What’s the Deal with Zero-Click Marketing?

Ever searched for something on Google, found your answer instantly, and never clicked a single link? That’s zero-click marketing in action, and it’s reshaping how businesses approach digital content.

In this episode of Alpha Marketing, we break down:
✅ What zero-click searches are and why they matter
✅ The impact on website traffic and traditional SEO strategies
✅ How businesses can still win in a world where users don’t always click

With more than 50% of Google searches resulting in zero clicks, it's time to rethink your marketing approach. I'll share insights from WolfPack’s own strategy shifts and give you actionable steps to stay ahead.

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Transcript

00:00 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Marketing Alpha Podcast. Today, we have a really interesting topic because it's actually being heavily influenced right now in search results, especially with the impact of artificial intelligence.
00:16 Today, we're talking about zero-click marketing. We're going to discuss what it is, what the dealio is, and ultimately what it means for you.
00:24 Myself, for our businesses, and how do we tackle this problem? So have you ever searched for something on Google and you might've gotten your answer right away, rather than having to actually click on anything in Google search results, this can come in the fact of like the little structured snippet section
00:42 , or like people also ask, or it could be artificial intelligence, like Google Gemini, just. Answering your prompt or your question right then and there, rather than you having to click onto a website.
00:54 That is what zero click marketing is all about. It's about appearing on search results or appearing in AI results now and giving answers without having users to actually click on anything.
01:07 So we're going to, we're going to discuss, uh, what exactly they are in a little bit more detail. We'll get into a why it matters, the impact that we're seeing on website traffic and digital marketing strategies as a whole.
01:18 And then we'll get into like how you can adapt and shift into this now future world of where people aren't clicking on anything.
01:26 So I, I'll say at Wolfpack, we've seen this shift firsthand. A lot of our website traffic, not only for Wolfpack advising, but for a lot of our customers and a lot of other businesses out there, their website traffic has changed.
01:36 Has decreased because of zero click marketing or zero click searches in general. So how are we tackling this problem? Well, before we get into that, let's define zero click marketing or zero click searches a little bit more.
01:50 So it occurs when users find their answer directly on the search results page without needing to click into any website or anything else.
01:57 So, it's the featured snippets, pulling a quick answer. from a website, the people also asking, drop boxes or sections, the AI overviews, like from Google Gemini, and like the local search results.
02:10 So like the Google business profile showing up directly with the information listed there. Ultimately, the question arises, like, why is Google doing this?
02:17 Why is anybody doing this? Well, it's because users want to find the answers as fast as possible. So Google will crawl everything and then prompt and show it on the Google results page without pointing them to your site instead.
02:33 That gives the user the quick answer response that they're looking for and ultimately leaves them satisfied and gets them coming back to answer another question later on.
02:45 So the goal here is just to keep users on the results page a little bit longer instead of them elsewhere where they lose out on that traffic.
02:51 Now, AI advancements and search personalization are making this trend even stronger. As you have a Google account, uhm, or any account for that factor, they're trying to personalize the results to you specifically and you may not be one that likes to click on things.
03:07 The other thing too is obviously artificial intelligence being able to provide quick answers and resolutions right then and there Can you imagine if you're looking up for recipes, and if you're not already doing this, you should, but if you, uhm, are looking for recipes on Google and you're like, hey
03:21 , give me a recipe for, uh, chicken pot pie, alright, apparently that's the first thing that came to mind. For me, I guess I need chicken pot pie, but, you know, you go to those websites and it's just full of a bunch of ads and this huge long story about their chicken pot pie, and you just want the recipe
03:38 . You just want to know, how do you make chicken pot pie? You don't care about anything else. Well, that's exactly what this issue is tackling.
03:45 Just giving you the straight answer, what you need, what you're looking for. If you want the more information, you can click on it.
03:51 They're not taking that away from you, but they're trying to get quick answers out. So, why does this matter? Why should you care?
03:59 What should we do about it? Well, the reality is, right now, more than 50% of the Google searches now result in zero clicks.
04:08 The other thing, too, is we don't know how much traffic Google has actually lost because of people going to tools like Google Gemini, ChatGBT, all these other AI tools and just asking their questions there.
04:20 I will speak for myself. Primarily, when I have questions to ask, I'm going right in. So, if users aren't clicking, traditional website traffic and SEO strategies need to evolve here.
04:32 Challenges with zero-click poses for businesses are just fewer organic results, fewer organic website visits, and potentially fewer conversions. Right? So, it makes it harder to track user behavior when they don't visit the site.
04:46 It results in less control over the messaging, since Google is a pulling the content directly from your site. Like, you can't control that because you're allowing them to crawl the site.
04:53 You want it to appear in Google search results, but then Google is using your information against you in a way.
05:00 The other thing too, though, is you do have some further brand visibility here. So, here are some of the positives.
05:08 The opportunity in zero-click searches is more brand visibility without clicks. If your brand appears in a featured snippet or the people also ask section, you gain credibility and exposure.
05:20 You also have a little bit more trust with audiences because they see your brand as an authority. You're peering right on Google search results.
05:27 You are the authority when it comes to that particular topic. Yeah, if they just want a quick answer, they might leave, but now they recognize and see your brand, your name right on Google.
05:37 On Google search results. The other thing too, is you get ultimately a competitive edge. Businesses optimizing for zero click searches will outperform those still relying on traditional SEO strategies.
05:50 So when you're looking at your SEO strategies or your marketing strategies in general, it's just better to focus on zero click because that is where the world is going.
