Zero-Click Searches: What They Are and What B2B Marketers Should Do About Them

Most Google searches now end without a click to any website. In the first four months of 2026, 68.01% of US Google searches ended without a click, according to SparkToro. AI Overviews have added to that by answering more questions right on the results page.

That doesn't make search less important. It means organic traffic tells you less about how search is working for you. This post covers what zero-click searches are, how AI answers affect them, and what to track instead.

What is a zero-click search?

A zero-click search is a search that ends without the person clicking any result. SparkToro, which has published the most-cited studies on the topic, defines them as searches "that end without clicking on any of the results presented."

People don't click for a few reasons. Sometimes the answer is already on the page. Featured snippets, knowledge panels, and AI Overviews all do this. Sometimes the person changes their search and tries again. And sometimes they just get what they need and leave.

How many searches are zero-click?

The short answer is about two out of three on Google in the US.

• 2024: SparkToro and Datos found that 58.5% of US searches and 59.7% of EU searches ended with zero clicks.
• 2026: SparkToro's newer study, using Similarweb data from January to April 2026, put the US figure at 68.01%.

Don't read too much into the jump between those two numbers. The studies used different data panels, and SparkToro's Rand Fishkin calls the comparison "apples and oranges." The 2026 study also leaves out searches in the Google mobile app, so the real rate is likely higher.

Other studies count searches and sessions differently, so you'll see other numbers quoted. The exact percentage matters less than the trend. Most Google searches don't lead to a website visit.

How AI Overviews change clicks

AI Overviews are Google's AI-written summaries at the top of the results page. Google renamed its Search Generative Experience to AI Overviews in May 2024. Several large studies have looked at how they affect clicks.

People click less when an AI summary appears. Pew Research Center tracked the browsing of 900 US adults in March 2025. When a search showed an AI summary, people clicked a regular result in 8% of visits. Without a summary, they clicked in 15% of visits. Links inside the summary got clicked in just 1% of visits.

The top result loses the most. Ahrefs compared 300,000 keywords on desktop from December 2023 to December 2025. When an AI Overview was present, the #1 ranking page had a 58% lower average click-through rate than expected.

Being cited in the AI Overview helps. Seer Interactive studied 53 brands from January 2025 to February 2026. When a brand was cited in an AI Overview, it got 120% more organic clicks per impression than when it wasn't. Seer notes it can't prove the citation causes this, because stronger brands are also more likely to get cited. Seer also saw click-through rates on AI Overview searches recover somewhat in early 2026, from 1.3% in December 2025 to 2.4% in February 2026.

Google tells a different story. In August 2025, Google's head of Search, Liz Reid, wrote that total organic clicks have been "relatively stable year-over-year." She also said Google is sending "slightly more quality clicks," meaning clicks where people don't quickly come back to the results. Google hasn't published data to back this up.

Not every study finds a drop. Semrush looked at keywords that started showing AI Overviews between May and October 2025. Their zero-click rate went from 33.75% to 31.53% after the AI Overview appeared. Semrush measures clicks differently from SparkToro and Pew, so its numbers aren't directly comparable. Still, it's a reminder that results vary by keyword set and method.

Which searches are most affected

AI Overviews show up most on informational searches. These are the "what is" and "how do I" questions people ask early in their research.

In September 2025, Ahrefs found AI Overviews on 21.4% of informational searches. They appeared on only 4.3% of commercial searches and 2.1% of transactional ones. By category, they showed up on 28.6% of Computers & Electronics searches and 16.3% of Business & Industrial searches.

That gap is shrinking. Semrush found that the share of commercial-intent results pages with an AI Overview grew an average of 71% between November 2025 and April 2026. Commercial searches are the ones people run when they compare options, so AI answers now reach further into the buying process.

What about ChatGPT and other AI tools?

AI assistants are now a major place where people research. OpenAI says ChatGPT has more than 900 million weekly active users as of February 2026.

They still send little traffic to websites. Across 115,254 sites, Ahrefs found that AI search made up 0.43% of traffic in September 2026. Google made up 23.96%. The share is higher in tech. Conductor found that AI referrals made up 2.80% of traffic for IT companies and 3.37% for software and services, based on its enterprise customers from May to September 2025.

So a buyer can ask ChatGPT which vendors to consider, read the answer, and never visit your site. Your analytics won't show that research happened.

What to do about zero-click searches

Make sure AI tools can find and cite you

Getting cited in AI answers starts with the basics. Google says a page needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. It says there are no extra requirements beyond that. Other AI tools also need to be able to crawl your pages, and a firewall or bot-protection setting can block them without anyone noticing. My free crawlability checker shows whether Google and the major AI crawlers can reach your pages.

If you want to know how AI tools pull in live sources, I explain it in RAG vs. Parametric Knowledge.

Publish what AI can't summarize away

Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI features recommends "unique, expert-led content that provides value beyond common knowledge." A generic definition is easy for an AI to rewrite. Original research, first-hand experience, and clear opinions give people a reason to cite you and click through.

Get your brand mentioned on other sites

AI tools describe your company based on what the web says about you. Ahrefs studied 75,000 brands to see what lines up with AI visibility. Branded web mentions had correlations of 0.66 to 0.71 across ChatGPT, AI Mode, and AI Overviews. YouTube mentions had the strongest correlation, at about 0.737. These are correlations, so they don't prove cause. But they point to the same work as good PR. Get your brand covered in reviews, industry publications, podcasts, and videos.

Measure more than clicks

Traffic alone will undercount how search helps you. These are worth tracking alongside it.

Search Console's generative AI report. Search Console now shows how often your links appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode. It has been available to all sites since August 31, 2026. It shows impressions only. Clicks from these features are still mixed into the regular Performance report.

GA4's AI Assistant channel. GA4 now groups visits from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot into an "AI Assistant" channel. It doesn't include AI Overviews or AI Mode, which GA4 counts as Organic Search.

AI visibility tracking. Tools like Ahrefs Brand Radar, Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit, and Profound track how often AI answers mention or cite your brand. They also compare you with competitors.

Self-reported attribution. Add a "How did you hear about us?" field to your demo or contact form. Refine Labs did this on its own booking form. Software attribution credited 79% of conversions to web search. The free-text answers told a different story, crediting dark social with 98% of closed-won revenue. Rand Fishkin warns that these answers have limits, because people forget and the question can be read different ways. Use it alongside your analytics.

The bottom line

Zero-click searches are now the majority on Google, and AI tools add more research that never reaches your site. You can't control whether people click. You can make sure your brand is in the answer when they don't.

If you want to know how AI tools describe your company right now, and which competitors they recommend instead, an AI visibility audit is a good place to start.