The Importance of Tracking Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) — And How To Do It

Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) contain all kinds of important information for marketers, and over time, that information changes. Links get reshuffled, new content appears, and new features are added. Your position in SERPs may change, too.

By tracking changes in SERPs, you can improve your own page rank, increase organic traffic, and even boost conversions. SERPs tell you how your content is performing, what your competitors are doing, and what users are looking for. 

To stay competitive, marketers need to watch for and understand these changes. That’s why monitoring SERPs is central to how we approach SEO at Eleven Writing. 

Keep reading to learn all about SERPs, why and how to track them, and what to do with the insights you gain. 

Key Takeaways

1. Tracking SERPs gives you real-world insights into your SEO content performance
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2. Tracking specific keywords helps you identify threats like rising competitors and shifting search intent
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3. SERP Features like AI Overviews and Featured Snippets are important parts of the SERP page, full of interesting opportunities 
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4. SERPs fluctuate constantly in response to factors including Google algorithm changes and newly published content—so regular monitoring is essential
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5. Integrating SERP tracking into regular SEO reporting helps you know when to create and update content for the best possible performance

What are Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), and why should you track them? 

Search Engine Results Pages or SERPs are how search engines like Google deliver content to users. Each SERP contains a collection of links, images, videos, maps and other features like AI Overview and Featured Snippets that appear when you search for something on Google.

SERPs are designed to satisfy a user’s search intent. That is, to deliver exactly what information the user wants when they make their search. Results are ordered and formatted to be as useful and relevant to the user as possible. 

Different types of searches and search intents therefore generate different kinds of results.

For example, if you search for ‘Vienna’ you’ll get photos, maps, weather forecasts, travel information, a knowledge pane, and links to sources like Wikipedia, TripAdvisor and tourism sites. 

However, search ‘project management software’ and you’ll find an AI Overview explaining what the term means, sponsored and organic links to major software providers, and some product comparison articles. 

SERPs are completely unique to search terms, with features and information selected by Google to best meet what it thinks its users want to know most. Even within the same industry, search terms driven by different search intents can generate significantly different results. 

Why is it important to track SERPs?

Securing top-ranking positions on SERPs for keywords that matter to your business is the best way to drive organic traffic to your website. That’s the goal of SEO: to increase organic traffic from search engines. 

To do that, you need to understand your position in the SERP and everything going on around you. 

Your place in the SERP

As SERPs change, your position in the SERP can change, too.

It could go up (that’s good 👍) or down (that’s bad 👎), and you could gain a SERP Feature ( 👍) or lose one ( 👎).

Tracking this movement is important, because it allows you to respond accordingly—fixing issues that have caused your rank to decrease and doubling down on successes that have caused it to increase. 

This aspect of tracking SERPs is also known as “rank tracking”, because the focus is on your rank or position in the SERP. 

The SERP as a whole

SERPs shows you what Google is prioritising and, by extension, what users are looking for.

Therefore, tracking SERPs helps you understand the changing goals and behaviours of your target audience. 

Changes to SERPs also impact your competitors, and understanding how and why their position has (or hasn’t) changed is just as important.

For example, a competitor whose page is steadily climbing the SERPs could overtake you before long—so it’s worth keeping an eye on that movement before it becomes a real problem.

By identifying changes in SERPs early on, you can act quickly, before your rank suffers, or capitalise on a new trend before others notice it. 

The bottom-line is this: Understanding how and why SERPs change allows you to improve or maintain our own position, understand shifts in user intent and behaviour, and make sound decisions well ahead of the competition. 

SERP Features

SERPs are more than just a collection of links — they also contain “SERP Features”: additional on-page elements meant to help the user find what they need as quickly as possible.

These include shoppin results,maps, image carousels, news, summaries, and AI Overviews.

SERP Features are constantly changing and being refined in different ways—from which features are displayed, to the order in which they’re presented, and which sources they use.

They’re fiercely coveted positions in the SERP, so tracking these features for your keywords of interest is just as important as tracking your position in the links. 

Many SEO tools, including Semrush and Ahrefs, now have features that show which SERP Features are triggered by which keywords . You can also check manually just by searching for those terms yourself or use an API like DataForSEO. 

[accordion title="Organic search results (Blue links)"]

Organic search results are the classic blue page links that come up when you search for something. 

It used to be that ranking #1 in organic search results for your target keyword meant automatically appearing at the top of the SERPs—but with the introduction of new SERP Features , that’s no longer guaranteed. 

