Zero-Click Search in the Age of AI: A Guide for Content Marketers

Driving traffic to brand sites through organic search was the primary goal of SEO for years. But as SERPs have started to include direct answers in the form of featured snippets and AI Overviews, users have less of a need to click through to content to find the information they seek.

“Zero-click search,” as this phenomenon is known, is one of the biggest challenges facing content marketers and SEO professionals.

Understanding zero-click search and its impact can give you the insight you need to reshape your strategy and find new ways to glean value from your content.

What Is Zero-Click Search?

The term “zero-click search” describes a process where:

1. A user enters a query in a search engine
2. The answer to that query is displayed on the results page in a SERP feature such as a featured snippet, knowledge panel, or AI Overview
3. The user leaves the results page without clicking on any links

Although some associate zero-click search with the introduction of AI Overviews, it’s been around far longer than that. Featured snippets, knowledge panels, People Also Ask questions, and Local Pack results all contribute to zero-click search as well.

According to Semrush’s zero-click search study, only 41.5% of searches lead to a click on an organic search result. 1.8% of searches resulted in clicks on paid results, and the rest of the searches can be effectively categorized as zero-click.

How Is AI Impacting Zero-Click Search?

In general, AI search has increased the potential for zero-click search. Because AI tools summarize answers for searchers using information from multiple sources around the web, users have less of a need to click through to those sources.

However, there’s a lot of nuance when it comes to AI search and click-through rates.

One of the most visible implementations of AI in search is Google’s AI overviews.

Google also has several other AI search options for users, including AI Mode and the forthcoming Web Guide. We explain both of these in our guide to the best AI search engines.

According to our recent AI trust gap survey, less than 19% of searchers always or usually click on citations in AI Overviews.

Google claims that even though clicks are decreasing, their quality is increasing. This may mean that even if your click-through rate declines, the traffic that does make it to your site will be more likely to engage and convert.

Users now also have LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity as alternatives to Google search. These tools provide citations for their responses to users’ queries, too, although how prominent those citations are depends on which tool you use.

In our workforce survey, we found 70% of people use ChatGPT at work, and more than 83% use it at home. Overall, use of AI is increasing, so zero click search will present an ongoing challenge.

Additionally, Semrush’s ChatGPT search study shows that there are now several sites, especially in the technology industry, that now receive more traffic from ChatGPT than from Google. This suggests that, at least for some, AI search is not necessarily heightening zero-click behavior.

How Does Zero-Click Search Impact SEO?

If users don’t click on SERP links, you can’t count on organic search to send traffic to your website. This has had a sweeping impact on SEO.

First, zero-click search has changed how we interpret SEO metrics. For example, you could once count on your impressions to correlate with your organic clicks. These two metrics have been diverging, especially since the launch of AI Overviews.

These new patterns are also shaping the goals of SEO. Traditional KPIs like clicks and traffic are becoming less significant, while metrics like brand visibility and brand sentiment are now more important as measures of success for content marketers.

That said, a positive perception of your brand alone won’t pay the bills. You still ultimately need users to visit your site and convert, which means adapting your SEO strategy for zero-click search.

How to Optimize for Zero-Click Search

Knowing what we know about zero-click search, there are two methods for optimizing your content to try to capture high-quality traffic from traditional Google searches:

1. Focus on optimizing for keywords that don’t generate SERP features so users have to click a link to see an answer, or
2. Optimize your content for SERP features so your content is displayed more prominently on results pages, increasing your brand’s visibility

As with most things, the best solution is usually to balance both techniques. The first step, however, is to find zero-click searches.

Identify Zero-Click Queries

Being able to spot a keyword with high zero-click potential enables you to quickly decide whether to pursue that keyword and how to optimize for it.

Fortunately, once you know what to look for, it’s pretty easy to predict if a keyword will have a low click-through rate. Semrush is my favorite tool for this task.

The first thing I look for is the keyword intent. Informational queries are the most likely to trigger AI Overviews and other SERP features that contribute to zero-click search.

Semrush highlights keyword intent at the top of the Keyword Overview tool:

It also denotes intent in the Keyword Magic tool:

Product comparisons, which have Commercial intent, also often trigger AI Overviews.

The other thing to consider is whether your brand has authority — or could build authority — around the keyword you’ve chosen. This is more important than ever when optimizing for both traditional and AI search.

Once you’ve found a relevant keyword with the right intent, check the SERP analysis to see which SERP features it’s currently triggering:

Or indicated by expanding the SERP features column in the Keyword Magic tool:

If the keyword is not triggering any SERP features that will likely result in a zero-click search, you can create content for it using traditional SEO techniques.

If the keyword is triggering SERP features like a featured snippet or AI Overview, then you can decide if you want to avoid optimizing for that term and focus your efforts elsewhere, or if you want to take the next steps and try to win the SERP feature.

