State of the SERPs:
An Ecommerce Industry Report

3) Google Leverages Maps and Images to Integrate Products

Google Images + Shopping

Image searches have notoriously low CTR​ (<0.5% in our last CTR study), so Google has moved to combine Shopping feeds with Images to build a path to monetization from image searches (as shown in the image below of an image search for “air jordans”).

Google Maps + Shopping

Similarly, Maps are being pulled into ecommerce searches. Google is mapping product-related searches to brick-and-mortar locations that have indicated they have an item in stock or whose websites mention them selling that product.

When Google Maps is triggered, distribution is either position 1 or center of the SERP.   Tweet

Google Maps SERP feature frequency by rank position

As you can see in the SERP below, Google has even given the ability for local merchants to list stock status directly in Google Map and Local results.

4) Google is Creating a Rich Visual Experience for Users

It’s not just Google Shopping that’s impacting the state of the SERP for ecommerce: Google is leveraging all of its might to win the ecommerce search demand battle. 

It’s no secret that the ecommerce SERP has become a lot more visual - taking up value real estate. What used to be a page of “10 blue links” is now filled with listings like: 

• Product ads
• Images
• Product thumbnails in web listings​

Images Reign in Position #1

The occurrence of the Image Pack is increasing, too. When the Image Pack is triggered in the search results, it ranks in Position 1 more than 40% of the time for the ecommerce terms we analyzed.   

    
Google’s Images SERP feature frequency by rank position

The size of the Image Pack has also grown substantially from a single row carousel to a multi-row gallery.

The SERP for the search “coffee tables” returns results that show images in the listings. 

SERP Listings Gain 35% More Real Estate

In a substantial show of force, Google created a more visually rich SERP by increasing the height of SERP listings by 35% in the last year.  

This means that any rank position in the SERP is ~35% lower than it was before.

The SERP result on the left is from October 30, 2021. The SERP result on the right shows the 35% increase as of November 5, 2022.

5) Google is Creating a Robust Ecommerce Search Experience 

More recently, the SERP added guided navigation which helps consumers refine their search to something more specific. Notice the suggestions directly underneath the search bar in the image below. 

Or, this SERP feature below suggests ways in which a consumer can refine their search by a specific brand, in essence keeping the user on the Google SERP to shop for their desired product. 

This approach to guided navigation is similar to what you’d expect on a major ecommerce site like Amazon or Walmart.

Why is This Significant?

As was the case within our apparel industry research, traditional organic web listings have lost significant visibility to Google’s Product listings (and other SERP Features).

Ecommerce SEOs can still win in the SERP if they expand efforts beyond tracking, optimizing, and reporting on web pages to also include product feeds. 

Winning more SERP real estate is still incrementally better than doing well on just one of the two.

With seoClarity, you can track, manage, monitor, and optimize for Google Shopping and products feeds.