Before you write a page you want to rank, look at the page you want to rank on: Google's results for your keyword. The search results page (SERP) shows what kind of content Google currently considers the best answer, how competitive the topic is, and how much of the page is taken up by features other than the classic blue links. This guide walks through what to look for.
This guide is WriterFlowLab's editorial advice. Descriptions of Google's search features link to Google's own documentation. You can check any keyword with our free SERP checker.
Why look at the results first
Keyword tools tell you how many people search and how hard a keyword might be. The results page tells you what those people actually get. It answers questions no metric can:
- What format works for this search: guides, lists, tools, product pages or videos?
- Which sites are you up against?
- What does every top result cover, and what do they miss?
- How much attention will organic results get next to AI Overviews, ads and other features?
Step 1: Check the results for your audience's location and device
Results vary by country, language and device, and they are personalised. Checking in your own browser shows results influenced by your location and history. The SERP checker retrieves results for a chosen country on desktop or mobile, so you can see a more neutral view of the market you are writing for.
Step 2: Identify the dominant intent and format
Look at the top 10 organic results and note what type each one is. If most are step-by-step guides, the search has informational intent and a guide is the right format. If most are product or category pages, people want to buy, and an article will struggle. Mixed results usually mean Google is serving several intents, which gives you more options.
Also note the angle: are the top results beginner-friendly overviews, detailed technical references, or opinion pieces? Matching the expected depth matters as much as matching the format.
Step 3: Study titles and snippets
Titles and snippets show how ranking pages frame the topic. Look for repeated words (such as "template", "examples" or "for beginners") that signal what searchers respond to. Google's documentation explains that it uses several sources to create title links, and that snippets are primarily created from the page content itself, sometimes using the meta description.
Use this to write a title that is accurate and specific, not a copy of everyone else's.
Step 4: Note the search features
Many results pages include more than organic links. Google's visual elements gallery describes features such as sitelinks, image and video results, related searches and the related questions group, also called "People also ask". Others you may see include featured snippets, local packs, top stories and shopping results.
- People also ask questions are a ready-made list of subtopics your page could answer.
- Related searches suggest adjacent topics and wording.
- Videos near the top suggest that video content, or a page with an embedded video, may suit the topic.
- Local packs mean the search has local intent, which a general article will rarely satisfy.
The SERP checker lists these features separately from the organic positions, so you can see both at a glance.
Step 5: Account for AI Overviews
For some searches, Google shows an AI Overview: an AI-generated summary with links to supporting pages. Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond normal SEO best practices, and that a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet to be a supporting link.
If an AI Overview appears, expect fewer clicks to organic results for simple factual questions. Pages that offer depth, original examples, tools or experience the summary cannot replace tend to be more resilient.
Step 6: Size up the competition
Look at who ranks. A page one full of very large, well-known sites is a harder target than one with smaller blogs and forums. For a closer look:
- Check the keyword's estimated difficulty with the keyword difficulty checker.
- Look up a ranking domain with the competitor analyzer to see how strong it is overall.
- Check a ranking page's links with the backlink checker.
Step 7: Find the gap
Finally, read the top few results as a searcher would. What does every page cover? That is the baseline your page needs. What is missing, outdated, vague or hard to follow? That gap is your chance to be more useful: clearer steps, better examples, an up-to-date detail, or a tool or template the others do not offer.
A quick SERP checklist
- Dominant intent and page format
- Expected depth and angle
- Common words in titles
- Search features present, including AI Overviews
- Strength of the ranking sites
- Gaps you can fill
Next steps
Run your next target keyword through the SERP checker and work through the checklist before you outline the page. To find keywords to check, start with how to do keyword research for free.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Visual Elements gallery of Google Search.
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website.
- Google Search Central: Influencing title links in Google Search.
- Google Search Central: Control your snippets in search results.