Alec Newcomb
May 02, 2025 • Reading Time: 9 minutes
In partnership with
Google claims it's sending more traffic, but websites from BBC to Bloomberg report the opposite.
Gartner thinks it will drop 25% my bet is 20%. Yes, Google is growing queries (20% YoY), but they are keeping the traffic on Google.
Let's dive into what's happening and how to adapt.
Gif by seowl_app on Giphy
58.5% of Google searches now end without a click to any website. Let that sink in—the majority of searchers never leave Google. SparkToro's latest click-stream study confirms that "zero-click" is now the majority experience.
The difference between AI winners and losers isn't budget or perfect technology—it's execution and iteration.
Treat AI as a revenue accelerator woven into daily marketing operations, not a side experiment. Start with one marketing challenge, apply focused AI firepower, measure obsessively, and iterate quickly.
Your team will build momentum that transforms skeptics into advocates, and your ROI metrics will make the C-suite take notice.
The organizations seeing 3-5x returns aren't unicorns—they're just following this playbook while others chase shiny objects.
For every 1,000 U.S. searches, only 360 clicks reach the open web. The rest? Nearly two-thirds of activity either stays on the SERP or goes to a Google property.
30% of all Google clicks now land on another Google property (YouTube, Maps, Flights, etc.), shrinking the external-traffic pie even further.
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If you thought it couldn't get worse, AI Overviews just entered:
When an AI Overview appears, the #1 organic listing's CTR drops by 34.5% compared to similar queries without AI answers.
Average organic CTR has collapsed from 1.41% to 0.64% (-55%) between January 2024 and January 2025 for informational terms tracked by Seer Interactive.
📌 [FREE RESOURCE] >>> Zero-Click Search Survival Checklist for Marketing Teams.
Transactional queries still command healthy click-through rates:
Action Step: Audit your keyword portfolio this week. Flag informational keywords with new AI Overviews and reallocate budget toward purchase-intent terms.
Quick Win: Test adding "buy," "versus," or other purchase modifiers to existing target keywords.
Being cited inside Google's AI panel delivers awareness even without a visit:
Action Step: Set up tracking for your brand mentions in AI Overviews using Semrush's Position Tracking or SERP API.
Some formats still drive clicks despite AI summaries:
Steal This Template: Original frameworks, unique data visualizations, and interactive tools that AI can't fully capture.
Content Litmus Test: Does your piece answer "what" (vulnerable to AI) or "how specifically" (more click-worthy)?
The 50-30-20 Traffic Framework:
50% Direct & owned channels (email, SMS, social, podcast)
30% Search (paid, Bing, traditional Google)
20% Video (YouTube, OTT, Amazon)
Strategy Shift: Create for direct subscribers first, optimize for search second.
Improve citation chances in AI results:
Technical Win: Implement FAQ Schema, HowTo Schema, and Table Schema on high-value pages.
Content Win: Place clear, concise definitions at the article top to increase citation likelihood.
With AI search (SGE, ChatGPT, etc.) transforming how people find information, the traditional SEO metrics need an update.
Here’s exactly where I’d start, then modify for your industry/brand:
Featured Snippet Capture Rate: Percentage of your content appearing in AI-generated summaries.
Knowledge Panel Presence: How often your brand appears in AI knowledge panels.
Answer Box Inclusion: Rate at which your content is used to answer direct questions.
Topic Authority Score: How well your content is recognized as authoritative by AI (requires testing top 20 AI responses to your industry questions).
Query Satisfaction Rate: Do you give them the answer, or do they go on to YouTube, etc.
Content Depth vs. Breadth: Balance of comprehensive vs. targeted content performance. Start with Depth and work your way out.
Visual Search Visibility: How your images appear in AI-augmented search.
Voice Search Ranking: Performance in conversational AI queries ie “X near me”.
Cross-Format Citation Rate: How often AI cites your content across text, video, and image searches.
Schema Implementation Score: Completeness of structured data for AI comprehension.
E-E-A-T Signals: Evidence, Experience, Authority, and Trustworthiness indicators.
Page Experience Metrics: Core Web Vitals + AI crawlability metrics (did you IT block Perplexity and ChatGPT?).
Brand Citation Frequency: Manually query how often AI (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing, Google SGE) mentions your brand for the top 20 relevant queries.
Competitive Mention Ratio: Your mentions vs. competitors in AI results.
Sentiment Analysis in AI Responses: How does AI frame your brand?
Web analytics segmentation: In Google Analytics (GA4) or similar analytics, create segments or filters for known AI referrer domains. For example, filter for traffic sources like chat.openai.com (ChatGPT with browsing or plugins), bing.com (Bing Chat), or search.google.com//sge (Google SGE).
Create an "AI Search Dashboard" tracking just 3 of these metrics to start. Begin by running your top 20 target keywords through both traditional search and AI search interfaces, and then measure the differences in visibility and positioning.
SEO isn't dead—it's evolving. Many are reallocating effort toward bottom-funnel content that Google is less likely to cannibalize, and this approach is showing promise.
On-SERP visibility as a KPI might feel uncomfortable for traditional traffic reporting, but it's a growing reality we need to adapt to.
Check your Google Search Console and identify your top 20 informational queries.
Then ask yourself: "If I got ZERO clicks from these terms next month, how would I replace that traffic?"
Reply to this email with your zero-click survival plan.
I read every.single.one.
Adapt or fade away,
Alec
P.S. Bonus Activity > Do a “How did you hear about us” surveys: Most AI-influenced customers will NOT click a trackable link. Some might read about you in an AI answer and later visit your site directly or search your brand name. To capture this, incorporate a field in lead capture forms or post-purchase surveys asking “How did you hear about us?” and include options like “ChatGPT or other AI assistant.”
