serpapi
[Google Search API] Support Global Position for Each Section on the Result Page
As Google nowadays adds tons of additional sections to the results page, a need to rank those sections between each other has eventually arisen.
I believe this requires some discussion.
I should also note that this was one of the most upvoted feature request on old forum.
The rough plan is:
- Open the X-Ray endpoint in the headless browser.
- Get client rectangles of container elements: x and y coordinates of top-left position, width, and height. Example.
- Based on client rectangles, calculate global positions.
Challenges:
- Many container elements are hidden. Client rectangles can be calculated only for visible elements.
2 additional recommendations
- add a global position to all items in json feed
- add pixel height from top of the page
Seems to be related, from a Twitter user (block position of serp feature): https://twitter.com/dsottimano/status/1617368806526959617
Related Intercom thread: https://app.intercom.com/a/apps/yzck75jr/inbox/inbox/all/conversations/102910000038676
Another request on Intercom:
https://app.intercom.com/a/inbox/yzck75jr/inbox/shared/all/conversation/102910000039007?view=List
Related Intercom thread: https://app.intercom.com/a/apps/yzck75jr/inbox/inbox/all/conversations/102910000038676
User asks for an update. Can we give a timeline at this point?
User asks for an update. Can we give a timeline at this point?
Unfortunately no. Code is done-ish, but we are still stuck in deploying this.
Sharing my findings on Pixel Ranking to date
Pixel Ranking according to SEO tools:
- The folding point is
800px(vertical) according to myposeo - Above-the-fold rankings get approximately a 30% higher CTR
- The folding point is actually subjective and most tools use popular screen sizes as references
- Critics on Pixel Ranking: https://www.seomonitor.com/blog/why-pixel-based-rank-tracking-is-not-solving-the-problem-its-making-it-worse/. In the end CTR is the only metric and Pixel Ranking can't convert to the attribution of CTR directly. However, I think it still can be a guideline in the SERP as results are as creative as it gets.
- Semrush says Above The Fold is
600px- https://www.semrush.com/blog/above-the-fold/ - How pixel ranking is calculated for each element - https://www.advancedwebranking.com/blog/universal-search-results/
- Google Search Console ranking. Knowledge Graph is likely to rank last most of the time
- Interesting: The concept of above the fold goes back to the beginning of the printing press. Due to the way they were printed on large sheets of paper, newspapers were folded in half once they hit the newsstands. This led to only the top half of the paper being visible to anyone passing by. - https://www.abtasty.com/blog/above-the-fold/
- Folding point is
600px. When determining an average fold placement, most web designers agree that the fold line is at approximately 1,000 pixels wide and 600 pixels tall. This is the best-case scenario for the most common monitor/browser combination of1024x786 pixels- https://www.optimizely.com/optimization-glossary/above-the-fold/
On screen size to render SERP page: From responsive design perspective:
- Bootstrap -
1200pxsuitable to laptop screen - Interestingly, Bootstrap uses a 12-column layout because the number 12 has more divisors than any number before it or after it, up until the number 60. This same logic is behind why Tim Hortons sells donuts by the dozen and not 10 at a time. You can split a dozen donuts evenly between 2, 3, 4, 6 or 12 of your friends. You can’t do that with a 10-pack
- There aren't breakpoints work for all case, breakpoints should based on the content and not device.
- According to Browserstack responsive design - Small (smaller than
640px), Medium (641px to 1007px), Large (1008px and larger)
From designer perspective:
- https://8designers.com/blog/how-do-i-choose-a-screen-size-in-figma -
1280x832 - https://medium.com/@nitishkmrk/responsive-grid-design-ultimate-guide-7aa41ca7892 -
1280x800 1280seems to be common among them
From browser perspective:
- Chrome Dev Tools preset for laptop/desktop is
1024pxand1440pxis the next option. - Safari has
800px,1366px,1920pxfor the laptop/desktop
From market share on desktop screen (July 2023):
- 1920x1080 (22.75%)
- 1366x768 (14.47%)
- 1536x864 (10.41%)
- 1280x720 (5.86%)
- 1440x900 (6.61%)
- 1600x900(3.08%)
From Search Engine their breakpoints (minimum width to stay in desktop mode):
- Google Chrome:
1124px - Google Trends:
1024px - Bing:
1320px - Baidu:
1220px - DuckDuckGo:
1073px - Yahoo:
1280px - Ebay:
1248px - Youtube:
1098px - Walmart:
1024px - Naver:
1180px - Home Depot:
1024px
Update 17/08/2023
- Most content on the web (video, image, instagram photos) optimize for 16:9 aspect ratio as mentioned in this article
- 16:9 is wide and less tall but 4:3 is taller but not wider
- 4:3 for photos and 16:9 for videos
- I actually think 4:3 photo looks amazing, it is more immersive
- One user on Quora says that we started out with 4:3 ratio and transition to 16:9 because of TV content
- This explain why the top 2 most common screen sizes are 1920x1080, 1366x768, 1536x864 and etc because they are both 16:9 and it is the optimum to consume video content.
- More manufacturers are now producing laptops with 16:10 or 3:2 displays. Other than watching video, you will want 16:10 or any taller display for anything you do.
- Another mentioned on 16:9 ratio because it allows video playback without the distracting black bars
The customer didn't request this directly, but their use case would benefit from this:
Hi @brenodamata. Thank you for reaching out! The feature is definitely not abandoned, and we're actively working on it. However, it requires a lot of work and reviews before it can be implemented. While I can't share any ETA, I can tell you that our engineers are actively working on it, and a pull request has been created to implement the feature. However, as I mentioned, it requires a lot of work and reviews.
Feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] in case you have any questions or concerns. We'll be happy to help!
Another request:
The info I'd like is top, left, width, height of all the result containers. It would be necessary to know the screen resolution (width, height) with this.
