Zero-click delivery and On SERP SEO: how to get to the zero position in Yandex and Google

Promote the page in the search, invest, wait a few months - and (ideally) go to the first page. It would seem that life was a success. But there are not as many visitors as we would like. And the thing is in the sorcerer, who hangs at zero position and takes your traffic.

Involuntarily I want to say: " Zed SEO is dead, baby." But early to give up. I can’t overcome it - head. We tell how to take our place at position No. 0 and stop sharing traffic with competitors.

Zero position - what is it all about?

Surely, when searching for information, you came across similar results of issuance:

Please note that at the very top of the page - at the zero position - is a piece of text from the site, which in organics occupies the fifth line. The search engine found this piece of text to be most relevant to this search query, but ranked the page itself below. As a result, for this request, the page on the fifth line takes over most of the traffic. Paradoxically, this is a reality with which you have to live and work somehow.

Zero-click (no-click) search results are relevant search engine answers that appear above the main search or to the right of it and help the user to get a quick solution to the problem with which he turned to the search.

To designate "zero" results, Google uses the concept of "OneBox", in Yandex - "sorcerers."

The results of delivery at the zero position can be divided into two types:

1. Informers . They are shown on requests that require a specific answer: current time, weather, facts, exchange rates, calculators, etc. There is no point in striving to take a place in them: far from always, informers contain links to resources from which information is taken. And users usually have enough of the answer suggested on the search page.

Google OneBox example

An example of a sorcerer (currency calculator) in Yandex

2. Zero-Click results , which are profitable for commercial sites. These are the sorcerers of Yandex.Maps and Yandex.Directory, OneBox results from Google Maps and Google My Business, extended results in zero position.

Example OneBox results from Google Maps

An example of a sorcerer formed on the basis of Yandex.Directory data

Here are full reviews of Yandex and Google sorcerers with examples.

No-click issuance is more typical for mobile search. Only approximately 34.4% of desktop search sessions result in such results. In mobile search, this indicator reaches 62.5%.

Google Search Results with OneBox Elements ( source )

And if you look at clicks on the results of delivery, then 48.96% of search sessions on Google do not end with a click at all - that is, users entered a request, received a response from OneBox and left.

U.S. Google Search Click Distribution ( Source )

The appearance of such a large number of No-click elements (especially in mobile SERPs) is due to the adaptation of search engines to user behavior. Still, it’s more convenient to get an answer right away than to turn pages in search of a suitable option. This is good for them. For search engines, too, because they monopolize extradition. But this is a problem for business owners who invest in SEO and rely on organic traffic.

If you look at the effect of Yandex sorcerers on the clickability of the results, the CTR is significantly reduced when there are one or more special elements in the issue.

CTR by query groups in Yandex (with decreasing coefficients for results with magicians)

What to do to owners of commercial sites that lose traffic due to sorcerers? Engage On SERP SEO . What is it and how to do it - we tell further.

On SERP SEO: go to zero in search results

Classic SEO is conditionally divided into On Page and Off Page.

On Page SEO includes the following processes:

• selection of semantics, frequency estimation and clustering;
• Distribution of query groups into pages;
• optimizing the content on the pages for these requests;
• optimization of the technical part and usability of the site.

Off Page SEO refers to link building, building brand mentions and improving social cues.

The goal of On Page and Off Page SEO is to increase the page rank in search results (take the very TOP). But, as we have seen, the nature of the issuance has changed, and TOP-1 (not to mention TOP-3) is not a guarantee that you will get a lot of traffic.

With the change in SERPs, SEO approaches also change - they are talking more and more about On SERP SEO. Its purpose is to “hammer in” the first page of search results with pages controlled by the same brand. And this is not about affiliates - you can get sanctions for them. These are legal ways to increase your presence in the TOP and, thus, increase the chances of attracting a client.

If everything is done correctly, then you can get at least 3 results for the same site:

• in the block Zero-Click of the issue (zero position on the top or on the right);
• in the main issue (among positions 1-10);
• in a block of contextual advertising or product listing ads.

And if in TOP you display your page on social networks and attract customers through third-party platforms (marketplaces, ad sites, aggregators), then the brand’s presence on the first page of SERP will increase.

