: a page that opens with a direct answer, uses a numbered list, and covers the People also ask questions in an FAQ. Writing a 4,000-word opinion essay for that query would fight the format Google has already chosen.
How do SERP features change clicks?
SERP features answer more questions directly on the page, so fewer searches end in a click. Ahrefs found the top organic result's click-through rate is 58% lower when an AI Overview shows, up from 34.5% in its 2025 study. That's the core of zero-click search.
The clicks that remain come from people further along, which means the page they land on has to convert. Our guide to designing landing pages for visitors from ChatGPT covers what those visitors need, and structuring content for AI search shows how to become the cited source.