Optimize for the Right SERP Feature

There are slightly different techniques to optimize your content for different SERP features. Employing these strategies in addition to SEO best practices can increase your brand visibility, even for zero-click searches.

Featured Snippet Optimization Tips

Featured snippets can appear as paragraphs, lists, or tables. The first step to optimizing your content for a featured snippet is checking which format the current featured snippet uses.

Then you can directly answer the query using the proper format. So, if the keyword you’re optimizing for has a paragraph featured snippet, you want to clearly and directly answer the question behind the keyword in paragraph form near the top of the page.

If the featured snippet uses a list or table format, make sure to include your own list or table.

AI Overview Optimization Tips

Optimizing for AI Overviews is similar to optimizing for paragraph featured snippets in that you should try to directly answer the query clearly and concisely. It’s best to place your answer near the top of the page.

However, you can also take it a step further. AI Overviews cite multiple sources, so there are often two or more links that users can expand and potentially click on.

Making your content as comprehensive as possible and including unique insights not present in competing articles may help you land a spot among the AI Overview sources.

EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness) signals and freshness also help with ranking in AI Overviews.

Knowledge Panel Optimization Tips

If there is a Knowledge Panel for your brand, you can claim it and verify its accuracy.

Creating and maintaining your site’s About page will also help supply Google with key information about your company to populate the Knowledge Panel. Your Google Business Profile provides data for this purpose as well.

Finally, consider using organization schema markup to help Google better understand your brand.

People Also Ask Optimization Tips

Viewing the existing People Also Ask questions for your target keyword and answering those questions in your content can help you appear in these SERP features.

Again, answer the questions clearly and directly, and include them as headings or subheadings.

Local Pack Optimization Tips

The most important step you can take to optimize for Local Pack results is to create and maintain your Google Business Profile.

You can also:

• Target local keywords specific to your area
• Add local schema markup to your site
• Respond to customer reviews

Optimize for AI Search

AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini are additional potential traffic sources you can take advantage of.

As I mentioned above, some studies suggest that these platforms are sending more traffic to websites than Google these days, so it’s worth it to optimize for LLMs in addition to traditional search.

The good news is that all the standard SEO techniques still apply. You should still incorporate keywords, match search intent, and use EEAT signals in your content.

However, there are also a handful of other tips that may help your content appear in LLM responses:

• Make your content comprehensive. Try to answer any follow up questions users may have so your page is a complete resource on the topic.
• Include your human perspective. AI cannot replicate genuine human experience, so adding personal narratives, original research, and your honest opinion is key. If you’re writing about a specific product, include images, screenshots, or videos of you using it.
• Structure your content so AI can understand it. Use short paragraphs, short sections, tables, and lists. Be specific so the LLM always has context, even if it only references a short portion of your page.
• Use FAQs to address user queries directly. This is an opportunity to match the language from users’ prompts.

Using an SEO tool designed for LLMs gives you a competitive edge. I recommend Semrush’s AI SEO Toolkit, which provides data and content improvement suggestions specifically for AI tools.

Improve Content Distribution

Optimizing for SERP features and AI search give you the best chance of capturing clicks despite the increase in zero-click searches.

But you don’t have to rely on search alone to drive traffic to your site.

Channels like your email newsletter and social media platforms are excellent sources of high-quality leads.

Your subscribers and followers have already shown interest in and engaged with your brand. Distributing your content through these channels is an opportunity to draw them to your site.

Make sure to follow best practices for including links in your social profiles and emails to decrease the chances of your content being labeled as spam.

Monitor Search Performance

As always, it’s important to monitor your content’s performance to determine the effectiveness of your strategy and make adjustments based on what is or isn’t working.

I recommend tracking impressions and clicks using Google Search Console. To monitor rankings, including the SERP features your content appears in, I find Semrush to be the best tool.

It makes it super simple to see keywords you hold SERP features for. Use the Domain Overview tool, then go to the Organic Research section and use the SERP Features filter.

It will display an icon to indicate which type of SERP feature you hold for each keyword.

I also suggest Semrush’s AI SEO Toolkit for measuring your AI search performance. It enables you to track brand visibility and sentiment, compare your share of voice to competitors, and even assess the accuracy of your brand mentions in tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity.

Revamp Your Content Marketing Game Plan for Zero-Click Search

Zero-click search does not spell the end for SEO — not even close. All the traditional SEO techniques are still relevant now, you just need a bit of strategic planning to target the right keywords and optimize them for the right kind of search.

Semrush is my preferred tool for both traditional search optimization and monitoring AI search performance. You can try it yourself for free and start adapting your SEO strategy for the new challenge of zero-click search.