That’s not to say that ranking well in these blue links isn’t still very important. Even with the arrival of AI Overviews, they still drive lots of traffic to websites.

Plus, Google often selects sources for SERP Features from high-ranking pages, so ranking well here is still important for keeping your content visible. 

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[accordion title="AI Overviews"]

AI Overviews are summaries generated by Google Gemini that include information from a few top-ranking and high-authority sources—all of which are listed in the Source attribution panel on the right. 

AI Overviews mostly appear for informational queries, where they can directly answer a question or provide a definition. They’re increasingly being used to provide responses to more complex queries too.

Because more and more users are getting answers from AI Overviews directly on-page, fewer of them are clicking on links to other websites. Nonetheless, appearing in the Source panel and in the AI Overview itself is still a worthwhile endeavour. Plus, AI Overviews incorporate a broad range of sources, some of which don’t even appear in the Top 20 search results, which makes it easier for some brands to reach the top of the SERP.[

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[accordion title="Feature Snippets"]

Like AI Overviews, featured snippets give a direct answer to a search query, but the information is taken directly from a single, high-ranking source. They usually take the form of short paragraphs, lists or tables. Featured Snippet Image Packs (on the right) do the same, just with pictures.

Featured snippets aren’t static. They change to reflect what Google deems to be the most relevant answer to the search term, and shifts can often be seen when new, more relevant, content is published or an algorithm update is rolled out. 

[/accordion]

[accordion title="Knowledge Panels"]

Displayed for notable entities including places, companies, people, films and TV, knowledge panels are generated by Google’s Knowledge Graph. Not every entity has one, though, and whether one appears for your name depends entirely on Google.

In order to increase your chances of having a knowledge panel, it’s worth making sure that your organisation has a presence in places like Wikipedia and Crunchbase, which Knowledge Graph regularly uses as sources. 

[/accordion]

[accordion title="Sponsored Listings (Ads)"]

Sponsored listings are ranked based on auction bids for target keywords via Google Ads, as well as ad relevance and user targeting. 

Sponsored links are typically displayed at the top of the SERPs, though Google does experiment with their placement on the page - and although they generally have a lower CTR than organic search results, they increase brand visibility and awareness.

[/accordion]

[accordion title="Image and Video Carousels"]

Carousels are a selection of relevant images or videos, selected based on image and video indexing and metadata, as well as relevance scoring. Carousels are gaining greater visibility in the SERPs - often appearing high on the page when they’re triggered. 

There has also been a rise in image packs appearing at the top of search results (particularly on mobile devices). 

[/accordion]

[accordion title="Shopping Results"]

Shopping results show purchasable items related to a product-focused search term. They’re pulled from product feeds that are submitted to Google Merchant Center and ranked by relevance, bids, availability, and product quality signals.

Google has recently shifted its approach to shopping results - giving lower priority to sponsored listings, and instead ranking results based on organic features like product relevance.  

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[accordion title="People Also Ask (PAA)"]

PAA results are designed to help users further explore or refine their searches. Google’s machine learning algorithms generate a list of related queries and featured snippets that are closely linked to the original search term. 

[/accordion]

[accordion title="Others"]

You can also find news carousels, related searches, and other features specific to certain search types and niches (hotels packs, events, etc). Take a look at SERanking’s guide for a comprehensive list. 

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Why SERPs Change—and How to Come Out on Top

There are a number of factors which can cause SERPs to change, both in terms of which pages rank highest and which SERP Features appear in results.

So, which are the most important factors to be aware of—and how should you respond to them? 

Google discovers new content 

SERPs change when a piece of content has been published or updated which Google decides is better than what’s already out there. That decision can be driven by several things—how well the content communicates all-important EEAT signals, how well it satisfies search intent, and how trustworthy Google judges the publishing website to be (its domain authority). 

What to look for

If your Google search ranking slips and your target search term brings up new (or recently edited) results in the top spot(s), it suggests that Google has decided this new content is a better fit for their users than yours. 

How should you react?

In order to keep your content at the top of the results page, you need to be putting out content that is qualitatively better than everything else out there. There are a couple of ways to approach this:

• Perform an audit of the new content 
  
  ‍Are newly ranking results more comprehensive than yours? Do they cover the topic from more angles or in greater depth? Is it more actionable or better structured? More up-to-date? Does it include helpful elements like videos, images, infographics, tables, or charts? Is it more human or personable? Who is the author—do they have a strong profile in the field?
  
