What are SERPs?

SERPS is an acronym for Search Engine Result Pages and it is the webpage returned by the search engines whenever a keyword term is typed in the search box. Usually the search engine result pages (SERPs) can be divided in two major categories: organic SERP listing (A) and sponsored or paid SERP listings (B and C) as you can see in the figure presented below. Besides there are also the human based search engine result pages also known as directories like Dmoz Open Directory and Yahoo as well as search engines based on meta-tags.

The web pages in the SERPs are listed with a short title in the top which is a link leading to the website and a longer description under the title which is supposed to describe what the page is about.

Right in the top usually with a light blue or yellowish background as well as on the right side there are the sponsored or advertisement listings for which commercial websites pay for example in Google AdWords. This is one of the ways search engines are making money by selling advertisement listings in the SERPs for targeted keyword terms selected by advertisers.