Zero-Click Series: Reframing Search in the Age of AI
Zero-click search isn’t erasing brand value. It’s compressing the path to decision—and creating new spaces for influence.
There’s a lot of handwringing lately about zero-click search. The narrative tends to go like this: “Traffic is down. CTR is tanking. And AI Overviews are making it worse.”
But zero-click isn’t a crisis; it’s a course correction. It’s what happens when the search experience gets better, faster, and more intuitive. And for brands that know how to adapt, it’s not a loss of visibility—it’s a new path to influence.
A Better Experience Isn’t Bad News
It’s worth asking: When was the last time a zero-click search felt like a bad user experience? If the information surfaces instantly and accurately, the outcome is often better, not worse.
Google says more than 1 billion people have already used AI Overviews. Pew reports that 58% of U.S. web users encountered at least one Overview in March 2025. And the behavior is sticky. Google notes a 10% uptick in searches that trigger Overviews, indicating people are actively seeking out AI Overviews once they have been exposed to them.
As you might expect, many of these experiences don’t result in a click: Independent studies show that AI Overviews reduce clickthrough rates by 15–35%.
And it’s not just Google adding AI features to search. Over half of U.S. adults now use large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or Copilot for search-type tasks. ChatGPT alone processes 2.5 billion prompts a day, with more than 700 million people using it weekly. ChatGPT has a first-mover advantage, but when combined, other AI platforms still get over 40 million daily active users.
Zero-click search isn’t friction; it’s evolution. Brands that deliver value in the answer itself are already seeing the upside.
The Customer Still Converts When They’re Ready
Zero-click doesn’t mean zero action. Purchase intent hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s just taking new forms.
Generative AI traffic to U.S. retail sites increased by 3300% YoY for Prime Day 2025, according to Adobe Analytics. ChatGPT drove 293 million estimated visits to websites in April 2025, according to SimilarWeb.
ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity are not dead ends. Instead, they're smart on-ramps that let users explore, compare, and eventually buy. In fact, OpenAI is reportedly exploring revenue-sharing agreements based on purchases that happen directly within ChatGPT. This signals a broader shift: Overall clicks might be decreasing, but high-value intent is getting sharper.
Rethink the Narrative
The conversation should change from loss to leverage. The questions to ask are:
- Is the brand present in the sources AI pulls from?
- Is the brand cited, preferred, and linked over competitors?
- Are upstream experiences fueling demand with upper-funnel experiences across paid, owned, and earned?
The goal is no longer just traffic. It’s trust, visibility, and influence in the places consumers turn to first.
New Metrics to Measure Success
To win in an AI-first search world, we need to evolve what we measure. Success isn’t just about clicks and links anymore. It’s about influencing the AI, so we can reach the consumer.
Here’s the new hierarchy of value:
- Mentioned: Brand is referenced as part of the answer (baseline visibility).
- Preferred: Brand is positioned favorably over competitors (brand lift).
- Linked: Brand receives a direct pathway to owned channels (conversion opportunity).
Today, many LLMs prefer to link to third-party sources and aggregators rather than brand sites. Brands need to optimize site content for machine readability. That means structured data, clear context, and semantic precision. But even without a link, brand mentions and positioning inside AI answers hold a lot of value as they can influence the user to choose your brand even if it’s not easy for them to click through to your site.
If you want to win in AI search, start tracking:
- AI Visibility: How often your brand is cited in AI responses
- Brand Preference: When AI chooses your product over a competitor
- Link Inclusion: When AI gives users a clear path to your site
This is how brands will win the zero-click future—not by chasing clicks, but by owning the “organic” AI answers.
The Bottom Line
Zero-click search isn’t killing the funnel. It’s compressing it. Brands that show up earlier, get cited more often, and influence decisions upstream are already turning this shift into a competitive edge. This isn’t a glitch. It’s the new reality. The sooner brands embrace it the sooner they can use it to their advantage.
Author
SVP, Search
