Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a complex game in which the rules constantly change. To achieve long-term success in terms of consistent traffic and hefty revenue, you need to understand what happens behind the search engine results page (SERP).
If you have specific goals that you can achieve with the help of Google, the most popular search engine, then it is essential to understand how this collaboration with Google works. Indeed, many competitors are trying to do the same thing, but you can still outrank them.
To do that, you need to get a grasp on SERP volatility. This is an abstract concept, but if you need to rank your blogs and landing pages at the top, you need to work around it. So, without further ado, let’s get right into understanding SERP volatility in content marketing.
What Is SERP Volatility?
Search engine results page volatility (SERP volatility) is the unpredictable change in search engine results. It is often rapid and can impact all the rankings displayed on SERPs. From jumping one or two spots in rank to disappearing from the search engine’s index, this is how volatile SERP can be.
For SEO experts and marketers, this is often a nightmare because all of their hard work could go in vain as Google replaces their page ranking with another competitor, this impacts the strategies marketers use to maintain consistent results, and it leaves them in deep thought about what to expect from their SEO efforts.
However, volatility can be documented and analyzed to keep up with the changing pace of SERPs. After all, Google’s primary focus is to deliver a delightful experience to users looking for results on their search engine. So, you can try to stabilize your results. Let us now look at some secrets that can help you reduce SERP volatility in content marketing.
6 Tips to Stabilize Your SERP Volatility in Content Marketing
SERP volatility occurs naturally, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reduce it. Reducing SERP volatility is a worthy time investment if you get a lot of traffic and revenue organically through search engines. We have bundled together some of the best ways and tips to minimize SERP volatility to stabilize your search engine rankings.
Create Inspiring Content
Today, the world of online marketing is mainly content-driven. Earlier, the average attention span was 8 seconds. But now it is narrowing down even more, and you have just a few seconds to capture your audience’s attention before they click the back button or exit button to leave. Google tracks exit clicks and counts them in your bounce rate.
This is why you need to have inspiring and engaging content that can instantly capture the reader’s attention. An infographic or a relevant video/GIF can help you get this done. Also, ensure that your content is structured correctly with effective formatting so that it is easily accessible and understandable by Google’s bots and your audience.
Match the Search Intent with Excellent Content
One of the most efficient ways to reduce SERP volatility is by matching the user’s search intent with your content. Search engines, like Google, want to show the most relevant results to their users and, if your content offers precisely what people are searching for, you have a solid chance of ranking higher.
Your content should be well-researched and comprehensively written with all primary and LSI keywords to provide additional context for your blogs. By doing this consistently, you will eventually reap the rewards, which is why content marketing is a long-term strategic game.
Avoid Keywords with Mixed Search Intents
There are specific keywords where it is hard to understand what the user is looking for. It can be a piece of information, product, or website the user wants. The SERP volatility on such keywords is high because Google is consistently testing out different results to see what gains maximum engagement.
There’s not much you can do to reduce volatility on such keywords for your webpage. If possible, try to avoid such keywords with varied search intents.
Stay on Top of Changing SEO Algorithms
A search engine algorithm is an evolving entity, and no matter how small or big the change is, it can drastically affect your web pages’ rankings. You need to stay on top of the algorithm updates from Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, and other search engines from where you get decent traffic.
To do so, you should be actively checking recent news from Google on a daily/weekly basis. There are forums on Reddit as well where marketers discuss the changes in SEO algorithms. This will help you format and modify your content to adapt to the changes.
Build Authority for Your Topics
As a marketer in a particular industry, if you have spent a reasonable amount of time creating quality content for a website, such as blogs, informative articles, engaging videos, and infographics, major search engines may automatically start recognizing your value.
That is why it is crucial to build authority for your industry-related topics. This way, your rankings can increase and become significantly less volatile. Try to cover all the related topics and not forget the quality. The better the quality of your content, the more authority you will build with search engines.
Analyze Your SERP Competitors
Finally, you need to check your competitors ranking better than you on SERP. By doing this, you can identify what they are doing better to get higher rankings, which can help you efficiently shape your content.
This process can be a bit time-consuming, but it is worth it for keywords with high-volume clicks. You definitely wouldn’t want to miss out on a hefty amount of traffic and revenue from those keywords. Make this a regular exercise to learn what type of content works best for your targeted keywords.
SERP Volatility Causes
Changes in Algorithm
Updates are rolled out from time to time to enhance the search quality and fix issues with the search engine. These changes can impact web page rankings and contribute to SERP volatility.
CTR Testing
Search engines can’t manually go through every single web page to identify its relevance. So, one of the factors that helps decide the relevance is the CTR (click-through rate). It simply tells the ratio between the number of users who saw your page listing and the number of users who clicked it. The higher the CTR, the more its relevance. On the other hand, a lower CTR can affect rankings.
Webpage Changes
SERP volatility is mostly caused by search engines alone, but, if you update the webpage, such as changes to the content, the design, images, and structure can also lead to SERP volatility. Therefore, making changes that only result in a positive user experience is important.
Search Intent Testing
While searching for something on Google, users have different intentions. They may be looking to buy something, searching for information, or trying to find a specific web page. The mixed search queries make it difficult for the search engine to understand the user’s intent. So, based on the CTR of the different listings, the rankings change drastically, resulting in SERP volatility.
How to Track SERP Volatility
Many websites and software tools are available to track your web pages’ SERP volatility. You can check the volatility of the pages on your ranking keyword phrases. Here are some popular and most commonly used tools for tracking SERP volatility:
All tools have different interfaces, features, pros, cons, and pricing. So, you can check out their comparison and opt for a trial before making your pick.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can SERP volatility be checked?
Numerous tools are available to check SERP volatility. For example, the rank ranger risk index displays desktop and mobile SERP volatility as a bar graph.
What exactly does SERP mean?
Search engine result page. The page assists users who conduct online searches using search engines, like Google.
What are the best SEP volatility tools?
The best SERP volatility tools are listed below:
– Accuranker’s Google Grump
– Algoroo
– Cognitive SEO
– Mangools
– Mozcast
– Rank Ranger
– SEMrush Sensor
What are the different types of SERPs?
Organic results, paid results, and rich results are the three different types of search results.
What are the different SERP features?
– Snippets
– Top and Bottom ADs
– Video carousels
– Sitelinks
Final Thoughts
We hope that gives you a brief understanding of SERP volatility that you can use to work swiftly in your content marketing ventures. With the help of tools, like Google Grump or SEMrush sensor, you can easily monitor the SERP volatility.
Also, the only thing you need to stay at the top in this ever-changing competitive digital era is to never overlook SERP volatility. It is a guaranteed ticket to SEO success. Analyzing the volatility and working on your strategies based on the current trends and algorithms can help you get the best out of your SEO and content marketing efforts.
The final thing to note is no matter how good you think your content is, if it’s not ranking, then you need to adjust it to meet the needs of the search intent. Make sure you regularly check your SERP competitors and follow the changes or updates introduced in the search algorithms. To learn more about recent updates and strategies around content marketing, check out our recent blogs.
