March 2021 Google SERP Feature Changes Signal Recovery?

This is the first in a monthly series of updated Local Pack-O-Meter data. Each month we will report on the changes we see in Google SERP features across ~60M U.S. search queries (graciously provided by Traject Data). Without further ado, here is the March 2021 report:

As in February, most of the action in March took place in Local Packs, PAAs, Ads, & Shopping Boxes. These changes feel to me like they are leading indicators of a strengthening economy.

1. Local Pack Presence Rose by ~3%
  Local Packs continued their steady climb started in January. My sense is that this is being driven by a combination of more and more regions “opening up” combined with the onset of Spring. If you’re a pure e-commerce player, this may be why your organic click growth may be not growing even as search volume grows. Local retailers may want to check their GMB and/or in-store activity against their e-commerce traffic as these “Local” elements may be growing at e-comm’s expense.
2. PAAs Continue To Grow
  The presence of People Also Ask widgets grew by about four percentage points. PAAs have been the steadiest growing SERP Feature for the past year. Start answering those questions people!
3. Ads & Shopping Boxes = $
  In February both of these elements were growth outliers. In March, these money-makers continued to grow with Ads up ~five percentage points and Shopping Boxes up ~1.4 points. My guess is that thanks to the opening up, Spring, and stimulus checks, people are spending money and businesses want to make sure that money gets spent in the right place.
Stay tuned next month for the April report. BTW you can now subscribe to our blog in the upper right hand of this page if you want to be notified of new posts.