SEO specialists have been talking about a zero-click reality ever since Google debuted the featured snippet in 2014. Now, with the advent of the AI Overview 10 years later, we’re finally seeing it happen.
AI Overviews (AIOs) are what SEOs thought the featured snippet would be: They’re long, in depth, and provide not just an answer, but also context, proactively answering related questions the searcher has yet to even ask. They’re so long that, when expanded, AIOs take up roughly half the screen for both desktop and mobile devices—which means searchers finally don’t have to click through to a website to get the full picture.
The expansion of AIOs, coupled with their in-depth answers and sheer size, means that the harbingers were right, just a little early: Zero-click search results are no longer a prediction, but a stark reality for many brands.
Has Google completely shifted the SEO landscape? In a word, yes. And marketers need to evolve too or see their work become obsolete. So, what’s next?
Measurement must shift
A sharp decline in clicks doesn’t mean marketers need to panic. We just need to adapt. And the easiest part of this puzzle to adjust is measurement.
That’s because—while yes, clicks will decline in 2025—rank and impressions will likely remain steady, or even improve. AIOs do not impact rank; they simply push the rest of the results down the page, making a No. 1 ranking a little less valuable.
And with AIOs, conversions might even increase. Think of it this way: AIOs dampen the need to click through to a website, which means that searchers who actually do click through to a website are more likely to convert. In a way, we should thank AIOs for culling the unqualified traffic for us.
When SEO metrics are analyzed together rather than in silos, organic traffic declines in conjunction with steady rank and impressions, as well as with consistent—or even improved—engagement and conversions, shifting the story from “our marketing efforts are failing” to “the decline in traffic is simply a result of the search landscape changes.”
What about AIO citations?
Some publishers are reporting an increase in traffic thanks to the links within AIO citations, but those are the exception to the rule. Instead, the real value of AIO citations lies in the brand visibility and credibility boost brands receive by being mentioned in this prime real estate.
Think of AI Overview citations as “free” brand ads; if Google thinks you’re an expert to be referenced, then searchers will too.
Social search further eats into Google traffic
It’s not just the search landscape that’s changing; user behavior is also changing. People are turning to platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, and Instagram for early information-gathering instead of Google. In fact, 67% of social media users engage with social search in their purchase journey.
This means that more and more, when people finally do turn their journey to Google, it’s already with a brand in mind: 44% of all 2024 Google searches came from branded searches.
When you pair the fragmenting of search with a decline in organic traffic driven by AI Overviews, it becomes apparent that successful SEO in 2025 means optimizing for search wherever it’s happening, including social platforms. Marketers need to be thinking about SEO beyond just Google—or risk being left behind.
Has AI killed organic traffic?
No. Of course organic traffic isn’t dead. Just like with the featured snippets, this is simply the next evolution of search in response to changing user behavior.
People are still searching. They’re still asking questions your brand can answer—they just might be searching on TikTok now instead of Google, or getting an AI-generated answer conglomerated from the best the internet has to offer (at least we hope). Tried-and-true optimization practices are still marketers’ best bet to be found by users wherever they’re seeking information about your brand.
But in terms of the bigger picture: What if AI Overviews do end up killing the click? So what? Clicks don’t keep the lights on—conversions do that. There’s a world where AIOs do us all a favor and help us more clearly see conversion barriers and really home in on a better experience for the people who do end up on your website.
Marketers who quickly shift from lamenting lost organic traffic to providing a better, unique experience for their remaining traffic will come out on top in 2025. There’s clarity in stripping away the fluff—and I, for one, am here for it.
