SERP features are the parts of a Google results page beyond the plain list of links: the snippet box at the top, sitelinks under a brand result, review stars, breadcrumbs, related searches and the rest. The usual advice is to “win” as many of them as possible. That advice skips the first question, which is whether a given feature responds to anything you do.
Google answers that question in its visual elements gallery for Google Search, which names each element of a result and links to the documentation for it. Read as a whole, it splits the page into three groups. Spending effort on the wrong group is how teams lose weeks chasing boxes that do not respond.
A list of SERP features, sorted by control
The table below follows what Google says about each element. “Influence” means there is documented guidance on how to provide or affect it, not a guarantee it will appear.
| Element | What Google says | Your level of control |
|---|---|---|
| Title link | Documented ways to influence it | High |
| Snippet | Documented ways to influence it | High |
| Favicon | Documented ways to provide it | High |
| Site name | Documented ways to influence it | High |
| Breadcrumb | Documented ways to influence it | High |
| Byline date | Documented ways to influence it | High |
| Rich attributes (for example review stars) | Typically powered by structured data you provide | Medium: you supply the data, Google decides whether to show it |
| Sitelinks | Automated, with best practices to improve their quality | Low to medium |
| Featured snippet | You can manage it, for example by opting out; you cannot force it | Low: you can say no, not yes |
| Related searches and questions groups | Automatically generated; “you can’t control what shows up here” | None |
The pattern is clear. The elements attached to your own result, its title, description, icon, name, path and date, are largely yours to shape. The further a feature sits from your own result, the less say you have.
The features you can shape directly
Title links, snippets, favicons, site names, breadcrumbs and byline dates all have documented guidance behind them. None of them is guaranteed to show exactly what you wrote; Google can still rewrite a title or pick a different snippet. But each one has inputs you control, and getting those inputs right is the highest-return work on this list.
This is also where most of the click-through gains sit, because these elements appear on every result you have. A clear title and an accurate description affect every impression; a featured snippet affects one query at best. If you want to understand how much the position of a result matters before you worry about decoration, our analysis of CTR by position is the place to start.
A quick audit covers most of it. Search for your brand and a few of your main pages, then read each result as a stranger would. Is the site name right? Does the favicon show? Does the breadcrumb describe where the page sits, or show a raw URL path? Is the date the one you intended? Each mismatch points to an input you can fix on your own site.
How to optimise for SERP features that use structured data
Rich attributes, such as review stars and other extra details under a result, are typically powered by structured data you add to the page. This is the clearest middle ground: you supply the data, and Google decides whether to display it. Valid markup is a precondition, not a promise.
Two practical rules follow. Mark up only what is visible and true on the page, because markup that describes something the reader cannot see is the fastest way to lose rich results entirely. And check the specific documentation for each feature you want, since each has its own requirements. Breadcrumbs are a good example of the overlap: they are both a basic element of your result and something you can describe with markup.
Sitelinks sit slightly further out. Google describes them as automated, but there are best practices to improve their quality. In practice, that means a clear site structure and descriptive internal links, so the pages Google picks are the ones you would have picked.
The features you can only partly manage
The featured snippet is the feature most guides promise to help you win, and it is the one where Google’s position is most restrictive. You can manage it, for instance by opting a page out, but you cannot force your page into the box. Clear, direct answers to a question help a page be eligible; nothing makes it selected.
That asymmetry is worth taking seriously. Opting out is a real option when a snippet answers the question so completely that nobody clicks, a pattern covered in our piece on zero-click searches. Whether to opt out depends on whether the visibility is worth more to you than the click, and only your own Search Console data can answer that.
The features you cannot control at all
Related searches and questions groups are where the received wisdom is weakest. Plenty of guides recommend writing content “to get into People Also Ask”. Google’s gallery is blunt about these groups: they are automatically generated, and “you can’t control what shows up here.”
That does not make them useless. They are a free view of what else people search around a topic, which is valuable input for planning a page or a cluster. Use them as research, the way you would use a SERP review in how to do SERP analysis, not as a target you can hit.
What this sorting cannot tell you
The limitation is that “you can influence it” is not the same as “it will appear”. Every element in the top half of the table is still Google’s choice to display, and Google can rewrite titles, pick a different snippet or drop rich attributes for a page it otherwise ranks well. Nothing here gives you click-through figures per feature either; the gallery describes what elements are and how they work, not how much traffic they send.
Results pages also change. New elements appear, older ones are retired, and AI features now sit above many of them, which our look at the traffic impact of AI Overviews covers separately. The useful habit is the one this table encodes: before chasing a feature, check what Google says you can do about it. More analysis of search data sits in the data archive.
Frequently asked questions
What are SERP features?
Elements of a Google results page beyond the plain list of links, such as featured snippets, sitelinks, rich attributes like review stars, breadcrumbs and related searches.
Can I make my page appear as a featured snippet?
No. Google says you can manage featured snippets, for example by opting out, but you cannot force a page into one.
How do I get review stars in search results?
Rich attributes like review stars are typically powered by structured data. Add valid markup for content that is visible on the page; Google still decides whether to show it.
Can I control related searches or questions about my brand?
No. Google says these groups are automatically generated and that you can’t control what shows up there.
The takeaway Work on the SERP features attached to your own result first, add structured data where it applies, and treat related searches as research rather than a target.
