SERP snapshots
A SERP snapshot is GeoBubbles' frozen view of the Google search results page for one of your prompts on a given date. We don't show a screenshot — we render the parsed result in the same visual order Google uses, so you can read it like a real SERP while still being able to sort, filter, and click into the underlying data.
What's inside a snapshot
Snapshots are reconstructed from the parsed SERP and include, in roughly the order Google shows them:
- AI Overview (if present) — the AI-generated answer block with its source references.
- Featured snippet (if present) — title, description, source URL.
- Local map pack (if present) — the 3-pack of map results with brand / competitor color coding.
- People Also Ask — the captured PAA questions and answering domains.
- Organic results — the full organic list captured at that moment, with each result tagged as your brand, competitor, or neutral.
- Paid results — flagged separately so they don't pollute organic position counts.
Every block is color-coded:
- Brand color — results belonging to your domain or its known aliases.
- Red — results belonging to a tracked competitor.
- Neutral — everything else.
How to read it
The snapshot view is built to answer three questions quickly:
- Who owns the top of this SERP? — scan for brand vs red highlights in the AI Overview, featured snippet, and first organic positions.
- Where are we missing? — empty brand color in the AI block, PAA, or map pack tells you the prompt is being answered by someone else.
- What changed? — comparing two snapshots of the same prompt on two dates shows you exactly which SERP features and which competitors moved.
How often snapshots are taken
Snapshots are captured as part of each measurement cycle for the prompt — the same cycle that fetches LLM responses. That keeps the SERP and the AI answers aligned to (approximately) the same point in time, which is what makes the side-by-side comparison meaningful.
The exact cadence depends on your plan and the prompt's run schedule — recurring prompts are snapshotted on each scheduled run.
What snapshots are not
- Not a pixel-perfect screenshot — we render parsed data, so Google UI changes don't break historical views.
- Not personalised — captures use the country / city configured on the site, not your own browser session.
- Not real-time — open a snapshot to see the SERP as it was on the capture date, not as it is right now.