SERP Analysis Skill

Analyze and reverse-engineer Google Search Engine Results Pages to understand ranking patterns, featured snippet triggers, AI Overview conditions, and optimization opportunities.

When to Use

• Analyzing SERP features for a keyword
• Understanding AI Overview trigger conditions
• Featured snippet optimization
• People Also Ask (PAA) research
• Competitor SERP position analysis
• Local pack analysis

Capabilities

1. SERP Feature Detection

Identify all SERP features for a given query:

• Featured Snippets (paragraph, list, table, video)
• AI Overview / SGE (Google's AI-generated answers)
• People Also Ask (PAA) boxes
• Knowledge Panel
• Local Pack (map results)
• Image/Video carousels
• Shopping results
• Sitelinks

2. AI Overview Analysis

How to check if AI Overview triggers:

# Manual: Search on Google with the query
# Automated: Use SerpAPI or similar
curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?q={query}&engine=google&api_key={key}" | python3 -c "
import json, sys
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
ai_overview = data.get('ai_overview', {})
if ai_overview:
    print('✅ AI Overview detected')
    print(f'Sources: {len(ai_overview.get(\"sources\", []))}')
    for s in ai_overview.get('sources', []):
        print(f'  - {s.get(\"title\")}: {s.get(\"link\")}')
else:
    print('❌ No AI Overview for this query')
"

AI Overview trigger conditions:

Factor	Triggers AI Overview	Doesn't Trigger
Query type	Informational, how-to	Navigational, exact-match
Complexity	Multi-step, comparison	Simple factual
Intent	Research, learning	Transaction, login
Content availability	Rich authoritative sources	Thin content

3. Featured Snippet Optimization

Snippet types and how to win them:

Type	Format	Optimization
Paragraph	40-60 word answer	Answer question directly in first paragraph
List	Ordered/unordered	Use H2/H3 + bullet/numbered list
Table	Data comparison	Use HTML <table> with clear headers
Video	YouTube embed	Timestamp chapters + transcript

Template for winning paragraph snippets:

<h2>What is {keyword}?</h2>
<p>{Keyword} is {direct 40-60 word answer that completely addresses the query, 
including key context and a specific data point or statistic}.</p>

4. PAA (People Also Ask) Research

Extract PAA questions for content planning:

# Search and extract PAA
WebSearch: "{keyword}"
# Look for "People Also Ask" section
# Each PAA question = content opportunity

PAA optimization checklist:

• Answer each PAA question in your content
• Use the exact PAA question as an H2/H3
• Provide concise answer (40-60 words) immediately after heading
• Expand with details below the concise answer
• Include relevant schema markup (FAQPage)

5. SERP Competitive Analysis

Analyze top 10 results:

| Position | URL | Title Length | Meta Desc | Schema | Word Count | Domain Authority |
|----------|-----|-------------|-----------|--------|------------|-----------------|
| 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 2 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |

Key metrics to compare:

• Content length and depth
• Schema markup types used
• Backlink profile
• Content freshness (last updated date)
• Page speed score
• Mobile-friendliness

Workflow

1. Input: Target keyword or URL
2. Search: Query Google (via web_fetch or SerpAPI)
3. Detect: Identify all SERP features present
4. Analyze: Breakdown top results' strategies
5. Recommend: Specific optimizations to win SERP features
6. Report: Structured SERP analysis report

Output Format

## SERP Analysis Report: "{keyword}"

### SERP Features Detected
- [ ] AI Overview: Yes/No
- [ ] Featured Snippet: Type
- [ ] PAA: X questions
- [ ] Knowledge Panel: Yes/No
- [ ] Local Pack: Yes/No
- [ ] Image Carousel: Yes/No

### Top 3 Competitors
1. {URL} — {why they rank}
2. {URL} — {why they rank}
3. {URL} — {why they rank}

### Opportunities
1. {Specific action to take}
2. {Specific action to take}
3. {Specific action to take}

### AI Overview Optimization
- Current citation status: Cited / Not cited
- Recommended changes: ...

Trigger Words

• "分析搜索结果"
• "SERP analysis"
• "check SERP features"
• "AI Overview 分析"
• "featured snippet"
• "PAA 研究"
• "搜索结果页分析"
• "谷歌排名分析"