You work hard to create a great website with a cool design and quality content, but then of course comes optimizing that website so that you will show up on a search engine results page (SERP). After all, you want people to actually find that site you worked so hard to create. It’s a lot of work, but it’s important that you go the extra mile and don’t stop there.

You have to remember that showing up on page 1 of Google is a good start, but it’s not the end goal. You need people to click on your link, and that’s where focusing on how your result looks on a SERP comes into play. It’s important to make sure you’re doing everything you can to make that listing jump off the page and beat those other page 1 results (or any page for that matter) that are trying to compete.

Top Ways to Help Make Sure Your Company Stands Out on a SERP

There are several different ways that you can help your SERP listing stand out, and fortunately most are pretty easy. This is also an area where you can get involved with as many different methods as you can and your listing won’t look overdone. The more the merrier.

Below are a few of your options:

#1. Authorship: Google authorship is probably the most popular and most effective way to make your result stand out.

Whenever you see those little pictures of an author next to a listing, you’re looking at Google Authorship. In the screenshot I took below, you can see that two entries have authorship while one does not. Under the ones with authorship, you can see links where a user can read more from that author and quickly see how many Google+ followers he/she has. Not only does the entry with a photo overshadow the one that does not, but also the access to that extra information shows credibility.

In order to make authorship happen, you have to include your name on a piece of content you write, and that name has to have the authorship tag associated with it:

<a href=”https://yourGoogle+URL/?rel=author”>YourName</a>.

Then, you have to link your “Contributor To” section on your Google+ profile to your author page on that website. When this is all set up, it means that every time you write an article Google will be able to grab your picture and some of your Google+ information automatically.

It’s a fairly simple process, but I highly recommend checking out this article from Google for more detailed step-by-step instructions.

#2. Video Snippets:  Video is becoming more and more popular, so showing that one of the results (yours) has a video to help will set you apart.

A video snippet looks just like an authorship snippet except it is a video (imagine that). Below is an example of a SERP where I found one entry with authorship, one with a video, and one with nothing at all:

Despite a video snippet looking the same as authorship, how you set it up is quite different. You have to host your own videos (not on YouTube), mark them up correctly, use an HTML5 video player, and then submit a special video sitemap to Google. This is definitely more complicated, so head over to Make Use Of for a full article on just this topic alone.

Note: All of the suggestions above actually fall under what is called a “Rich Snippet.” Therefore authorship, reviews, and video snippets all fall under this same umbrella. There are also other types of rich snippets you can use that depend on your industry. For example, some SERP listings will have songs listed under them if they work in music, and when it comes to local search ratings are important. The two above are just a few of the most popular. See a list of more specialized rich snippets here.

#3. Sitelinks/Deep Links:  This helps give your company a larger section of the page.

Sitelinks, sometimes known as deep links, help to show indented results of internal pages of your company just under your company homepage. In the example below, you can see that there are links to internal pages including the About page, Social Media, Tech, and Social Good Summit (and sometimes there will be more than 4 sitelikes). This makes it easy for users to get to the page they really want faster.

The downside to sitelinks is the fact that Google is in charge of determining which sites are included in this feature. This means that until Google notices your site growing in popularity in your niche, you probably won’t have sitelinks showing up on a SERP. Nonetheless, it’s important to know this exists so that you can work to build up your site and hopefully get noticed by Google (it will also help you stop wondering why your site isn’t involved!).

#4. Great heading and description: The oldest way to make your company look better on a results page.

Your headline will certainly matter because it’s the first thing people will read when considering if they want to click. Headlines should be no more than 60 characters so that users can see your entire headline. Headlines that seem easy to understand such as “How To’s” and “Top 10 Ways” often do well when it comes to search, but it of course depends upon your subject and content. I recommend this article to learn more about great headline writing.

The description, or Meta description, that will show up under the headline on a SERP is where people tend to make the most mistakes. Consider the following two examples:

            Example #1

            Improve Your SERP Listing

Let’s talk about why a SERP listing is so important and how you can make yours look  better. In this article you will learn how to go through and create a better listing.

            Example #2:

            Top 5 Ways to Make Your Company Stand Out on a SERP

You work hard to get your company to the top of a results page, so make sure it stands   out! Learn a few simple things you can do to help you get the clicks you want here.

The examples about are somewhat exaggerated, but as you can see, the bottom example is much more interesting. Because Meta descriptions don’t necessarily help your SEO or help you rank, the discussion about good Meta descriptions has been pretty much silenced over the last few years. However, this is one area that will make your listing simply look better and seem more clickable to searchers. It’s so easy and something so many people ignore.

The Takeaway

Once again, the whole idea here is that just getting your business on a SERP is not good enough. In fact, it will hardly mean anything if the clicks are constantly going to the listing above yours. You work hard to optimize your website to earn a good spot on a SERP in the first place, so it’s important that you don’t stop there and essentially waste your big chance.

Do you have any more tips about making your business look good on a SERP? Have you seen an increase in clicks since you’ve made any changes? Let us know your story and your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo Credit: keydatabase.in