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<\/a><\/p>\nBain & Company research found that about 80% of consumers<\/a> now rely on \u201czero-click\u201d results in at least 40% of their searches. For some businesses, this means more impressions, but across the board, it\u2019s reducing organic web traffic by an estimated 15% to 25%.<\/p>\n What does this mean for marketing teams? How can they measure it and achieve success?<\/p>\n This guide breaks it all down, including what zero-click searches are, why they matter, and how to turn zero-click visibility into conversions using answer engine optimization (AEO). HubSpot\u2019s AEO solutions, including its standalone AEO tool<\/a> and built-in features<\/a> in Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise, help teams identify where their brand appears in AI-generated answers and optimize content to increase citation visibility across search and AI platforms.<\/p>\n Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Zero-click searches occur when a user gets their answer on the search results page (SERP) through an AI overview or other rich results, without clicking on a website. AI Overviews increase the likelihood of zero-click behavior for informational queries, while featured snippets satisfy simple question intent directly on the SERP, and People Also Ask (PAA) boxes expand answer paths without requiring a click.<\/p>\n Answer engine optimization focuses on earning citations, summaries, answer placements, and even voice mentions for a website and brand, in ways traditional SEO does not. AEO includes, but is not limited to, creating answer-first content to improve eligibility for featured snippets, AI Overviews, and other answer surfaces.<\/p>\n HubSpot\u2019s free AEO Grader<\/a><\/strong> can help teams gauge how they are currently performing in AI engines and understand what they need to do to improve their visibility.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n A zero-click search occurs when a search engine query is answered directly on the search results page<\/a> via a featured snippet, knowledge panel, People Also Ask (PAA) box, local pack, AI Overview, or other rich results<\/a> rather than having a user visit a separate website.<\/p>\n AI-powered rich results include:<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of one from the very on-brand search of: \u201cWhat is Bollywood?\u201d<\/p>\n As consumers, these results can be convenient and helpful, but for businesses, they\u2019re taking their toll on the organic website traffic that was once a golden metric.<\/p>\n According to McKinsey,<\/a> half of Google\u2019s results already feature these AI Overviews along with other rich results, and trends predict that number will reach 75% by 2028. That means many queries that used to earn businesses clicks and bring prospective buyers to their websites are no longer performing as well as they once did.<\/p>\n The challenge with AI features for marketers isn\u2019t just traffic, however; it\u2019s also attribution.<\/p>\n Organic click-through rates (CTR) have dropped to 40.3% in the U.S.<\/a> and 43.5% in the EU\/UK, while clicks to Google-owned properties like YouTube and Maps increased to 14.3% in the U.S.<\/p>\n Because of this, the impression data in a company\u2019s Search Console may be stable or growing, but it\u2019s likely increasingly coming from sources other than the sessions, leads, and pipeline stakeholders expect to see. Tools like HubSpot AEO help bridge this gap by showing how zero-click visibility contributes to brand awareness, engagement, and pipeline, even when clicks decline.<\/p>\n Zero clicks are not all bad news, though. While zero-click results may not directly drive organic traffic, they can still demonstrate expertise, and the brand awareness that comes from being cited in these rich results can drive higher conversion rates<\/a> when users do visit a site.<\/p>\n When a buyer sees a brand cited in an AI Overview or featured snippet multiple times during their research, they automatically arrive at the site pre-warmed \u2014 with far less convincing needed at conversion.<\/p>\n Curious how a business is currently performing with AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini? <\/strong>Use HubSpot\u2019s free AEO Grader<\/a> to get a detailed brand perception analysis across five dimensions with a written interpretation of results.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n The traditional marketing funnel (illustrating the buyer\u2019s journey) assumed that search drove a click, the click drove a visit, and the visit eventually drove a lead.<\/p>\n Zero-click searches don\u2019t eliminate this path, but they restructure it, with more of the early stages happening directly on the SERP. HubSpot\u2019s evolved hourglass visualization of the buyer\u2019s journey and Loop Marketing<\/a> accounts for this.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at the potential impact of zero-click searches in each phase of the buyer\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n At the top of the funnel, users are just beginning to understand their pain point and become aware of possible solutions. In the SERP, they\u2019re learning about brands that are in this conversation before they ever reach a website.<\/p>\n Pre-AI-as-we-know-it, users would scroll through the SERP, seeing different brand names and favicons and associate them with their search even if they didn\u2019t click.<\/p>\n Now, when a query has an AI overview or one of the other AI rich results, that scrolling doesn\u2019t happen as often. Users only see and \u201cbecome aware\u201d of the brands and websites cited in the results, while everything below tends to get ignored.