06:01 You're still getting brand visibility, you're still seen as authority, and they have the opportunity to click on your stuff if they want more information.
06:09 So it's kind of like a win-win in a way. So now let's talk about how do you actually tackle this problem, right?
06:18 You realize you have to compete, otherwise you're giving it up to competitors. So you have to target it, you're going to get more brand visibility, you're going to be seen as the authority.
06:27 How do you actually win? How do you actually do this? Well, the first thing is you answer common questions clearly and concisely.
06:33 Focus on FAQ-style content that directly answers users' questions, provides structured, easy-to-read answers in blog posts and website content. An example of this would be, instead of a long-form article, create short, punchy paragraphs that Google can pull out.
06:48 Make sure you're brand-specific. Breaking your content up and having different headings and subheadings, and possibly adding FAQ sections, or Frequently Asked Questions sections.
06:58 Having everything broken down into little pieces, properly structured, can help Google and also the reader understand and parse out the information they need.
07:06 Optimize for featured snippets and AI overviews, so use bullet points and numbered lists where possible. Google loves it. So just like you're using a Google Doc or a Microsoft Word, you have, you know, numbers, you have formatting.
07:21 Use all of those formatting options to your availability, because Google can read that and understand that. Answer questions within the first 100 words of an article.
07:32 So, instead of providing some type of fluff, just give them what they want, and they then if they want the extra details, you can continue on later in the article.
07:42 Include clear, relevant headings such as h2, h3, etc. to organize content effectively. Just a minute ago, I said headings and subheadings.
07:52 So in HTML, what we call that as h1, your title, h2, a subheading, h3, a subheading within the H2 and it goes.
08:01 All the way down to h6 or heading 6. The way that it works is essentially you have your main title, h1. You can have multiple h2s, which are your heading 2s or your subheadings underneath the title, and those can be broken out into further sections known as h3s, h4, 5, and 6. So make sure when you're
08:19 writing your blog posts, you just include that, uh, to structure it out effectively. Now, the cool thing is. ChatGPT or Google Gemini or all these AI tools can write your content for you and automatically format it into those sections.
08:31 So you don't even have to worry about it. So if you're asking me, like, I have no idea how to do that.
08:36 Head over to your ChatGPT account, ask them to write you a blog post with those structured formats, and they should be able to give you your answer or write your content out yourself and ask them to reformat it.
08:48 Now, another thing you can utilize. This is use structured data and schema markup, implement FAQ schema to improve the chances of appearing in Google's featured answers and add business schema.
08:57 So Google directly displays accurate company details in search. You can do this, especially for local searches, such as doing local schema markup.
09:06 If you're unfamiliar with what schema is, it's a little bit of an SEO term, but essentially it's like the same thing as heading structures.
09:13 It's a way to organize your business details or the information on it in a structured way. And the schema is essentially just a universally accepted way to organize that information in code.
09:28 So that way Google can parse it out very easily and see what it's all about. So look it up if you're not familiar with it.
09:34 There's plenty of information on schema markup on our website and in our information. So you can see all of that, uh, but if you're on WordPress too, there's tons of unique plugins and tools that you can utilize to use schema markup.
09:46 So make sure every page has that schema markup, especially if you're a local business. Now I'm still moving through the list here, but the fifth thing that we can do is leverage social media and alternative, alternative platforms.
10:02 So if users don't click, engage them where they are. Post bite-sized valuable content on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok. You can use YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, or of course TikToks to deliver quick, high-value insights to give them that information if they're on your audience, right?
10:17 But also if they're just interested in the content in general, Or give people content they're interested in rather than people they're directly following.
10:31 Now, finally, what we can do is adjust our analytics and measurement strategy. Track impressions and brand mentions, not just website traffic.
10:38 Focus on the engagement metrics such as DMs, comments, and shares. And consider running surveys or A-B tests to see how users interact with your brand posting post-search.
10:49 So it could be a little bit difficult, sometimes, to track the zero-click marketing because users are seeing it on Google, and we don't have insights indirectly on Google.
10:57 However, a lot of SEO tools nowadays also include ranking factors if you show in zero-click spots, such as the people also ask section or the Google Map pack, right?
11:10 A lot of tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush show if you're ranking in those places, so you can see how you're performing for informational keywords or items such as that.
11:21 Now to close here, the main takeaway is zero-click marketing isn't the end of SEO. It's nothing to panic about, but it is just a shift in how the world is changing.
11:30 People are wanting very quick answers, going to artificial intelligence and getting their answers there if they want it. In our business, we need to revolutionize the revolutionize our marketing to instead of going the old way of just providing them all the fluff and content and getting over to a conversion
11:44 , we need to optimize to answer those questions fairly quickly, and then we need to understand that that's giving us authority, credibility, impressions, and if they want more information, they can always click from the link right there in Google search.
11:58 So we can either resist this change or adapt and leverage it to our advantage. The key is to position yourself as an authority so that whether users click or not, they still recognize and trust your brand.
12:09 So at the end of this, I want to ask you a question. What do you think about the change with zero-click marketing?
12:14 What do you think about the changes with ChadGBT implementing on our businesses? I posted recently on my social media how we're getting leads actually from ChadGBT now.
12:24 I'd love to hear your thoughts on how this might be impacting your business. So comment on this podcast, wherever you're listening to your podcast or on YouTube, reach out to me in a message. You can always text or whatever else, and I'll see you