SEO courseModule 9 of 10: Playing It SmartLesson 9.3
What the Results Page Looks Like Now
A results page is no longer ten blue links. It can include the map, portal listings, "People also ask", images, videos and AI-written summaries, and there are ways to be visible in more of them.
Why it matters
Results now include the map, portals and AI summaries, so "am I number one?" misses where people look.
Why Google cares
Visibility now comes in many shapes
Do this first
Screenshot the first page for your ten main searches and note every feature, not just the links.
01What it is
A search page used to be a list of ten links. Now it can show maps, pictures and short written answers, and sometimes people get what they need without clicking anything.
Think of it like
A newspaper front page with headlines, photos and boxes of facts. Plenty of readers take in the box without opening the article.
02Why it matters
To the people searching
Someone searching "best letting agents in [town]" may read an AI summary or the map before any ordinary link. If you only ask "am I number one?", you miss where they're actually looking.
buyers
Often see the map, portal listings and AI answers before your site.
tenants
Same, and use image and map results heavily.
sellers
Increasingly get AI answers listing "the best agents", drawn from reviews and mentions across the web.
landlords
Same, for letting agents and management fees.
To Google and Bing
Visibility now comes in many shapesThese features change how much traffic a ranking brings: a page can rank well and still get fewer clicks if the results page answers the question itself. Google says its AI Overviews and AI Mode use normal Search: a page needs to be indexed and eligible to show a snippet, with no special files or markup required. Bing feeds Microsoft Copilot, and Bing Webmaster Tools now has an AI Performance report (in public preview since February 2026) showing when your pages are cited. Google also stopped showing FAQ rich results for almost every site, so write FAQs for readers, not for a special result.
An agent example
An agency's rent guide ranks fifth for "average rent [town]" but gets few clicks, because an AI summary answers the question. It adds a clear, quotable table of rents by area, with the source and date, and starts being cited in the summary itself.
03Your turn
Check yours, then fix it
- 1For 10 key searches, screenshot the whole first page in a private window.
- 2Note what appears: map, ads, portals, AI summary, People also ask, videos, images. Keep the screenshots to compare next time.
- 1Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity: "Best estate agents in [town]", "Best letting agents in [town]" and "How much does it cost to rent a 2 bed flat in [area]?"
- 2Note whether you're mentioned, and which sources they use.
- 1For your top pages, compare impressions with clicks over time. Stable impressions with falling clicks often means the results page is answering for you.
- 2If Bing Webmaster Tools shows an AI Performance report for your site, check which pages are cited.
- 1Short, factual sections: definitions, steps, tables and FAQs, with a named source and date.
- 2Original data others want to cite (lesson 4.4).
- 3A strong, consistent business identity and reputation, since AI answers draw heavily on what others say about you (lessons 6.4 and 7.2).
- Your Business Profile for the map (lesson 6.1), real photos for image results, and video for video results (lesson 5.4).
- How AI assistants choose who to recommend, and how to be one of them, is covered in full in our GEO course.
04Keep it up
Repeat the same snapshot and prompts every month, so you can see what’s changing.
See also
That's lesson 9.3
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