Zero-click environment
Did you search Google recently? You probably noticed the new “AI Overview” located at the top of the browser, which answers queries directly without the need to click through to any websites (along with the new “AI Mode”). These zero-click searches might be great for consumers, but for publishers and marketers, they are spelling big problems.
Snapshot: The shift had been happening incrementally, with “Direct Answers” from the search bar, “People also ask” dropdowns, and “About” sections on search engine side panels. Things sped up in 2025, with 60% of searches now ending without a user progressing to another destination, according to research from Bain & Company. Zero-click searches are also accelerating due to the adoption of other major AI applications, with queries migrating to the likes of ChatGPT, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot (MSFT).
“Google is shifting from being a search engine to an answer engine,” Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, told the WSJ in an interview. “We have to develop new strategies.”
What to do? As publishers witness drops in traffic with limited compensation for their content, CTR and impression metrics may no longer be reliable key performance indicators. Instead, a larger focus is being put on direct partnerships, brand building, referrals and website trustworthiness. Email marketing and social channels like Reddit (RDDT) and Instagram (META) are also playing a bigger part, as well as pivoting to video via platforms like YouTube (GOOGL) and TikTok (BDNCE). Elsewhere, the developments are changing the world of SEO and PPC. Strategies that once focused on keyword placement and backlink acquisition are now being optimized for schema markup and content that can be captured in AI/LLM sources or featured snippets.
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