  Google does its very best to push “better” content to the top, so our goal here is to (a) understand why Google feels this piece does a better job of answering user intent than your piece and then (b) update our content accordingly.
  
  Think about the user experience of somebody landing on the content that’s displaced you versus your own page, and go from there. Focus on making your content actionable,  quick and easy to read, and engaging. Answer the user’s question quickly and simply, using formatting, like lists and tables, and visual elements, like videos and infographics, to improve the experience.
  
  Pay especially close attention to EEAT: Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness, which are all factors Google considers important for users. 

• Think about what you—and only you—can bring to the table
  
  ‍Making your content stand out in 2025 means bringing as much value as possible—and drawing on unique experience and knowledge to do it. So how can you achieve what Google is calling information gain? The right approach for you will depend on your niche and target users, but here are a few approaches worth considering:
  
  • Create original research by running your own surveys or analyzing whatever proprietary data your company collects
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  • Conduct expert interviews from subject-matter experts and stakeholders within your company, then add those unique insights to your content. Build this process into the core of your content marketing strategy to ensure every piece is unique and adds value
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  • Create unique case studies based on projects you’ve been part of, diving into real-world details that go beyond the broad strokes
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  • Create and add unique, purpose-made media assets—videos, images, infographics, graphs, etc. Whatever will help your content stand out and bring something new to the table. 
• ‍Continue building your domain authority
  
  ‍Domain Authority (DA) or Domain Rating (DR) isn’t a metric used by Google, but it represents an important concept in SEO that Google does use. Whatever you call it, websites that have a greater number of links from high-authority websites tend to do better in SERPs than those that don’t.
  
  This can be a particularly difficult hurdle to overcome for new companies, but improving your Domain Authority is critical to performing well in SERPs. Develop a strategy focused on becoming an authoritative website to bolster your content from changes in SERPs due to the appearance of new content. 

Google updates its algorithm 

Google uses algorithm updates to change the way that it ranks and presents search results. Keeping up to date with this information means keeping up to date with what Google wants to see in your content.

Overall, Google makes thousands of changes every year. A few of these are big, core updates, but many more are tiny, incremental changes that don’t get their press release. 

Keeping up to date with these small alterations can feel challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. 

What to look for

Google’s core algorithm updates happen on average 3 or 4 times a year, and always make the news.

You can see a list of past updates and watch for new ones on the Google Search Status Dashboard.  

What to do about it

• See our dedicated blog article on Bouncing Back From A Google Algorithm Update: A Step-by-Step Guide. 

Changing search intent 

Search intent—what a user really wants to know when they search for something online—changes over time as language shifts, different products and companies appear, and new trends emerge. 

For example, if you searched for “LLM” on Google two years ago, you would have found results relating to a Masters of Law degree, whereas in 2025, you’ll get information about Large Language Models (like ChatGPT).

That’s because in 2023, Large Language Models were not widely known or understood—so the majority of people looking for LLMs weren’t referring to them—they wanted to know about law degrees instead. 

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Search intent can also change more subtly as people shift from looking for information about something (eg, ‘what is project management software’) to a more transactional intent (eg, ‘best project management software’).

‍This is important to know because, if the search intent of your SERP is shifting, you need to shift too—not only to maintain strong content performance, but also to understand how commercial opportunities within your market might be changing.

What to look for

The best way to identify these changes early on and take action is to regularly track the SERPs of your target keywords. 

Look for new content in SERPs where key terms have different meanings from the traditional or intended one. 

Sometimes Google isn’t exactly sure what the user is looking for, so it serves up content that matches multiple user intents. These kinds of SERPs can change quickly and suddenly. 

Pay attention to the news, too—both generally and in your industry or region—and how people are using terms on platforms where your audience hangs out, such as LinkedIn and Reddit or Instagram and TikTok. Especially on social media platforms, new terms and new definitions for old terms can emerge quickly and overtake SERPs rapidly. 

What to do about it

Once you’ve identified a change in search intent, there are a few things you can do to ensure that you adapt your SEO content strategy to match: 

• Update your content
  
  If your page is ranking well for a keyword, but it no longer satisfies the dominant search intent, its visibility will slip over time. Updating content to reflect what users are currently looking for can address this challenge, and can be done in several ways. These might be changes to format, like transforming a product page into a how-to guide, or changes to the angle you’re approaching it from, or extending or tightening the scope of your content.
  