SEO under Zero-Click fits perfectly into the On SERP SEO concept - having taken a zero position, you will bypass your competitors by head.

How to do On SERP SEO

Find Promising Key Phrases

To get started, unload the requests for which the pages of your site occupy significant positions (at least the TOP-20, but better - the TOP-10). Data can be obtained from Yandex.Webmaster and Google Search Console.

Search query statistics in the Google Search Console

After unloading and deleting requests for which the site takes low positions (for example, below TOP-10), delete requests with too low a frequency (below 10-50 - depending on the topic).

For the remaining pool of queries, analyze the nature of the search results - find those of them in response to which sorcerers are displayed. If there are few requests, this can be done manually. If there is a lot, use the PromoPult position checker (or Ahrefs, SEMRush services if you have a subscription; otherwise, using them just for the sake of SERP analysis is expensive).

Important! Requests from Yandex.Webmaster and the Google Search Console do not interfere in one file. You should have two lists - for Yandex and Google (or one list for one of the search engines).

How to check the presence of sorcerers using the PromoPult position checker:

• specify the URL of the site and download the list of requests (for example, from Google);

• indicate the search engine (Google), region and type of search results;

• mark what additional data to collect (feel free to mark “Site Snippets” and “TOP Analysis” - this way you will get more data for free);

• specify the frequency of the test “Once” and run the test;

• Download the test results in XLSX format.

Copy the queries in response to which Google sorcerers are displayed in a separate table. Similarly check requests from Yandex.

An example of the analysis of the presence of sorcerers for search queries

Next, alternately enter queries with the sorcerers in the search for Yandex or Google (depending on where you got these requests from) and see which ones your site does not get a zero position for.

For example, for the query “how many diapers a child needs per day,” the site occupies both the zero position and the second in the organic:

But for the query “diapers versus diapers” the site takes the second position in the organic, but at the zero position the result is displayed from the site below:

Requests for which our site does not occupy a zero position, we take into work. Our task is to improve the content in such a way as to knock out competitors from a zero position and occupy it ourselves.

Dilute semantics with new queries

It is not always possible to collect requests from Yandex.Webmaster or Google Search Console. For example, you just launch a site, and it is not yet filled with content. Or these systems are not connected to the site, and you simply do not have statistics. Or you have unloaded requests, but they are few.

In these cases, it makes sense to expand the semantics. For purposes of On SERP SEO, queries from the following sources are well suited:

• Yandex and Google search tips (here's the parser + guide for collecting them);

Google Search Tooltip Examples

• association phrases - words from the block “Together with the request they seek ...” ( parser + guide );

Examples of phrase-associations in Yandex

• keywords obtained on the basis of analysis of thematic issues ( otvet.mail.ru , qoura.com , answerthepublic.com ).

Questions with a keyword from AnswerThePublic

All this is a “living” semantics that characterizes the actual needs of the target audience. When choosing queries, it is useful to take into account the words , in the presence of which sorcerers are most likely to be displayed (in descending order of popularity):

• recipe
• best
• or
• to do
• definition
• windows
• get
• quantity
• cost
• value
• price
• iphone
• TOP
• salary
• time
• overview
• how
• name
• length
• the code
• schedule
• reviews
• change
• the size

Collect the queries, and then find the ones by which the sorcerers are displayed. Next, create content for these requests.

Choosing the Right Content Formats

If you want to take your place in zero position, make sure that your site has the right content. There are formats that are perfect for On SERP SEO.

Answers on questions

Requests with the words “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, “why”, etc., are entered by users in order to get a specific answer.

For parsing questions in your subject, you can use the services of questions and answers and answerthepublic.com. It also makes sense to parse similar questions from a Google search using Xpath. Use the free Google Sheets template for this - we wrote about it here .

Examples of similar questions in a Google search

Questions should be selected according to one of two criteria:

• Simple enough - so you can answer in one paragraph of 250-350 characters.
• Complicated enough - so that you have the opportunity to expand the topic deeper.

When choosing a question, stick to the middle ground. Too detailed questions are rarely asked, and it makes no sense to create content on separate pages. If you collect just such questions, combine them in the FAQ section.

