New Google SERP Icons added to Rank Tracker Dashboard

Google's goal of improving user experience shines through with many of the latest features they've added to search results. Since knowing if your SERP listing includes these special features, we've added 4 new SERP Icons to the Dashboard report: Answer Box, Breadcrumbs, Notable Online and Search Box, in addition to the Events, HTTPS, Local Results, News, Rating, Site Links and Video icons that have been added to your reports during the past year.

When you’re searching for anything on Google, Google will automatically provide you with a search result displaying page title, page URL and the web page's meta description. For several keywords and websites with higher authority, Google will provide additional information, such as a Notable Online feature in the SERP, and  when that happens for a site and keyword you're tracking, Rank Tracker will display a SERP icon in the Dashboard. 

Rank Tracker Dashboard

In the screenshot below from Rank Tracker, we see that Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams has keywords with Local Results, Ratings, Site Links, HTTPS, Notable Online indicators and an Answer Box.

Google Answer Box 

Sometimes when you’re searching for a question in Google, Google provides you with what is called an answer box. The answer box will always appear above the organic search results, and will answer your question based on what Google "thinks" you're asking. For example, we saw in the Rank Tracker Dashboard 4 SERP icons for Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams > Flavors page.  I've queried Google for Jeni's ice cream flavors so I can demonstrate those results below. Note in the Dashboard report, Rank Ranger will displayed and Answer Box icon  in the domain URL column, here we can see why.




1. This is the Answer Box 
2. Indicates that Google is serving the HTTPS version of this site, which results in the lock icon  in the Rank Dashboard.
3. These are Site Links  that provide helpful shortcuts for users to reach their desired destination.
4. This is the Notable Online indicator  which when clicked expands to reveal additional information about the website and/or the company or organization that owns the site.

Breadcrumbs in Search Engine Results

If Google's providing your website with a breadcrumb trail in their SERP, you’ll find this SERP icon  displayed in the domain URL column of your Dashboard report. Such is the case with this rank tracking report for Amazon.com 




This is an example of the SERP breadcrumbs feature for a different keyword at Amazon.com that we came across while checking a keyword that we're actually tracking for Apple.com 

Notable Online

As we showed above with Jeni's Notable SERP feature, Google is providing a very nice user experience with Notable Online. Seeing a  next to your tracked URL in the Dashboard indicates that the keyword and URL you’re tracking received a Notable Online SERP boost.

Practically speaking, it means that in the SERP underneath your page title there’s a small arrow. Clicking the arrow provides a box with text telling you about the website and/or the company or organization that owns the site and sometimes a logo or other image. In this example a search for "what foreign language should children learn" we found several quality results displaying this notable feature. 

Search Box

If you’re searching for something, where you possibly would like to search for a deeper result once entering the website, sometimes Google provides you with a Search Box among the SERP results, even before entering the website. For example, that can happen if you’re searching for the name of a brand, business name, or a specific product or service like "IKEA” or "travel bookings”. It simply makes it so much easier to find what you’re looking for inside a specific website, when being able to search without even entering the site. 




So for those of you being provided with a search box in the SERPs, next to your domain in the URL column of your Dashboard report, you’ll see the Search Box  SERP icon like the one displayed for the "Mashable" brand in this report.

The Growing List of SERP Feature Icons

Discovering new SERP features can be fun!  If you see one that we haven't yet included in your reports, please let us know and we'll do our best to add it for you.  Please access our documentation for a complete list and description of the SERP feature icons supported in Rank Ranger - at this moment, these are the ones you'll see in the Dashboard if the SERPs include them for your keyword and landing page:

•  Answer Box
•  Breadcrumbs
•  Events
•  HTTPS
•  Local Results
•  News
•  Notable Online
•  Rating
•  Site Links
•  Video

We've added quite a few new reports and features recently, so I recommend that you visit Rank Ranger’s Help Center or our Updates Blog. While you're there, take the opportunity to look around and find more information about different reports that you might find useful (but may not be using - yet), or maybe watch a couple of our educational videos? All to increase your rankings and climb the SERPs.