National SEO 

When competing for national search placement it's imperative you have a complete strategy that incorporates facets from all your ranking factors. A successful National SEO program identifies all possible SERP result variations, and correlate's your company's need and upside to that placement. 

Common SERP features that appear in search:

• Ads (Google) (Top)- These are the paid ads at the top of the SERP
• Featured Snippet- Located directly below Google Ads and is also referred to as "position zero". This is an organic result with information extracted from a page Google has indexed. Featured Snippets have one of the highest CTRs in the SERP.
• Image Pack- Image packs are results displayed as a horizontal row of images with links to Google images. They can be located in different spots on the SERP and have unique ranking factors.
• In-Depth Article- In-Depth Articles typically list in sets of 3 articles from one publisher. They also have unique ranking factors typical organic results. 
• Knowledge Card- Typically appearing at the top of a desktop SERP, Knowledge Cards originate from Google's knowledge graph, edited website sources, or data extracted from the Google index.  
• Knowledge Panel- Most often appear on the right of the organic results from a desktop SERP. Knowledge Panels Like Knowledge Cards come from a variety of sources and have unique ranking factors.
• Local Pack (GMB results)- Also called the "3-pack", and "Local Stack". For sites wanting rank nationally for local stores Google deems to have local intent, these results originate from Google My Business. These listings ar above organic listings and have distinct ranking factors.
• Local Teaser- A version of the Local Pack the Local Teaser offers a few more features like promotions, pricing, hours of operation, and images. These spots are primarily hotels and restaurant results but can include other industries. 
• News Box- Time sensitive news may generate a block of results from Google News which do allow for placement opportunity but when factoring work vs reward, and given the limited life expectancy of keeping the placement, these need to be target for SERP's conservatively.
• Related Questions- The Related Questions result shows questions that Google determines may further assist search users. The result resembles the featured snippet but does not allows appear in the "0" position.
• Reviews- Accompanying a search result reviews and ratings are in a 5-Star format. Reviews and associated ratings do offer the advantage of higher result "click through rates" and merit focusing energy on improving them. This result is not exclusive to businesses and can accompany products, recipes, and more. 
• Shopping Results- Located at the top of the SERP, and similar to Google Ads, these are paid results also call "PLA's" (Product Listing Ads). 
• Site Links- Also called "extensions" when a search user searches by company brand or an exact domain, Google in some cases, displays sitelinks within the website below the result. The great part of this is that, the results can push up to 5 organic positions off of page 1.
• Tweet- Mixed in with organic results, twitter results can be optimized for placement and do add value to your online marketing efforts.
• Video- Video results offer an additional SERP result and can be optimized for as well. 

​Our SEO Consultants are experts at identifying your most effective strategy and implementing it an a format that identifies the quickest path to growing your business. A properly planned and implemented National SEO campaign, will get the SERP results in the listing variations that achieve the best possible saturation for your brand. As you can see from the variety of SERP placements, and the multitude of ranking factors, understanding which results can be achieved the quickest and working a plan that allows early and consistent results will help fund the SEO work throughout the course of your program.

National SEO does have unique challenges but also provides a lot of diversity in growing your online "footprint". It can reinforce and grow  your brand, drive ecommerce sales, in-store sales, take SERP results from your competitors and deliver large returns from your optimization spend or efforts . The Elite SEO Consulting team can handle every aspect of your SEO program, work in tandem with your in-house team or offer you solutions to train or build one from scratch.