Zero-click search – how AI Overviews and SERP features affect your traffic

Definition

A zero-click search is a search that ends without the user clicking through to any website – the answer is delivered directly in Google's search results via AI Overviews, featured snippets or knowledge panels.

What is zero-click search?

A zero-click search is a search where the user gets their answer directly in the search results – without clicking through to a website. The answer is delivered via SERP features such as AI Overviews, featured snippets, knowledge panels, calculators, currency conversion, weather cards or "People also ask". For the user, that is convenient. For the website that produced the original content, it means visibility goes up but traffic goes down.

The term was coined before AI Overviews existed and originally referred to featured snippets and knowledge panels. Since Google launched its AI answers in May 2024, the share of zero-click searches has soared – and the term has taken on a new urgency for everyone working on organic visibility.

What share of searches are zero-click?

The figures vary with methodology and search category, but three studies give a sense of the scale:

• SparkToro 2024 – according to SparkToro's zero-click study, every 1,000 US Google searches led to only 374 clicks to the open web (EU: 360). The rest either went to Google's own properties or ended without any click at all.
• Similarweb, May 2025 – for news-related searches, the share of zero-click searches rose from 56% to 69% in one year, according to Similarweb. The increase correlates closely with the roll-out of AI Overviews.
• Searches with AI Overviews – on results pages where an AI Overview appears, close to 80% of searches end without a click.

The conclusion is clear: zero-click is no longer the exception; it is the norm.

What triggers zero-click search?

The most common triggers are informational searches with a clear answer:

• Definitions and facts – "what is seo", "how tall is the King of Sweden".
• Conversions and calculations – exchange rates, unit conversion, maths.
• Local queries – opening hours, addresses, phone numbers (Google Business Profile fills the SERP).
• "How do I" questions – often trigger AI Overviews and featured snippets at the same time.
• Comparisons – "webflow vs wordpress" is summarised in AI Overviews before the user reaches a link.

Transactional searches with clear purchase intent ("webflow agency stockholm", "buy running shoes") are much less likely to end without a click – here, the user still wants to click through.

What does zero-click search mean for SEO?

The crucial change is that ranking in position 1 no longer guarantees as much traffic. You can rank first, be cited in AI Overviews and still see your CTR halve compared with a year ago. The consequences:

• CTR is no longer a proxy for ranking – a page can be highly visible and well optimised for CTR and still see its clicks fall.
• Brand mentions and citations become metrics in their own right – if the AI mentions your brand in the answer, there is value in that, even without a click.
• Topical authority becomes more important than individual pages – AI Overviews more often cite websites that cover a topic in depth than websites with a single optimised page.
• Bottom-of-funnel content becomes more valuable – transactional keywords and product/service pages are less affected and closer to conversion.

How do you adapt your SEO strategy to a zero-click world?

• Write to be cited, not just clicked – structure content with semantic chunking: clear answers early on the page, FAQ sections and concrete figures that AI can pick up. That is the AEO mindset.
• Prioritise transactional keywords – build out service and product pages that answer purchase intent. That is where the clicks still are.
• Build brand recognition – users who see your brand in an AI answer are more likely to search for it directly later.
• Measure share of voice rather than traffic alone – how often are you shown and cited, not just how many people clicked?
• Strengthen internal linking to the bottom of the funnel – the visitors who do click through to informational pages need to be guided quickly further down the funnel or towards conversion.