Optimizing For SERP Features: 5 Advanced Strategies to Stay Ahead in SERPs (Plus Pro Tips)

Intro

Looking for more ways to get higher rankings and appear in Google’s SERP features?

While grabbing these coveted spots takes intent and skill, there are several strategies you can implement to encourage Google to showcase your content.

Curious to learn what they are?

Keep reading to discover five SEO techniques you can use to optimize for SERP features and stay ahead of the competition. Be sure to stick around ‘til the end for additional pro tips!

1. Don’t forget to optimize your website and landing pages

In today’s advanced SEO landscape, it's equally vital to optimize your website, web pages, and landing pages for SERP features.

Take, for instance, StudioSuits, a distinguished brand renowned for its custom men's suits and pants. Its meticulous approach to optimizing its linen suit collection page has reaped impressive rewards.

By tailoring content to win SERP features, such as the Image Pack, StudioSuits now occupies larger SERP real estate.

Screenshot by Ioana

When users enter the search query "natural linen suit," they’re greeted with a glimpse of thumbnail images at the very top of the organic SERP results showcasing StudioSuits' elegant offerings.

This not only piques searchers’ curiosity but also significantly improves clickthrough rates (CTR), ultimately driving more users to its page.

To follow suit (no pun intended 😉), be sure to optimize your website and any other online page you’ve created with relevant, long-tail keywords and semantic terms.

2. Befriend augmented data analytics

Another strategy to stay ahead in the SERPs is to leverage data analytics to optimize your website performance, content assets, and user experience.

Data analytics can help you understand your audience, identify keywords, measure results, and improve your SEO strategy.

However, data analytics can also be complex and time-consuming, especially if you have to deal with large and diverse data sets.

That’s why it’s important to consider using augmented analytics, a new approach that combines artificial intelligence and machine learning with human insight to simplify and automate data analysis.

Augmented analytics can help you generate insights faster, easier, and more accurately. This makes it a prime learning source you can use to highly tailor your SEO strategy. For example, you can use augmented analytics to discover search intent, analyze user behavior, optimize content, and monitor SEO performance.

3. Optimize for a high content score when producing content

Whether you’re writing a single blog post or an entire Knowledge Base, you can encourage Google to rank your pieces higher than your competitors if you optimize them for a higher content score.

To streamline the process, start by choosing target keywords that have a high search volume and low competition. Simply enter your target keyword into a Keyword Overview tool to examine the associated keyword difficulty score.

For example, Campus.edu, a community college, strategically employs the long-tail keyword "associate degree in business" as the focal point of its online visibility. In the following image, you can see this keyword has a high search volume but low competition, which makes it increasingly easier to rank for compared to other terms.

Screenshot by Ioana

Once you know which main keyword to target in your upcoming piece, use a search engine optimization tool to examine the ideal target content score.

But don’t stop there. Be sure to also see what scores your competitors have received for the same topic.

Your goal? Exceed the average score as much as possible.

Screenshot by Ioana

To kick this tip up a notch, try to hit a 100% content score — but there’s a caveat here. If you’re going to aim for such a robust score, you may need to lengthen your content so you can naturally fit in the semantic keywords. Otherwise, you may be at risk for keyword stuffing, which is a big problem for readability and Google.

Continue following this approach to progressively improve your search engine rankings.

4. Apply Google’s E-E-A-T principle

The importance of high-quality content in SEO has steadily increased, particularly for achieving visibility in Google's SERPs.

To thrive in this competitive environment, the demand for exceptional content has never been more crucial.

That’s why we recommend applying the E-E-A-T principle, a concept that Google uses to evaluate the quality and credibility of a website or content.

E-E-A-T stands for:

• Experience
• Expertise
• Authoritativeness
• Trustworthiness

To boost your online presence and rank higher in search results, make sure your content reflects these attributes.

This means crafting content that not only imparts valuable information but also distinguishes itself through originality, subject-matter expertise, and well-substantiated references.

For instance, Matchr, a company specializing in HR solutions, applies the E-E-A-T principle when producing content about HRIS software.

(Image Source)

Its relevant content and authentic online reviews align with Google's preferences. Combined with an effective backlinking strategy, Matchr showcases how content excellence can translate into higher search engine results.

