Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
A search engine results page (SERP) is the page an engine returns for a query: a ranked list of links with titles and descriptions, and around it the ads, maps, panels and snippets the engine chooses to add. Position on that page is what a search ranking measures.
What is on the page
The organic list, paid results above and below it, and features assembled per query: a map with local listings, a knowledge panel, a featured snippet, related questions, rich results drawn from page markup, and for some queries an AI Overview at the top. Google’s documentation says the AI features issue several related searches for one question, show supporting links to pages that are indexed and snippet-eligible, and may show different results than the ranked list beneath them. Each element is a separate contest with its own rules.
Why the SERP is the wrong unit for AI visibility
A results page presents ten or so pages in order and lets the person choose. An assistant writes one answer and names a few businesses in it. For a local query the two also differ in who competes: on a results page, directories and aggregators hold positions alongside the businesses themselves. In this site’s own one-question probe of 9,240 small businesses, put to Claude with web retrieval, 99.4% of the names the assistant returned were businesses and 0.6% were directories or aggregators. One assistant, one question per business, one day, so directional rather than a rate; the method is in what 9,483 small business websites serve to an AI crawler. A business does not have to out-rank the directories to be named. It has to be identifiable and quotable on its own pages.
A common question
Does a business have to out-rank the directories to get named by an assistant?
No. On a results page, directories and aggregators hold positions beside the businesses themselves, but an assistant writes a single answer and names only a few businesses in it. In this site's one-question probe of 9,240 small businesses, put to Claude with web retrieval, 99.4% of the names returned were businesses and 0.6% were directories or aggregators, from one assistant on one day, so read it as a direction rather than a rate. What decides the outcome is whether a page identifies the business and holds something worth quoting.
Related terms
Sources
SERP features: Google’s documentation on AI Overviews and AI Mode and its structured data gallery. The probe figures are this site’s own, from one assistant and one question per business; percentages describe that sample.