Guides / Instructions

Such content is well suited not only because search engines willingly form results based on it at the zero position, but also because users often click on links. In this case, the snippet at the zero position acts as a teaser, motivating the user to click on it and find out more information.

In response to How-To queries, search engines often display YouTube videos at zero position. If you have your own channel, optimize the video for thematic queries, and you will get a chance to increase your views from the search.

Definitions

For popular queries like “what is SEO” or “brick is”, search engines most often display results from Wikipedia. But for more specific terms, you can go to the zero line.

There are two ways to optimize content for definitions:

• use concise definitions of terms in the main content (the “term is this” construct);
• create a dictionary on the site, which will reveal the basic terms related to your topic.

Base of terms in the PromoPult system

Comparisons

Content that compares various products or modifications is well displayed in the Zero-Click block. As with the instructions, users eagerly click on such links to find out more.

Tops / Ratings

Make a rating of products in your field, and you will get a chance for a snippet of this kind:

We optimize content for Zero-Click

We offer tips to help you optimize your content for Zero-Click:

1. Use in h1 and title the main keyword under which the page is optimized.
2. In the h2-h3 headings, write down key phrases with a question word (for example, “How to put slate in the cold”).
3. Each paragraph begins with a definition or a short answer to the question indicated in the title of this paragraph. Next, expand the topic in more detail.
4. Use lists, tables, make ratings and comparisons.
5. Add a FAQ page to the site - collect answers to popular questions on your topic here.
6. Introduce micro-marking. The structured data for the FAQ , How-To and other formats are not in themselves conditions for getting into the Zero-Click block. Nevertheless, with their help, search engines will better understand the content of the page. Read about how to add micro-markup to the site yourself.
7. Continuously optimize and update content. So you show the search engines that you keep the information up to date and deserve a zero position. For example, in this way we have increased traffic by 104% over half a year.
8. Optimize images. If the images on the page are of poor quality, search engines can pull pictures from other sites into the advanced snippet. You do not need it. Here's a guide to optimizing images for your search.

After changing the content on the page, do not wait until the search engines bypass it. For example, you can submit a page to crawl in the Google Search Console:

We are localized

If you have a local business, definitely add the organization to Yandex.Directory and Google My Business. So your organization may be in the special elements of the geoservices Yandex and Google.

What are these special elements:

1. Google local pack - displayed on requests related to a product or service in a specific territory. The block is a list of organizations with labels on the map. Users can immediately go to the site, see the schedule, build a route.

2. The sorcerer Yandex.Maps . This is an analogue of Google local pack. It may appear to the right of the issue in the form of a card with tags and a carousel. Another option is a quick answer in the Zero-Click block.

3. OneBox Google My Business - is displayed to the right of the results of the issuance in response to branded queries. Here, brief information about the organization is collected: name, photo, rating, address, phone, work schedule, hourly downloads. At the bottom of the card is a carousel of similar places.

4. Sorcerer Yandex.Directory - organization card to the right of issuance. This is an analogue of the OneBox GMB. But unlike the Google card, for example, there is no way to ask a question.

To get into the sorcerers of Yandex.Directory and GMB:

• Add your organization to these services and confirm the rights to it;
• Fill all information about the company to the maximum, do not leave empty fields;
• add photos and videos, take panoramas;
• motivate customers to leave feedback, respond to them;
• update company information, keep it up to date.

To help - guides on Yandex.Directory and GMB .

"We achieve" SERP contextual advertising

The goal of On SERP SEO is to occupy the maximum space in the results. Contextual advertising does not contradict this goal.

If you have an online store, then from the point of view of visual attractiveness, the best option is to set up a shopping campaign in Google Ads or dynamic ads based on a feed in Yandex.Direct. This will allow you to take a zero position in the commodity sorcerer.

Yandex Product Gallery

Google Ads Shopping Campaign Ads

The combination of contextual advertising, content optimization and the use of directories will take up maximum space on the first page of Yandex and Google search and knock out competitors.

Yes, getting into the Zero-Click block is not always referrals to the site. But potential customers will see your brand more often. And this is recognition and loyalty. In addition, optimization for Zero-Click does not contradict classical SEO, but supplements, improves it and adapts to new realities.