Glossary /Foundations
SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
The page a search engine returns for a query, now assembled from ads, AI summaries, packs and features rather than ten blue links.
A SERP is what the engine actually shows for a query. The phrase survives from an era when the answer was a numbered list of ten links, which is no longer what most commercial queries return. A single results page now mixes paid results, an AI-generated summary, a featured snippet, a local pack, video, images, "people also ask" and the organic listings underneath all of it.
This matters for planning because rank and visibility have come apart. Position three on a query whose top half is an AI summary and a product carousel is a different amount of attention than position three on a query with none of that. Reading the SERP before choosing a target is the difference between a keyword that can send traffic and one that cannot.
The composition of a SERP is also the clearest signal of what the engine thinks the query means. A results page full of comparison articles is telling you the intent is research, no matter how commercial the phrase looks.