SERP features are elements on a search engine results page that go beyond the standard text links. Examples are featured snippets, People Also Ask, local packs, image and video results, knowledge panels, and AI Overviews. SERP stands for search engine results page.
How does Google describe them?
Google’s visual elements gallery covers text results, rich results, image results, video results, and exploration features such as related searches and questions. Google says the display can change over time and depends on the device, location, and search language. Sitelinks are generated automatically. Google’s gallery does not use “SERP features” as a category, so the term and examples such as local pack are common industry usage.
For featured snippets, Google’s systems decide whether a page qualifies and elevate it. You can’t mark a page as a featured snippet. To keep text out of snippets, you can use nosnippet, max-snippet, or data-nosnippet.
Rich results typically rely on structured data in the markup. Google does not guarantee that they appear.
- Google introduces the improved sitelinks search box. It sends queries straight to the site's own search pages.Source: developers.google.com
- Google announces it will remove the “mobile-friendly” label from mobile results, as 85% of pages already meet the criteria.Source: developers.google.com
- Google announces the end of data-vocabulary.org. Markup in this format is to lose rich result eligibility from April 6, 2020.Source: developers.google.com
- Google moves the end of data-vocabulary.org support to January 29, 2021.Source: developers.google.com
- Google announces that from May 2021, non-AMP pages will also be eligible for the mobile Top Stories feature.Source: developers.google.com
- New timing from mid-June 2021. AMP is then no longer required for Top Stories, and Google stops showing the AMP badge.Source: developers.google.com
- Google removes the related: search operator from its documentation, as it is no longer supported.Source: developers.google.com
- Google limits FAQ rich results to well-known government and health websites. How-to rich results are shown on desktop only.Source: developers.google.com
- How-to rich results are no longer shown on desktop either. Google calls the result type deprecated.Source: developers.google.com
- Google removes the host group element from its visual elements gallery, as it no longer appears in search results.Source: developers.google.com
- Google removes the guidance for the limited-access video carousel after the markup proved not useful at scale.Source: developers.google.com
- The Notes experiment, which let users add notes to search results, has ended. Google removes its documentation.Source: developers.google.com
- The cache: search operator no longer works. Google removes its documentation.Source: developers.google.com
- The cached link is no longer available in search results. Google keeps noarchive only as a historical rule.Source: developers.google.com
- Google announces that it will remove the sitelinks search box worldwide from November 21, 2024. Other sitelinks remain.Source: developers.google.com
- Google removes the sitelinks search box documentation and archives the nositelinkssearchbox rule.Source: developers.google.com
- Mobile search results no longer show breadcrumbs in the visible URL, only the domain. They remain on desktop.Source: developers.google.com
- Google announces it will phase out several structured data features, including Book Actions, Course Info, ClaimReview, Estimated Salary, Learning Video, Special Announcement and Vehicle Listing.Source: developers.google.com
- Google removes the documentation for course info, estimated salary, learning video, special announcement and vehicle listing. These types no longer appear in results.Source: developers.google.com
- Google phases out the practice problem and dataset types in Search. For Book Actions, Google withdraws the deprecation notice.Source: developers.google.com
- FAQ rich results no longer appear in Google Search. Google announced this in its changelog entry of May 8, 2026.Source: developers.google.com
- Google removes the documentation for the FAQ rich result.Source: developers.google.com
- Google now sends users directly to AMP pages on the publisher's own host. The AMP viewer, AMP Cache and signed exchanges are no longer involved.Source: developers.google.com
Only backed by press or social media, so not listed as events. Author photos (Authorship) disappeared in June 2014 according to Search Engine Land, and Authorship display in August 2014 according to Search Engine Watch. Google's Search Liaison confirmed the end of the cached link on X on February 1, 2024 (per 9to5Google). According to Search Engine Land, continuous scroll ended on desktop from June 25, 2024, with mobile following in later months. Last checked: .
Example
A search for a recipe can return a featured snippet, an image block, videos, and People Also Ask before the first standard result. Rank tracking tools record these elements in addition to positions.
Frequently asked questions
What does “SERP feature” mean? It is any element on a results page other than a plain text result with a title link and snippet.
What is the difference between SEO and SERP? The SERP is the results page. SEO is the work done to become visible on it.
Sources
- Visual elements gallery – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
- Featured snippets and your website – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
- Structured data and rich results – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
- What are SERP features – Ahrefs Help (secondary source)help.ahrefs.com
Last updated: