Think quick facts; weather, calculators, dictionary lookups, what are the benefits of vegan leather, when does a new phone model ship, or when’s prime deal day this year? These results come from features like featured snippets, knowledge panels, People Also Ask, local listings, direct answer boxes, and AI Overviews in the Search Generative Experience, which can summarize multiple sources. Although convenient for users who want quick answers, for brands, it reduces traffic to websites, causing a necessary strategic shift.
In 2024, SparkToro reported that 58.5% of U.S. Google searches ended with no click. For every 1,000 U.S. searches, only 360 clicks reached the open web, while about 30% went to Google’s own properties. This matters because fewer clicks to external sites mean less organic traffic, fewer leads, and less visibility for brands that depend on search to reach customers. Present day, the trend is continuing:
- In March 2025, only 40.3% of U.S. searches led to a non-paid external site, down from 44.2% a year earlier.
- Zero-click searches rose to 27.2% from 24.4 %.
- Clicks to Google properties increased to 14.3% from 12.1%, and YouTube became the top destination from Google results.
According to SEMrush, AI Overviews now appear in 13% of searches, up from 7% in January 2025. Click-through rates fall when they appear: one study saw a 35% drop for the top spot, and another found an average 15.49% decline across 700,000 keywords. SEMrush also reports that zero-click searches are rising, with 80% of users relying on them in at least 40% of their queries. This shift cuts organic traffic by 15 to 25%.
Why This Matters for Brands and Advertisers
It’s simple: ranking on page one no longer guarantees traffic. Snippets, shopping units, and AI Overviews often satisfy intent directly on the SERP. Zero-clicks are not always harmful, since Google reported that 60 percent of mobile users who search for local businesses contact the business directly from the results page.
The larger risk is disintermediation, where Google answers the query fully and the user never engages with your brand. For brands, this means less organic traffic and fewer leads, conversions, and revenue opportunities; visibility alone is no longer enough if it does not drive measurable business outcomes.
This shift requires brands to rethink search strategies and connect SERP presence to actions that bring users into owned experiences and support the path to conversion.
How Should Brands Respond to this New Search Reality?
Search behavior is changing fast. As the traditional click-through path starts disappearing, brands need to keep up and adapt their strategies to stay visible and relevant. Here’s how to respond to this new search reality and make sure your brand continues to show up where decisions happen:
- Maximize presence where users decide. Complete and maintain your Google Business Profile. Keep hours, addresses, services, photos, and Q&A updated. Monitor reviews and response time. Local prominence often drives calls and visits without a click.
- Structure content for SERP features. Write clear answers with headings, lists, and concise definitions. Add schema where relevant, for example FAQ, HowTo, Product, Organization, LocalBusiness. Improve Core Web Vitals. These basics increase your odds of earning snippets and rich results, which boost visibility and authority even if overall clicks decline.
- Lean into YouTube. YouTube is the top downstream destination from Google, driving about 16% of global internet traffic. Creating video tutorials, comparisons, and demos, alongside optimizing titles, descriptions, chapters, and captions boosts visibility. Videos complement site traffic by driving awareness, authority, and engagement even when users don’t click through.
- Target the right keywords. Avoid terms dominated by knowledge panels and instant answers if your goal is traffic. For example, ranking for “shoes” often leads to a knowledge panel result with little traffic benefit, while targeting “best running shoes for flat feet” captures decision-focused searches with stronger conversion potential. For zero-click-prone terms, aim for brand visibility and entity strength instead of sessions.
- Pair paid with organic. Bid on critical terms that lose clicks to zero-click layouts, and use local and YouTube ads to hold presence where organic exposure is thin. This does not replace SEO, but ensures budgets are balanced across organic and paid so brands maintain both visibility and long-term growth.
Reporting that Matches Reality
Traditional metrics don’t tell the full story anymore. As search experiences evolve beyond clicks and site visits, brands must broaden how they define performance. Many key interactions like calls, views, mentions, and engagements now happen directly within Google surfaces or across connected channels. To truly understand your brand’s impact, it’s time to measure visibility and influence, not just traffic. Here’s how to capture a more complete picture:
- Visibility metrics: Impressions, average position, SERP feature appearances, AI Overview citations, share of voice by topic.
- On-SERP actions: From Google Business Profile, track calls, direction requests, messages, bookings, and photo views.
- Channel cross-over: Track YouTube views and subscribers from Google Search, Maps actions, and brand query growth.
- Attribution: Use GA4 data-driven attribution and assisted conversions. Compare exposed vs non-exposed cohorts where possible. Bain’s research supports a shift toward measuring influence, not only last click.
Zero-click isn’t the end of SEO; it’s the evolution of it. The challenge isn’t visibility, it’s measurement and intent. The search results page has become a full-funnel environment, where discovery, evaluation, and action all happen without a site visit. Winning in this landscape means treating the SERP as your new storefront: own the answer box, dominate the local pack, and show up in video and AI summaries.
Success comes from connecting every impression, view, and engagement to its role in driving awareness, trust, and demand, not just clicks or last-touch conversions. When you align strategy to influence rather than traffic alone, you don’t just keep up with search: you lead it.