<\/p>\n A brand\u2019s representation in those answers functions like advertising. They are the key to building awareness and attracting leads in the SERP.<\/p>\n Say there\u2019s a luxury travel agent specializing in the Caribbean. Users researching \u201chow to plan a trip to St. Lucia\u201d may get their ideas and education from AI recommendations and sponsored results, not from the agency\u2019s content.<\/p>\n But this is particularly consequential for B2B teams. Say someone searches, \u201cbest CRM for mid-market\u201d or \u201centerprise content marketing tools.\u201d There\u2019s a good chance they may form vendor shortlists based on AI overviews, not on a business\u2019s content.<\/p>\n In the consideration stage, people are actively looking for solutions and considering which one might be right for them. People Also Ask<\/a> boxes and featured snippets satisfy the depth of research that used to require three or four site visits during this stage.<\/p>\n For instance, if a user sees a brand mentioned in a featured snippet and then cited in the PAA, they are already poised to build a preference. In the consideration phase, the goal isn\u2019t to force a click; it\u2019s to make the brand the recurring right answer.<\/p>\n With HubSpot\u2019s AEO capabilities in Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise<\/a>, teams can use CRM data to understand which prompts matter most to their audience, then track how often their brand appears in AI-generated answers.<\/p>\n Using our travel agent example, if users researching \u201chow to plan a trip to st lucia\u201d see the same website both in the AI overview and PAA, there\u2019s a good chance they\u2019ll begin to see the agency as someone who knows their stuff.<\/p>\n The same goes for the B2B Saas example:<\/strong><\/p>\n Repetition breeds familiarity and familiarity breeds trust.<\/p>\n Conversion is the one stage in the buyer\u2019s journey where the traditional SERP is still fairly intact.<\/p>\n In some instances, conversion-stage queries may surface a Local Pack or structured snippets<\/a> with commercial intent, but many conversion-related queries, like comparisons or those including words like \u201cbuying,\u201d \u201cdemo,\u201d or \u201cconsultation,\u201d are less likely to trigger AI Overviews. So, investments in paid search and SEO are still valid.<\/p>\n Thinking of our St. Lucia trip, for instance, the query \u201cst lucia travel agent consultation\u201d returns no AI overview or rich results.<\/p>\n Kind of a relief, right? It can be especially for B2B businesses.<\/p>\n For B2B with high-intent commercial queries, the path from the SERP to owned engagement can be compressed thanks to AI. As with our St. Lucia trip, the query \u201cfree content marketing tools demo\u201d for our SaaS example returns no rich results.<\/p>\n Alternatively, a search for \u201cHubSpot vs Salesforce\u201d may surface a comparison page in an AI Overview, but it still requires a click for the user to get the full value. Plus, the prospect who arrives on a website already understands its offering. At this point, the landing page\u2019s job is confirmation, not introduction.<\/p>\n But remember, buyers also don\u2019t usually jump straight to the conversion stage of their journey. So, stay vigilant. Regardless of the experience here, the path to the brand\u2019s website and a purchase can be significantly longer than it once was due to AI intervention.<\/p>\n Note: <\/strong>Loop Marketing revisits the buyer\u2019s journey and marketing funnel to adapt to modern behaviors and AI influence on search. Learn more about it here.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n The fact that Google rank doesn\u2019t matter the way it used to<\/a> doesn\u2019t mean organic optimization is obsolete. It means the mechanics of what marketers are optimizing for have changed. Enter Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what marketing teams should do.<\/p>\n The first thing marketing leaders need to pivot is how they define success. If the marketing team is still reporting organic sessions as the primary SEO metric, they\u2019re measuring a declining output instead of the influence driving it.<\/p>\n Swap or supplement these metrics:<\/p>\n This reframe also protects marketing teams internally.<\/p>\n When leadership asks why traffic is down, marketers will have data showing that despite the traffic dip, impressions are stable, branded search is up, and the organic-assisted pipeline is growing.<\/p>\n Answer engines like Google\u2019s AI Overviews, Google\u2019s AI Mode, ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot don\u2019t process web content the way traditional crawlers do. Rather, they build knowledge networks that connect facts, entities, and relationships, and formatting plays a big part in this.<\/p>\n HubSpot AEO<\/a> provides actionable recommendations on structuring content for answer-first visibility, guiding teams on how to format pages so they\u2019re more likely to be surfaced in AI Overviews and other rich results.<\/p>\n Thankfully, the content formatting that improves zero-click eligibility is many of the same ones that have helped with traditional SEO:<\/p>\n Speaking of PAA, for PAA eligibility, make sure to:<\/p>\n This mirrors the format Google uses to serve PAA results and can also aid other AI-powered rich results.<\/p>\n Pro tip: <\/strong>Prioritize pages that already have strong impressions but declining CTR. Those are the clearest signals that a SERP feature has moved in, and that the content formatting isn\u2019t competing with it.<\/p>\n From there, audit content for answer-first eligibility, asking, \u201cDoes this page answer the target query within the first 100 words, or does it make the reader scroll to find it?