  
• Pivot and target new keywords
  
  Sometimes, a term’s intent changes so drastically that your content no longer fits at all (e.g., “LLM” shifting from law to AI). In these cases, the best option can be to  identify more specific, long-tail keywords and adjacent keywords where your original content is still relevant, and focus your content production there.
  
  
• Create new content for the new intent
  
  If the new search intent is still relevant to your business, then consider creating new content to align with it. This can open up new traffic streams as well as maintaining your relevance and visibility.
  
  
• Identify opportunities for competitive entry
  
  If you spot a competitor who has dominated search results for your target keyword, but who has not yet adapted to changing search intent, then you have an opportunity. Publish highly targeted content that aligns with new user expectations in order to outrank them before they adapt.
  
  
• Use trend tracking to predict changes to intent
  
  Keep track of sources like Google Trends, Reddit discussions, and internal search data to look for early signs of evolving intent before it appears in the SERPs—and be ahead of the game in creating content to match new intent.
  
  
• Optimize for mixed-intent SERPs
  
  Some search terms lead to SERPSs that meet multiple different intents. If your target keyword is bringing up a range of different results (guides, product pages, videos etc), then create content which covers multiple angles—or create multiple pages to adapt to each possible need.
  
  
• Experiment with different intents

You don’t have to constantly race to keep up with changing search intent—something you can lead it. Create and test content that targets different types of intent (e.g., publishing a guide, comparison, and checklist all optimised for the same search query) to highly emerging patterns before they’re reflected in the SERPs. This helps you stay ahead of competitors, spot new opportunities early, and even influence how users and search engines interpret a topic over time.

Seasonality, current events and crisis responses

SERPs fluctuate based on current events. For example, search for ‘fashion trends’ in May, and Google will prioritise results about a spring and summer wardrobe, but search for it in November and you’ll see a lot of Christmas party outfit ideas. 

You can also see changes in the type of content prioritised by SERPs around major sporting events, significant holidays, cultural events, and even major crises like natural disasters and pandemics. During COVID19, for example, searches relating to exercising at home rose dramatically. 

What to do about it

• Create a flexible content calendar that reflects seasonal changes
  
  If you’re working in a vertical that is subject to seasonal changes or events, it’s important to have a content calendar that reflects seasonally dominant keywords at all times of the year. Building a degree of flexibility into your content creation plan will also allow you to respond to events and changes without disrupting your workflow.
  
  
• Don’t rely on SERPs alone to signal changes in interests or behaviour
  
  The world moves faster than Google. Pay attention to industry news and be prepared to proactively update your content before SERP changes.
  
  
• Regularly audit your content for past dates and terms
  
  Nothing signals to Google and users that your content is no longer relevant like having last year’s date in the title or a reference to Covid-19 in the introduction. Schedule regular audits to go through your content and update dates and references to past, current, and future events properly.
  
  Evergreen content in particular must be updated regularly to stay current, even if nothing has changed with the subject matter itself, you may still be making references, offering examples, or using case studies that aren’t as topical as they could be.
  
  

User behaviour metrics 

The 2024 Google Search algorithm leaks suggest that rank may be influenced by user behaviour in the form of clicks, bounces (quickly leaving a page without interacting with it), and dwell time (how long users stay on a page or website).

While Google never officially confirmed this, there are strong indications that these metrics are used to gauge essential factors like content relevance and user satisfaction, and that SERPs are adjusted accordingly.  

What to do about it

There’s nothing special you need to do about changes related to behaviour metrics—all of the advice we’ve given above will work here, too. If these factors do influence page rank, then 

SERP tracking tools and how to use them

A lot of SERP tracking can be done manually (and completely free) simply by googling your focus search terms, seeing what comes up, and digging through the best performing results. 

However, tools can make the process smoother, giving you a dashboard and exportable results, and making it much easier to track and compare performance over time. Here are some types of tools worth considering:

• Rank Trackers
  
  Dedicated rank tracking tools like Semrush Position Tracking, Ahrefs Rank Tracker and Advanced Web Tracking are highly efficient for tracking SERP performance over time, making them a useful tool. However, lthough only track manually added keywords, rather than also pulling data on similar terms and you can only see your own position in the SERP—not the whole SERP, which, as we've seen, is just as important and revealing.

