Zero-click SEO: How AI is impacting search engines

If you haven’t heard (or seen), AI Overviews are now showing in Australia.

With Google’s AI Overviews and zero-click search results becoming more prominent, businesses need to rethink how they approach SEO. Traditional rankings are no longer just about appearing on page one – now, search engines are delivering answers directly on the results page, often without requiring a click-through.

So, how does zero-click SEO impact businesses, and what can you do to stay ahead? Watch our video below or scroll down for more info.

What is zero-click SEO

Zero-click SEO refers to the increasing trend where users find the information they need directly on the search engine results page (SERP), without clicking on a website. These answers often appear in:

• Featured Snippets (answer boxes)
• Knowledge Panels (information from authoritative sources)
• People Also Ask sections
• AI Overviews (Google’s AI-generated summaries)

For searchers, this provides instant answers – but for businesses, it means fewer clicks to their website. Instead of competing purely for organic traffic, brands must optimise content to feature within these zero-click elements while ensuring their site remains the go-to resource for in-depth information.

Zero-click SEO is not a new concept

Zero-click searches have been on the rise for years, particularly for informational queries like:

• “What is the capital of Australia?”
• “How many teaspoons in a tablespoon?”
• “Weather in Perth today”

Google’s goal has always been to serve users the fastest and most accurate answers, which has led to the expansion of rich results, featured snippets, and knowledge panels. While the introduction of AI Overviews adds another layer to this, the reality is that businesses have been dealing with zero-click searches for quite some time.

Although documented across the web for quite a few years, we originally heard about Zero Click marketing in late 2023 from Rand Fishkin in his Zero-Click Marketing 101 video.

You can watch the short video below.

The key takeaway? SEO strategies must evolve to ensure businesses remain visible – even if users don’t always click through.

Consider featured snippets

Featured Snippets are the original zero-click SEO element. These appear at the top of the SERP in a box, pulling content directly from a webpage to answer the user’s query.

For businesses, landing a Featured Snippet means increased exposure – even if it doesn’t always lead to a website visit. However, featured content still needs to be compelling enough to encourage further clicks. This is especially true for complex topics where users need more detail beyond the initial summary.

Optimising for Featured Snippets involves:

• Structuring content with clear, concise answers to common questions
• Using bullet points, numbered lists, and well-formatted content
• Ensuring the snippet piques interest rather than answering everything outright

By targeting Featured Snippets, businesses can position themselves as authoritative sources, increasing visibility even in a zero-click search landscape.

AI Overviews: Enhanced featured snippets

Google’s AI Overviews take Featured Snippets a step further by using AI-generated summaries to provide in-depth responses to user queries. These summaries pull information from multiple sources, often displaying a mix of web content, reviews, and structured data.

For businesses, AI Overviews represent both a challenge and an opportunity. Since Google now aggregates content across multiple websites, competition for direct clicks is even tougher. However, sites that consistently produce high-quality, authoritative content stand a better chance of being referenced within AI Overviews.

What zero-click SEO means for local businesses

For local businesses, Zero-Click SEO has significantly changed how potential customers interact with search results. When users search for a service, product, or business near them, they often find what they need directly on Google’s search results page – whether through Google Business Profiles, local packs, featured snippets, or AI Overviews.

This means fewer people are clicking through to individual websites, as key details such as contact information, directions, and customer reviews are already displayed.

One of the biggest challenges businesses now face is the loss of trackable conversions. Traditionally, website visits allowed businesses to track important actions like form submissions, phone calls, appointment bookings, and product purchases.

However, with Google now answering more queries directly, users may be making decisions without ever visiting a business’s website, making it harder to measure direct engagement.

To adapt, businesses must shift their focus towards alternative tracking methods. Google Business Profile insights can provide valuable data on calls, direction requests, and profile interactions.

Tracking branded search volume over time can indicate whether Zero-Click SEO is still driving awareness. Additionally, businesses using call tracking software can identify where inbound enquiries are coming from, even if the customer never lands on the website.

