Zero Click Debate: It is not about the click, it’s about the journey
Zero-click searches aren’t the death of SEO, they’re a shift in the consumer journey. Learn how to win authority, trust, and visibility across snippets, AI, and social without relying on clicks.
Zero-Click as a Consumer Journey Problem
For more than a decade, the digital economy has been reshaped by a profound yet often misunderstood phenomenon: the rise of zero-click searches. When users find their answers directly on the search results page, they never click through to a website. And while that might sound like a loss, it’s actually a signal. A signal about how people search, what they trust, and how they move through their customer journey.
The common misconception is that zero-click is about technology, AI tools stealing traffic or search engines hoarding attention. But the deeper truth is that zero-click reflects consumer behavior. People are impatient, they want answers fast, and they only click when something is truly worth their time.
This means success today isn’t measured by clicks alone. It’s measured by how well you meet people where they are, in the moment, and guide them forward through a seamless journey of trust and relevance.
The story of zero-click isn’t about the loss of traffic. It’s about the transformation of the customer journey.
Zero-click searches are rewriting the rules of SEO. The old way of measuring success traffic at all costs doesn’t hold up when Google and AI tools are answering queries right on the results page. Even if you rank well, fewer people click through. The journey has changed.
Winning now means showing up across the full ecosystem of where people search for answers. Visibility in AI citations, featured snippets, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, and beyond matters more than dominating a single channel. It’s about being present wherever your audience turns for clarity.
And presence alone isn’t enough, you need authority. Brands that invest in original research, sharp expert perspectives, and structured data are the ones AI tools trust and surface in zero-click results. In other words: be the source, not just another voice.
To future-proof, build your own foundation. First-party data. email lists, owned communities, CDPs gives you control no algorithm can take away. It’s how you reduce dependency on platforms you don’t own.
Finally, redefine what winning looks like. Clicks are just one signal. Today, impressions, brand mentions, AI visibility, and social engagement paint a more complete picture of impact. Success is no longer about who drives the most visits, it’s about who earns the most trust across the journey.
The Historical Trajectory of Zero-Click
Let’s ground the debate in data. Here’s the evolution of zero-click rates over the past decade:
Argument 1: Zero-Click as Consumer Behavior
The behavioral perspective holds that zero-click is fundamentally a human-driven phenomenon. From the moment data was first captured in 2015, zero-click rates were already at 45%, reflecting a deep consumer reliance on quick, efficient answers. The subsequent rise to 65% in 2021 demonstrates a persistent preference for speed and relevance.
The most compelling evidence for the behavioral view came with the generative AI revolution. When ChatGPT launched in 2022 and AI search integrations rolled out in 2023, many predicted a skyrocketing of zero-click rates. Yet the opposite occurred, rates dipped to 58% in 2024.
This suggests that technology alone does not dictate behavior. Even in the presence of groundbreaking AI tools, users maintained a stable equilibrium, reflecting long-term preferences that predate and transcend platform design.
Argument 2: Zero-Click as Platform Design
From the structuralist view, zero-click behavior would not exist at scale without deliberate platform architecture. Google’s Knowledge Panels (2012) created the foundation. The Featured Snippets and People Also Ask boxes (2017) drove the most dramatic single-year spike, from 45% to 53%.
Without these structural interventions, consumer desire for speed would still exist, but it would be forced back into traditional clicks. The architecture defines the sandbox within which behavior occurs.
Consider 2020. The pandemic accelerated digital reliance worldwide. People turned to search for immediate answers on health, supply chains, and social restrictions. But that surge translated into zero-click events only because the SERP already had the infrastructure, panels, snippets, and instant answers, to absorb it. The platform provided the high-tension wire; COVID added the voltage.
The AI Dip: Structural or Behavioral?
The 2024 dip remains the most debated data point. If structural factors were fully determinative, the introduction of generative AI should have pushed zero-click rates higher. Instead, behavior remained steady or even declined slightly.
This supports the idea that new technology does not automatically change consumer journeys. People still prioritize trust, speed, and clarity. Sometimes the snippet satisfies that need. Sometimes AI does. Sometimes neither.
Strategic Implications
Whether one prioritizes behavioral demand or platform constraints, the strategic implications are clear:
If you focus only on platforms, you risk optimizing for diminishing returns, fighting for snippets while ignoring the deeper motivations that drive consumer trust.
If you focus only on behavior, you risk designing strategies that never reach visibility because they ignore the structural limitations of the SERP.
The truth lies in integration: platforms enable behavior, but behavior sustains the trend.
What Marketers Must Do
The rise of zero-click doesn’t mean the death of marketing, it means the game has new rules. To win in this environment, marketers must move beyond surface-level tactics and redesign their strategies around consumer journeys, not clicks. Here’s how:
Plan for People, Not Just Platforms
Map your customer journey from awareness to advocacy. Identify where zero-click moments are likely (quick fact lookups, definitions, comparisons) and where users still lean into deeper content.