For instance, if you search “Best HRIS of 2023”, you’ll notice the above piece is ranked in the top 10 organic search results at the time of this writing:

Screenshot by Ioana

And for good reason.

Not only did Matchr optimize for a high content score, but it also:

• Reviewed some of the best HRIS systems available
• Provided easy-to-read summaries for each solution
• Added skimmable bulleted lists after each summary to help the reader focus on the key benefits of each option
• Added an image to accompany each option, along with a link to learn more about the solution
• Answer frequently-asked questions (FAQs), such as “What Is HRIS?” and “What Does an HRIS Do?”
• Provided a “How To Select The Best HRIS System” section with six simple steps
• Offered software matching to help the reader alleviate overwhelm and focus on the best solution for their specific needs
• Included trust elements at the end of the article

As you can tell, _Matchr went above and beyond to provide value and tailored solutions for its ideal client. _

By following in its footsteps, you can do your due diligence to get your content assets ranked higher in the SERPs and‌ featured.

And speaking of Google SERP features …

5. Aim for featured snippets

There’s no formula for landing a featured snippet. But there are measures you can take to encourage Google to promote your content as a snippet, pack, or other relevant SERP feature.

One of the simplest ways to do so is to add an FAQ section to every content asset you create.

But not just any FAQ section …

We’re referring to a section you create based on the “More to ask” and “More searches” sections for your target keyword.

Here’s an example of a “More to ask” section for the search query “remote work software”:

Screenshot by Ioana

And here’s an example of a “More searches” section for the same search query:

Screenshot by Ioana

Based on these sections, some FAQs you can answer when writing a piece about remote work software include:

• What software is best for remote work?
• What software do remote jobs use?
• What systems support remote working?
• What is a remote working tool?
• What are the most successful remote companies?
• What are some free remote work software options?
• What is the best remote work software?
• What work-from-home tracking software can I use?
• What are the top 10 remote working tools?
• What are some of the best remote working platforms?

While this particular search term focuses on more “What” questions, the types of questions you’ll answer will vary depending on the keyword you’re targeting.

The important part? _Make sure to provide concise answers to FAQs. _

Not only do direct answers give you a better chance of landing a featured snippet, but they’re also key for people who perform search queries using a mobile device or voice search assistant.

When using a voice bot, like Alexa or Bard, or using Google on a mobile device, searchers are looking for one main thing: Quick answers to their questions.

But there are a few other tips you can implement to get a better chance of landing a SERP feature, including:

*Pro Tip 1: Don’t forget to plan for voice SEO and mobile SEO when strategizing your keyword plan. Increasingly more users are turning to voice and mobile to perform searches, and while it’s easy to assume the use cases are the same, the truth is people use search differently on each device. If you own a brick-and-mortar business or deliver items or services locally, you must apply local SEO principles to your content and web pages.

*Pro Tip 2: Refresh your content assets as often as possible. Google wants the freshest content, especially if you cover information that’s always changing, for instance, “supply chain topics” in the ecommerce industry.

*Pro Tip 3: Include engaging visuals and rich media assets that break up large chunks of text and add value to your content. Think explainer videos, screenshots, thumbnails, interactive content, and infographics

Wrap up

Optimizing for SERP features may not have a one-size-fits-all approach.

But if you focus on infusing as much value and helpfulness into your content as possible, you can encourage Google and other search engines to feature your content at the top of the SERPs.

Remember, critical factors that affect your ranking positions and ability to land SERP features include:

• Whether or not your website, web pages, and landing pages are optimized for relevant long-tail keywords and secondary terms
• How well you apply data to refine your SEO approach
• Your content scores in comparison to your competitors’ scores
• Your experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness
• How valuable your content is
• How pointed and concise your answers are to common user queries and FAQs
• Whether or not you’ve optimized your content for mobile and voice searches (and local search if relevant)
• How up-to-date your content and information is
• Whether or not you’ve included high-value images and rich media

That’s it for now, SEOs.

Best of luck with your rankings!

PS: Need a tool that can help you optimize content and keep an eye on your rank positions? Get your hands on Ranktracker. Create your free account today ☑️

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