Whether you’re searching the web for business or pleasure, understanding the results of your search engine query will help you find what you’re looking for quicker. There are clues in the results that can help you identify which links are most likely to include the information you are seeking. Knowing where to look, what to look for and why the information is presented the way it is can make your searches less frustrating and more productive.

Most Google searches are formatted the same way. The search query box is at the top. Directly below is the statistics bar. Below that, in a pink box and also in a narrow column running down the right side, are paid searches. Below the ads are the organic results.

Above this article you see that I have identified six different elements of a typical Google Results Page. Below you will find details about each in alphabetical order.

Advanced Search
A typical Google search involves typing keywords in the Search Query Box. However, perhaps you have tried a Google search but didn’t find what you were looking for. Google Advance Search lets you tailor your search by using a variety of criteria, such as keywords and location, to narrow down the results.

Natural/Organic Results
Just as a newspaper contains both news copy and advertising, so does Google. And just like in a newspaper, Google attempts to identify which parts are paid advertising and which are to be considered “news”. Google organic results is “the news” and appears based on content, keyword relevancy, and popularity.

Paid Search
Using the newspaper analogy again, Google AdWords is the retail advertising department at Google. While newspapers charge a flat rate based on ad size, Google AdWords fees are calculated based on how many times your ad is clicked. The price of each click is determined through an auction based on the keywords you choose and the popularity of those words.

There are two places on a results page that ads can appear. The most common location is down the right hand column. You will often see ads highlighted in pink, as shown in the illustration above, directly above the organic results. These ads have some combination of high quality score, click-through rate, and price that have qualified them to appear there.

Search Button
Click and go, or just press enter or return on your keyboard.

Search Query Box
The words you type in this box determine what results you get.  For best results, keep your search as simple as possible. Case doesn’t matter and punctuation is usually ignored.

Statistics Bar
The statistics bar is easy to overlook, but if you’re looking to improve the ranking of your site, it is an important number to watch. It is good to know the overall competition for a keyword as it will determine the difficulty of being found using that word. If you are looking to improve the ranking of your website, ideally you would target relevant terms that have as little competition as possible.

Now that you understand the template used for Google Results pages, let’s look more closely as the details of individual results.

The very first line of each result is set in blue and underlined – it is the title of a web page. The description underneath the title is called a snippet. Under the snippet is the URL of the page, followed by a cached version of that page. If more than two pages from a single site appear in the results, those results will be indented. And if even more results from the page have come up, you will be offered “More Results.”

Above this article you see that I have identified seven different elements of Results. Below you will find details about each in alphabetical order.

Cached
Cache is a snapshot of data which can be accessed at a later time. The next time that information is requested, it can be presented to you quicker. Let’s say that you are viewing a website, going back and forth between pages. Every single time you return to a page, your computer doesn’t have to reach out to the server requesting the information over and over again. It can simply retrieve it from its local cache.

Each time Google’s robots visit a website, they store a copy of that page in Google’s cache. In the event that the page is not working, Google can show the cached page.

Indented Result
When multiple results are found from the same website, the most relevant result is listed first, with other relevant pages indented below.

More Results
Click on this link and you will be presented with a new google search results page limited to that website.

Page Title
In January’s edition of SHOUT! I included an article about the importance of Page Titles. Google generates the Page TItle from the Title tag on the web page. You can see how the words you choose directly affect what appears on the results page. This is also a clickable link to the returned result.

Snippet
A Snippet is a short excerpt of text that describes what you might find on the linked page. This information usually comes from the meta description tag on the web page.

URL of the Result
This is the address of and link to the returned result.