• Keyword tools
  
  Keyword tools like Ahrefs Keywords Explorer and the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool can give you insight into a variety of SERP-related information, including where you are ranking in organic search results, and which SERP Features have been triggered for your target keywords. 

• Custom Tracking with APIs
  
  You can build your own SERP tracking system using APIs like DataForSEO to automatically gather information on search page rankings. While it requires a bit of technical knowhow, this allows you to pull more specific data, build your own dashboard, and integrate SERP tracking into an existing system.
  
  It's also a lot less expensive than using a ready-made rank tracker.
  

Tracking tools can help you to get a deeper understanding of your SERPs. Below, we explore a few ways you can use Ahrefs to monitor SERP changes, but you can achieve the same effect with Semrush, Moz, and custom-built solutions. 

Track changes in position over time

Ahrefs lets you compare how you and others are ranking for target keyword across two different dates—allowing you to quickly detect keyword gains (when your position in the SERPs rises) and drops. 

By comparing two different dates, you can also pinpoint when ranking changes took place, giving you a starting point to explore potential reasons for the change. 

You can also view this information in a Keyword Position History Graph, which helps you to quickly spot declining keywords and pages that might need optimising.

Understand SERP volatility

Ahrefs’ Position History comparison graph shows position changes in a SERP over time. 

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This graph shows that the SERP is particularly volatile, with different websites gaining and losing positions frequently over the past 30 days. If this is the case for your target search terms, it can help you to prioritise which SERPs need regular monitoring for changes. It also suggests that content freshness and regular updates may be a significant influence on rankings for this particular SERP.

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The Semrush Search Fluctuation Index also enables you to check how widespread SERP changes are on any given day, and can be filtered by category. The ‘high range’ shown above suggests a lot of changes, and could be a sign of an unannounced algorithm update. This is useful to keep in mind when timing content releases, as publishing at a time of lower SERP volatility allows you to better analyse and optimise for Google’s latest features and ranking criteria. 

Compare SERPs for the same keyword at different points in time

Ahrefs lets you see what search engine results pages for your target keyword looked like on two different dates. In the image above you can see a SERP similarity of 46 (out of 100), which suggests a lot of fluctuation. You can also see that, in the space of a month, the featured snippet has been removed from the top five results, increasing the position of the MarketerMilk article. This allows you to spot potential reasons for fluctuating rankings and traffic volumes, and can also point to changes in search intent. 

Compare SERPs for similar terms at different points in time

Ahrefs allows you to compare SERPs for different keywords, with the option to also select different dates. This can show how features and rankings differ for similar terms—in the image above, you can see that there are 4 common results that appear in the top 10 results for both terms.  

This can help you to catch and resolve keyword cannibalisation—when you’ve got multiple pieces of content competing for the same keyword—and can help you to decide whether you need to create separate content for each term. 

When Should You Track SERPs?

In order to maintain a solid overview of your SERPs and how they are changing, it’s best to track SERPs regularly. It should be a regular part of your SEO reporting and content strategy—something you tend to on a monthly basis. 

There are also some times when it’s helpful to do an extra check in: 

After a significant decrease in traffic

If you notice a drop in traffic, tracking SERPs can highlight possible reasons why. Reviewing competing content shows where you might need to improve. If traffic has gone down but your ranking is still high, then checking for new SERP Features or content decay can help you to understand why fewer people are reaching you. 

After a Google algorithm update

SERPs often change significantly after Google algorithm updates. These changes can be general—such as the increased prioritisation of user generated content that has seen Reddit threads soar to the first page of a lot of search results. However, they can also be localised within your niche—such as the overhaul of health-related results that shifted focus onto a core of trusted sites. So make sure to put aside some time to explore your SERPs as soon as possible after a big roll-out. 

• Check out our article on How to bounce back from a Google algorithm update. 

Before and after publishing or updating key content

Track SERPs before publishing to help you to plan and shape high-performing content, as well as to provide context for the performance of your new article. After publication, regularly monitor SERP performance as part of your content reporting, to better understand KPIs like traffic and conversions, and to spot opportunities for improvement. 

In Summary

SERP tracking is an essential part of understanding content performance over time. It can also give you valuable insights into your competitive landscape and what users are looking for in your niche, and can be used to shape a high-performing, dynamic content strategy that yields real-world results. 

Looking for help building your content strategy, or crafting content made with SERPs in mind? Get in touch to chat with one of our experts. 

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