While Zero-Click SEO reduces direct website traffic, it doesn’t mean businesses can’t measure success – it just requires a shift in strategy. Adapting to these changes ensures that businesses can still capture and analyse customer interest, even when users aren’t clicking through to their sites.

How to best prepare for zero-click SEO

While zero-click searches reduce traditional website traffic, strong SEO strategies still matter. Here’s how businesses can stay competitive in a world where Google answers many queries directly.

1. Content remains important

Search engines still prioritise well-structured, high-quality content – even if it’s summarised on the SERP. Answer key questions concisely, but ensure your content offers deeper insights to encourage users to click through.

2. Quality content is now more important

With AI Overviews sourcing from credible sites, businesses must prioritise content accuracy. This means:

• Using authoritative sources
• Providing original research, expert insights, and detailed analysis
• Writing clear, factual, and trustworthy content

3. Internal linking and content structure

Structured content improves visibility. A well-organised site with:

• Logical headings (H1, H2, H3)
• Internal links between related pages
• FAQ sections

This helps Google understand content hierarchy and relevance, improving the chances of ranking in zero-click search results.

4. Referencing external sources

Google values trustworthy, well-researched content. Citing reputable sources, studies, and high-profile websites improves credibility and increases the likelihood of being referenced in AI Overviews.

5. Obtaining backlinks from reputable sources

Backlinks from high-authority websites signal to Google that your content is trustworthy and valuable. This remains one of the strongest ranking factors – even in a zero-click SEO environment.

Ways to earn backlinks:

• Publishing insightful, shareable content
• Writing guest posts on industry websites
• Getting mentioned in news articles or expert roundups

Attribution for zero-click SEO

For the past twenty years or so, we’ve continually seen improvement in how we track users online. From traffic sources, to where they click and how they enquire, to more personal information like their interests, hobbies or personal situation.

The depth of tracking online has become worryingly specific and detailed.

However, this is changing, with countries and governments pushing back against how digital platforms track and store user information. This will continue to be the case, so we need to look at how we really gauge performance of digital campaigns.

While zero-click SEO and AI Overviews present challenges, businesses that adapt their content strategy can still thrive. By focusing on high-quality, structured content, optimising for featured snippets, and strengthening brand authority, it’s possible to remain visible and relevant in a changing search landscape.

We’ve become over-dependant on attribution

As a data-driven digital marketing agency, attribution of events and key events has become one of the most effective ways we’ve been able to boost the CRO of our clients’ websites. We make changes, run A/B tests, and analyse over weeks, months, and years to see incremental changes to a client’s performance.

Effective digital marketing has become over-dependant on attribution.

As Tom Goodwin mentioned during his presentation on X at the State of Social 2024 conference in Perth, marketing has gone through a few periods of differing attribution.

Pre-digital, attribution was challenging, and broader brand metrics and surveying were completed to gain insight into how customers ‘felt’ about a particular brand. This attribution, whilst insightful, limited a proper understanding of how effective a campaign was. Tom coined this as “Knowing Nothing”.

Then, once digital marketing became mainstream, cookies and attribution from traffic sources and specific campaigns were available, and digital marketers moved to over-analysing every campaign. This was coined as “Counting Everything”.

This resulted in the performance of a campaign or strategy being almost entirely judged purely on the number of leads or profitability at that point in time – with less consideration given to the long-term impact, such as customer awareness, retention, and brand resonance.

It’s time to look at overall performance, not just the number of leads.

For most for-profit businesses, the end goal of SEO and digital marketing is to generate leads. Whilst this was commonly done in the past by driving traffic to your website, a zero-click methodology means we need to look at overall business performance.

Note: There are cases where zero-click searches have a bigger impact on the business (such as a local publication which sells ad-space based on views/engagement).

Optimise for AI Overviews

Want to ensure your website stays competitive in the AI-powered search era? White Chalk Road can help you develop a strategy that keeps your business front and centre – even when users don’t always click. Get in touch with us today to find out more!