SERP features
SERP features are non-standard organic results that appear above or within the main results list. They reshape the page: a featured snippet or an AI Overview can push the first blue link below the fold, and winning one can drive significant traffic even from position 4 or 5 in the standard results. Tracking them tells you where the real visibility is, not just where your link sits.
What you’ll need
Section titled “What you’ll need”- A configured rankings connector with at least one completed sync (see Setting up rank tracking).
- Keywords added to the project — features are detected per keyword as each one is checked.
Features tracked
Section titled “Features tracked”| Feature | What it is |
|---|---|
| Featured snippet | The direct-answer box at the top of results |
| People Also Ask | Expandable question boxes within results |
| Image pack | A row of images appearing within organic results |
| Video carousel | YouTube and other video results |
| AI Overview | Google’s AI-generated summary above organic results |
| Local pack | The map plus three local business listings |
| Shopping | Google Shopping product listings |
| Site links | Expanded sub-page links under a result |
Why each one matters
Section titled “Why each one matters”Featured snippet — owns the top of the page and answers the query before the user scrolls. It can earn clicks from a position you’d otherwise consider mediocre, but you generally need to already rank in the top 10 to win it.
People Also Ask — multiple expandable slots per query. Appearing in PAA puts your domain on a page even when your main ranking is weak, and the boxes expand as users interact, multiplying impressions.
Image pack / Video carousel — visual real estate that pushes text results down. For product, how-to, and recipe queries, the image or video slot can outdraw the organic link.
AI Overview — Google’s AI-generated answer (formerly SGE) at the very top for many informational and commercial queries. Being cited here is increasingly the difference between visibility and invisibility.
Local pack — the map and three listings dominate local-intent queries; if you’re not in it, your organic position barely matters for those searches.
Shopping / Site links — commercial and navigational signals respectively; both expand your footprint and signal relevance.
AI Overview tracking
Section titled “AI Overview tracking”For each tracked keyword VisibilityIQ records whether it triggers an AI Overview, whether your domain or content is cited in it, and which URLs are cited — yours or competitors’. Prevalence and citation patterns are still evolving, so this data is refreshed daily.
How to win SERP features
Section titled “How to win SERP features”Featured snippets — put the exact answer in a short paragraph, list, or table immediately after the H2 or H3 that states the question.
PAA boxes — cover related follow-up questions in separate H2/H3 sections. FAQPage JSON-LD does not inject PAA results directly, but Q&A-formatted content that matches common questions tends to surface there.
AI Overview citations — content that is factual, well-structured, clearly attributed, and present in the raw HTML (not JS-only) is far more likely to be cited. The AI crawler access audit tells you whether AI bots can actually reach and parse your content.