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Pages that bury their answer are losing snippet eligibility to competitors who lead with it.<\/p>\n Speaking of formatting, more and more AI SERP results, such as knowledge panels and featured snippets, depend specifically on structured data (aka schema markup<\/a>) to provide answers directly in search results.<\/p>\n The essential schema types to implement:<\/p>\n According to Google\u2019s own structured data documentation<\/a>, Rotten Tomatoes saw a 25% higher click-through rate after adding structured data to 100,000 pages, and Nestl\u00e9 found that pages appearing as rich results earned an 82% higher CTR than pages without them.<\/p>\n Implement schema in JSON-LD format (Google\u2019s preferred method), validate using Google\u2019s Rich Results Test<\/a>, and prioritize the pages already ranking on page one.<\/p>\n For brands with physical locations or local service areas, local search optimization<\/a> is one of the highest-leverage zero-click investments available. In fact, according to Backlinko, 42% of searchers click on Google map pack results<\/a> for local queries, making a three-pack listing one of the highest-value placements in local search.<\/p>\n To strengthen local zero-click presence:<\/strong><\/p>\n If a product appears consistently across Reddit discussions, forums, industry articles, and review sites with similar messaging, AI systems gain confidence citing the consensus around it<\/a>.<\/p>\n In practice, this means marketers\u2019 pivot plan needs to include channels that feel adjacent to SEO but directly feed it:<\/p>\n When AI Overviews are present, click-through rates plummet to just 8%, compared to 15% for traditional search results without AI summaries, according to The Digital Bloom<\/a>.<\/p>\n The pivot: Marketers should reduce investment in purely informational, top-of-funnel content that will increasingly be answered by AI without a click, and reinvest in:<\/p>\n This doesn\u2019t mean abandoning awareness content entirely, but marketing leaders should be strategic about where they expect a click versus where they\u2019re optimizing for citation and brand recall. HubSpot AEO helps teams identify which queries are driving answer engine visibility versus clicks, enabling smarter prioritization of commercial-intent content that\u2019s more likely to convert.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Not every keyword deserves an optimization investment for zero-click visibility. The decision should come down to commercial potential and content differentiation. Here are some quick tips to help marketers decide when to pursue zero-click visibility and when not to.<\/p>\n Pro tip:<\/strong> Use a test-first approach. Run a 30-day experiment on 3\u20135 target keywords. Restructure the content with an answer-first format, add FAQ schema, and compare CTR and brand mentions before and after. This tells marketers whether the investment scales before committing full editorial resources.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Like its counterparts, SEO, content marketing, and social media, AEO is a long-term strategy. That said, marketers and SEO strategists must make a habit of reviewing their work and tracking their performance. HubSpot AEO is designed to support this shift, giving marketers the ability to measure influence across AI-powered search experiences rather than relying solely on traditional traffic metrics.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at the metrics teams will want to report on.<\/p>\n Click-through rate is no longer a sufficient measure of search performance. A robust zero-click measurement framework includes SERP, brand, and pipeline measurements. HubSpot AEO<\/a> centralizes these metrics by tracking AI citation frequency, share of voice in generated answers, and overall brand presence across answer engines, giving marketers a clearer picture of performance beyond clicks.<\/p>\n SERP visibility metrics:<\/strong><\/p>\n Brand influence metrics:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pipeline influence metrics:<\/strong><\/p>\n Build a monthly cadence of measuring AEO performance. Teams that compound their advantage as answer engine adoption continues to expand. Using HubSpot\u2019s AEO features<\/a> in Marketing Hub Pro and Enterprise, teams can monitor changes in answer engine visibility over time, making it easier to spot trends, measure improvements, and adjust strategy on a consistent cadence.<\/p>\n A review cadence should include:<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Getting cited in AI Overviews isn\u2019t purely a technical challenge \u2014 it\u2019s a challenge of credibility. AI systems favor sources that demonstrate expertise, consistency, and corroboration across multiple platforms.<\/p>\n In other words, if a product appears consistently across Reddit discussions, forums, industry articles, and review sites with similar messaging, AI systems gain confidence citing the consensus<\/a> around it.<\/p>\n Awareness-stage actions:<\/strong><\/p>\n At the consideration stage, the goal is to make a brand the persistent right answer to the questions buyers are actively researching. Even if they don\u2019t click, repeated positive SERP exposure builds trust and ultimately preference.<\/p>\n Consideration-stage actions:<\/strong><\/p>\n The conversion question is where most zero-click guides go quiet. Here\u2019s the practical answer: Visibility that doesn\u2019t convert is a targeting problem, not a zero-click problem.<\/p>\n Conversion-stage actions:<\/strong><\/p>\n HubSpot AEO supports each stage of this playbook by helping marketers understand where their content is being cited, how visibility shifts across the funnel, and what optimizations will increase influence in AI-driven search results.