Google Ads glossary

SERP

In one sentence

The SERP, short for search engine results page, is the page a search engine shows after a query: ads, organic results and other blocks.

What you find on it

The page changes with the query, the country, the device and the city, so two people do not always see the same one.

Ads: Labeled as ads, they show above or below the organic results.
Organic results: The pages Google ranks by relevance. You cannot buy them.
Other blocks: Maps, People also ask, Shopping ads: depending on the query, Google adds them.

Why it matters in Google Ads

The SERP is the best clue to the intent of a search: it shows how Google understood the query. Reading the page before you bid costs less than finding out by paying for its clicks.

Should I Bid does that reading for you: it reads the live results page, then the pages that rank on it, and returns a verdict for each keyword. Our guide Who is bidding on my keywords shows how to read it by hand.

A concrete example

If a keyword’s page shows Shopping ads with a photo and a price, Google ties that search to a product people buy. If it shows no ads and mostly articles and definitions, the search more likely comes from people who want to understand.

Free tool: Who is bidding on this keyword?

See who pays on the results page

Enter a keyword and a country: the tool reads the live Google page and emails you the report, with the advertisers at the top and bottom of the page.

Open the Who is bidding tool