Very few marketers actually analyse the SERP properly.
Instead, they look at a keyword in a tool, see search volume and a difficulty score, assume it is worth targeting, and only realise too late that the content never had a chance. It ranks badly or worse it ranks fine but attracts the wrong audience.
I’ve certainly been guilty of skipping SERP analysis in the past too.
What is a SERP analysis
SERP means Search Engine Results Page. It is the page Google shows after a search.
SERP analysis is the process of manually reviewing that page to understand what Google believes the searcher wants and what type of content satisfies that intent.
This is not an SEO hygiene task. It is more impactful than that.
Many SERPs are winnable. Very few are worth winning. But if you ignore you are competing with Google’s interpretation of the query. And you’ll lose.
When to do it
You should conduct the analysis before you commit to anything.
Specifically:
• Before choosing a primary keyword
• Before writing a content brief
• Before updating an existing page
• Before assuming a keyword is commercially valuable
If you analyse everything after publishing, you are already too late.
What to check every time:
• Dominant intent
• Dominant format
• Dominant angle
• Who is winning
• SERP features present
• Winnable vs worth winning decision
If you cannot confidently answer each of these, you still have work to do.
Step 1. Search the keywords manually
Do not rely on tool screenshots. Search the keyword yourself. Put the graft in.
Use an incognito browser to reduce personalisation and check the correct location and language where relevant.
Your job here is not to admire results. It is to diagnose intent.
Step 2. Identify the dominant search intent
Search intent is the reason behind the query. What the user is trying to achieve.
Look at the top results and decide which intent dominates
• Informational, definitions, explanations, how to guides
• Commercial investigation, comparisons, best lists, alternatives
• Transactional, product pages, category pages, pricing
• Navigational, brand or product name searches
If most results are guides, the intent is informational.
If most results are comparisons, the intent is evaluative.
If most results are product pages, the intent is closer to purchase.
Trying to rank the wrong type of page against the dominant intent is the fastest way to waste effort.
Step 3. Confirm the winning format
Intent tells you what the user wants. Format tells you how they want it delivered.
Check whether the top results are dominated by
• Long form guides
• Short definitions
• List posts
• Tools or calculators
• Product or category pages
• Videos
If one format dominates, it is part of the intent. You can improve on it. You shouldn’t really ignore it.
Some common mistakes:
• Targeting the wrong intent by building a product or service page where the SERP clearly rewards educational content, or vice versa
• Relying too heavily on keyword metrics like volume or difficulty instead of what the results page is actually showing
• Treating keyword tools as the strategy rather than a validation step
• Over prioritising high volume terms that are dominated by powerful brands or irrelevant formats
• Ignoring intent rich long tail queries that align far more closely with real buyer questions and decision stages
I have also seen teams walk away from attractive looking keywords after SERP analysis and instead focus on narrower, intent rich queries that generated real inbound enquiries.
One company I worked with in the Capital Markets sector spotted an opportunity around administration for SPACs(Special Purpose Acquisition Companies). The search volume was low and most SEO tools would have dismissed it immediately.
But the SERP told a different story.
The topic was emerging, the intent was commercial, the competition was weak, and from a service delivery point of view it was highly profitable. They focused on it deliberately and owned it.
At one point they were winning around 90 percent of SPAC deals in Europe, and journalists researching the topic started contacting them directly for interviews.
Low traffic. Massive impact.
That is what good SERP analysis looks like in the real world.
Step 4. Identify the dominant angle
Most SERPs also have a clear angle. This is the framing that repeats across top results.
Examples include
• For enterprise teams
• For beginners
• Fastest approach
• Cheapest options
• Best tools for a specific use case
Scan titles and headings. If several results repeat the same framing, Google is rewarding that angle.
Your goal is not to be different for the sake of it. It is to be clearer, more useful, or more relevant to your buyers.
Step 5. Assess who you are competing with
Now look at who is ranking.
Ask
• Are major publishers dominating
• Are vendors dominating
• Are niche specialists winning
• Are directories or communities present
This tells you how hard the SERP will be to break into and what level of authority is expected.
It’s best to be really subjective at this stage. Some SERPs are technically winnable but commercially pointless.
Step 6. Pay attention to SERP features
SERPs are no longer ten blue links.
Look for features like
• Featured snippets
• People Also Ask boxes
• Video carousels
• AI generated summaries where present
These features reveal what users want to know next and how Google prefers to surface answers. They can also reduce click through even if you rank well.
Step 7. Estimate traffic potential, not just search volume
Search volume is a directional estimate for one term. It is often misleading.
Traffic potential is the broader opportunity for one page to rank across many related queries.
In B2B marketing, relevance and commercial value matter more than big numbers.
Step 8. Make the decision
Every SERP analysis should end with one clear decision being made:
• Build content now
• Park it and revisit later
• Walk away entirely
Once this decision is made, it should be locked. Do not reopen intent or format later to suit opinions or internal politics.
This is why SERP analysis can be considered to have strategic vlaue, not just another SEO task.
Tools that help
It’s so easy for marketers to fall into the trap of running straight to sign up for cloud-based tools but we have to realise that they support SERP analysis, they don’t actually perform it.
Useful ones include
• Google Search Console for real queries you already appear for
• Ahrefs for SERP comparison, traffic potential and competitor context
• Semrush for intent signals, SERP features and keyword gap analysis
If you do not do manual SERP analysis, no tool will magically save you.
Key buzzwords explained
• SERP, the results page Google shows
• SERP analysis, reviewing that page to understand intent and competition
• Search intent, what the searcher is trying to achieve
• Content format, the type of page Google is rewarding
• Angle, the framing repeated across top results
• Traffic potential, the broader traffic a page could earn
Why SERP analysis matters even more now
The same SERP signals that shape rankings also influence how AI tools summarise topics and recommend brands.
AI systems amplify SERP misunderstandings. They do not correct them.
Call to action
If you want better results from SEO and content, analyse the SERP before you write anything.
Pick one keyword you are targeting right now. Search it. Study the first page honestly.
Ask yourself
• Does our content match the dominant intent?
• Are we using the format the SERP rewards?
• Do we have a genuinely stronger angle?
• Is this SERP even worth winning for our business?
If you want help building SERP analysis into your keyword and content process, get in touch and we will introduce you to people who genuinely know what good looks like.