<\/p>\n Pro tip:<\/strong> Tag AI Overviews and featured snippet traffic as a separate segment in marketing analytics. If those visitors convert at a higher rate than average organic traffic \u2014 which data suggests they do<\/a> \u2014 it\u2019s a strong signal to double down on zero-click optimization.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n The key is recognizing that zero-click visibility is top-of-funnel influence. It builds brand recall and trust before the conversion moment. To convert that visibility, ensure every page that earns AI citations or featured snippets has a high-intent CTA visible above the fold (i.e., free trial, demo request, gated asset).<\/p>\n Track branded search volume as the leading conversion indicator. When zero-click awareness is working, branded searches (and their conversion rates) should increase.<\/p>\n If marketers are building this infrastructure now, they should start with HubSpot AEO Grader<\/a> to understand their current AI representation baseline, then map which cited content is sending users toward or away from conversion. HubSpot AEO can then help teams track which pieces of content are earning AI citations and how that visibility contributes to downstream conversion signals like branded search and direct traffic.<\/p>\n AEO and traditional SEO aren\u2019t competing priorities \u2014 they\u2019re complementary. SEO drives rankings and clicks. AEO earns citations and visibility in AI-generated answers. Build both.<\/p>\n Prioritize AEO-specific investments (answer-first content formatting, FAQ schema, AI citation tracking) when organic traffic has plateaued despite stable or improving rankings, when a product is being evaluated in AI-powered research interfaces, or when a company is in a category where buyers conduct significant zero-click research before ever reaching a brand\u2019s website (software, financial services, professional services).<\/p>\n Traditional SEO remains essential for capturing the 40% of searches that still result in clicks, and strong rankings remain a prerequisite for AI citation eligibility. So build both, but measure them separately.<\/p>\n Frame zero-click reporting around business outcomes, not search mechanics. Show stakeholders the connection between SERP impression share and branded search volume growth, between AI citation frequency and direct traffic trends, and between featured snippet ownership and pipeline-influenced revenue.<\/p>\n For teams using Marketing Hub Professional<\/a> or higher, HubSpot\u2019s AEO features<\/a> offer deeper scoring, guidance, and content recommendations that can help build dashboards combining page performance, answer engine visibility, and conversion impact \u2014 giving marketers the data architecture to make that business case clearly.<\/p>\n The most effective internal reporting frames zero-click search not as \u201ctraffic we\u2019re losing\u201d but as \u201cinfluence we\u2019re gaining in a channel that\u2019s growing faster than traditional search.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
TL;DR Executive Summary<\/h2>\n
What are zero-click searches?<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nWhy should marketers care about zero-click searches?<\/h3>\n
Zero-click searches have changed buyer search behavior.<\/h4>\n
Zero-click searches have changed reporting.<\/h4>\n
Zero clicks can improve brand recognition and recall.<\/h4>\n
How Zero-Click Disrupts the Marketing Funnel<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nAwareness: The SERP is now a branding arena.<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nConsideration: Interest and Evaluation Without a Click<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nConversion: Queries With Intent<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nContent and Capture Strategy by Funnel Stage<\/h3>\n
How to Adapt SEO in a Zero-Click World<\/h2>\n
Shift your KPIs before your content.<\/h3>\n
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Format your content to lead with direct answers.<\/h3>\n
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Implement structured data in your content.<\/h3>\n
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Use local SEO to optimize for knowledge panels and packs.<\/h3>\n
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Optimize third-party channels AI systems trust.<\/h3>\n
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Focus your efforts on commercial intent.<\/h3>\n
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When to Pursue or Avoid Zero-Click Keywords<\/h2>\n
Pursue zero-click visibility when:<\/h3>\n
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Avoid zero-click investment when:<\/h3>\n
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How to Measure Zero-Click Impact<\/h2>\n
AEO and Answer Engine Visibility Metrics<\/h3>\n
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A Sample Zero-Click Scorecard<\/h3>\n
Reporting Frequency<\/h3>\n
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Zero-Click Searches Playbook by Funnel Stage<\/h2>\n
Awareness: How to Get Cited in AI Overviews and Snippets<\/h3>\n
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Consideration: How to Capture Interest Without a Click<\/h3>\n
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Conversion: How to Turn Zero-Click Visibility into Demand<\/h3>\n
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FAQs About Zero-Click Searches<\/h2>\n
How do I turn zero-click visibility into conversions?<\/h3>\n
When should you prioritize AEO over traditional SEO?<\/h3>\n
What is the best way to report zero-click wins internally?<\/h3>\n
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