SERP features are anything on a search results page other than the standard organic listings: ads, map packs, AI Overviews, featured snippets, People also ask boxes, image and video results, shopping listings, knowledge panels and more. They change from one query to the next, and they decide how much attention is left for the ordinary results below them.
How SERP features work
Google assembles each results page from different systems, choosing the blocks it thinks best serve the query. A search for “boiler service near me” in Leicester typically brings ads and a map pack. “How long does probate take” may bring an AI Overview and a People also ask box. “Red trainers” brings shopping results and images. The mix shifts with intent, location, device and time.
Features fall into rough groups:
- Paid: search ads at the top and bottom, shopping ads and local services ads.
- Answers drawn from pages: featured snippets, People also ask boxes and AI Overviews, which summarise several sources and link to some of them.
- Local: the local pack of three map listings, drawn from Google Business Profiles.
- Enhanced listings: rich results such as review stars, prices and breadcrumbs, plus sitelinks, all of which decorate an ordinary organic result.
- Media and verticals: image packs, video carousels, top stories, discussions and forums, and job listings.
- Entity information: knowledge panels for brands, people and places.
Some are earned through content and formatting, some through structured data, some through a Business Profile and some only by paying.
Why it matters
Ranking first organically means something very different on a page with four ads, a map pack and an AI Overview above you than on a page of plain links. On a phone, the first organic result can sit well below the first screen. When you choose which terms to target, the features present tell you how many clicks are realistically available and which kind of listing to aim for. For a local plumber the map pack is often the prize; for a recipe site, the recipe carousel; for an advice-led law firm, a citation in the AI Overview or the answer box.
Features also explain traffic changes. If Search Console shows impressions holding steady while clicks fall, a new feature appearing above your listing is a common cause.
Common mistakes
- Tracking only position Without noting which features sit above that position.
- Targeting a term without looking at its results Then wondering why a guide never ranks on a page Google fills with shopping listings.
- Treating every feature as a goal. A featured snippet that fully answers a trivial question may bring impressions but few visits.
- Adding markup for retired features Such as FAQ schema added in the hope of extra lines most sites no longer receive.
How to act on it
For your twenty most important terms, search each on a phone from a customer’s location and note the features shown. Group the terms by what you can realistically win: local pack, answer features, enhanced listings or plain organic. Then match the work to the group: Business Profile improvements for the map pack; clear, direct answers under question-style headings for snippets and People also ask; accurate structured data for rich results.
Shaping existing pages so they qualify for the features their queries show is a large part of my on-page SEO service. At the time of writing (October 2026), AI Overviews and AI Mode are still changing quickly in the UK, so revisit your notes every few months.