Shift from an obsession with “ranking” to an obsession with relevance. The consumer isn’t asking “Who’s #1?”, they’re asking “Who do I trust right now?”
Run continuous consumer behavior research: surveys, social listening, SERP observation. Treat this as a rolling insight engine.
Invest in Proprietary Data & Experiences
With clicks scarcer, your owned assets become gold. Build gated content, communities, and email lists where you control the relationship.
Use zero-click exposure as a top-of-funnel trust builder that funnels people into owned environments. For example: a snippet introduces your brand → a lightweight CTA guides them to subscribe → the newsletter delivers depth.
Develop unique proprietary insights (e.g., market reports, benchmarks, cultural studies). When the platform cites you, ensure the deeper story lives behind your gates.
Dominate the Snippet, But Don’t Stop There
Identify which keywords trigger zero-click features and craft content specifically for them. Structure answers with clear headers, schema markup, and scannable language.
Win the real estate, but remember the snippet is not the end goal. Pair snippet-optimized content with deeper assets that provide context, tools, or community value.
Think of snippets as billboards: they create awareness, but the destination must provide the real payoff.
Design Multi-Layered Content Journeys
Separate content into tiers:
Tier 1: Zero-Click Assets → Quick facts, glossaries, definitions, schema-based content.
Tier 2: Engagement Builders → Guides, explainers, checklists, carousels that deliver value in-platform (LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok).
Tier 3: Depth Content → Whitepapers, webinars, product demos, assets that require a click because they deliver unique, high-value insight.
This layered approach ensures that whether the journey ends on the SERP or continues into your site, you’re present at every level.
Measure Beyond Clicks
Build new KPIs: impressions within SERP features, share of voice in snippets, AI citations, branded search growth.
Track “micro-engagements”: how many people read a snippet sourced from your content, how many mentions your brand receives in AI tools, how snippet visibility correlates with downstream conversions.
Reframe ROI conversations with leadership: instead of “traffic lost,” focus on authority gained and how it compounds into future conversions.
Balance AI With Trust
Being mentioned in ChatGPT or Perplexity is not the endgame, it’s one distribution channel. Treat AI citations as awareness touchpoints, not guaranteed conversions.
Optimize your content for explainability and trustworthiness: transparency of sources, clear authorship, human voice. These increase the likelihood of being cited by AI and remembered by the consumer.
Pair AI exposure with brand recall strategies, consistent design, phrasing, and unique POV that makes your brand memorable even without a click.
Re-Engineer Calls to Action
A “Book a Call” CTA is too heavy for top-of-funnel zero-click audiences. Instead, offer lightweight bridges: free guides, diagnostic tools, calculators, or micro-courses.
Use progressive profiling: gather minimal data at first interaction (email only), then layer in more over time as trust builds.
Create distinct CTAs for each journey tier (snippet → subscribe; video → webinar; article → demo).
Integrate Paid, Social, and Search
Zero-click is not just a search issue. Social platforms and AI also reduce clicks. Build cross-channel campaigns where message continuity matters more than channel-specific optimization.
Use paid campaigns to retarget people exposed to your zero-click content (e.g., if they saw your snippet, serve them a contextual ad later).
Think of search, social, and AI as three layers of the same consumer journey, not silos.
Treat Zero-Click as Brand Advertising
Every snippet, panel, or AI citation is a billboard for your authority. Measure it, optimize it, and integrate it into your brand reporting.
Stop framing zero-click purely as “traffic loss” and start treating it as “attention captured.” The difference in mindset changes the strategy.
Final Thought: Trust, Not Clicks
Zero-click is both behavioral and structural. The architecture Knowledge Panels, Snippets, PA boxes enabled the phenomenon. But the persistence of zero-click rates, even after massive technological disruptions like AI, reveals that the true driver is consumer behavior.
Clicks are rare. Trust is everything. And in a world where the SERP may or may not reward you, the only winning strategy is to design for the customer journey itself across AI, social, search, and paid media.
At Camino5, this is where we focus: helping brands redesign their consumer journeys for the attention economy, where every interaction must build relevance and trust.: Zero-Click as a Consumer Journey Problem
Ryan Edwards, CAMINO5 | Co-Founder
Ryan Edwards is the Co-Founder and Head of Strategy at CAMINO5, a consultancy focused on digital strategy and consumer journey design. With over 25 years of experience across brand, tech, and marketing innovation, he’s led initiatives for Fortune 500s including Oracle, NBCUniversal, Sony, Disney, and Kaiser Permanente.
Ryan’s work spans brand repositioning, AI-integrated workflows, and full-funnel strategy. He helps companies cut through complexity, regain clarity, and build for what’s next.
Connect on LinkedIn: ryanedwards2