Navigating Brand Visibility in a Zero-Click World

The internet’s changing fast. People don’t click like they used to. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, and Perplexity now often answer queries directly on the results page, leaving fewer clicks for websites. Bain reports that around 80% of consumers rely on AI-generated “zero-click” answers for at least 40% of their searches, reducing organic traffic by an estimated 15–25%. And it’s not just hype. User behaviour studies confirm the shift: even on Google, the AI summary at the top of the page grabs most of the attention and often removes the need to visit any site at all.

Traditional SEO and paid search are no longer the default path to brand discovery. That means your carefully crafted content might never be seen. In a world where zero-click search is becoming the norm, brands need a new plan.

The Zero-Click Paradigm

Zero-click searches, where someone gets their answer without ever clicking a link, are now the rule, not the exception. Recent analysis shows that about 60% of Google searches in the US end without a click, even before factoring in the rise of tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity. ChatGPT use jumped 44% at the end of 2024, and Perplexity hit 15 million monthly users. As AI-generated summaries take over the top of search results, marketers are seeing fewer click-throughs and a shrinking share of voice. Customers still get answers, but they’re not coming from your website. AI platforms are rewriting the customer journey, aggregating content, delivering recommendations, and cutting brands out of the loop. This algorithm-driven path means consumers often find what they need without ever landing on your site.

And it’s not just the platforms driving this shift; it’s consumers. A 2025 survey from Capgemini found 58% of shoppers have already replaced search engines with AI tools to get product or service recommendations. Around two-thirds of Gen Z and millennial customers now expect highly personalised, AI-powered experiences. McKinsey reports that half of all consumers are using AI-based search daily, and by 2028, those platforms are expected to influence around $750 billion in spending. Instead of clicking through search links, customers are researching and comparing across AI interfaces that pull answers from everywhere, often without credit or context.

Conversations as Content

AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s answer boxes are pulling more of their answers from real conversations; forums, Q&A threads, and user reviews. Instead of crawling thousands of sites, these systems zero in on a handful of trusted communities. ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity all rank Reddit among their top five most-cited sources, often pairing user-generated posts with more traditional references like Wikipedia or YouTube. In August 2025, one analysis found ChatGPT cited Reddit in nearly 60% of its answers. Profound AI’s research shows that for most product queries, AI engines rely on just 3 to 5 communities as subject-matter experts. The goal isn’t just technical accuracy, it’s a blend of “human experience” and hard information. What shows up in these answers often comes from the real conversations your customers are having, not just the content you publish on your website.

AI rewards content that feels real. It looks for authenticity, helpfulness, and balanced perspectives. Posts that follow a clear Q&A format, use natural language, and offer both pros and cons tend to perform best. Profound AI found that Reddit citations in AI answers are split almost evenly between positive and negative opinions. It’s not about pushing a brand message, it’s about being useful. As one marketer put it, “The reputation and credibility that you’re perceived as having is more and more effective than having a direct answer to a specific question”. That means a small brand with an active, trusted presence in community conversations can outperform a bigger one in AI results, just by showing up and being helpful.

For marketers, this opens up a new kind of content strategy. Your brand story doesn’t need to live only on your website, it can live in conversations. Every genuine question and answer is a chance to influence what shows up in AI summaries. On Reddit, more than half of the posts that keep getting views for over a year mention a brand or product. That’s long-term visibility driven by real experiences. Marketers can seed this kind of content by repurposing FAQs into blog posts, answering questions on niche forums, or hosting live Q&As with subject matter experts. These efforts create conversational content that AI engines can find, cite, and surface to future customers.

Impacts on Marketing Strategies

The shift toward AI-powered answers is reshaping how brands are discovered. McKinsey reports that a brand’s own website now accounts for just 5–10% of the sources AI engines use to generate answers. That means unless your brand is active in the broader conversation, on forums, social platforms, and community-driven spaces, your content might never surface. As users turn to AI tools for recommendations and information, companies risk losing 20–50% of their traditional search traffic if they don’t adapt.

It’s not enough to focus on classic SEO. Bain advises businesses to maintain strong fundamentals while making content easier for AI to understand. That means using semantic, long-tail keywords, structuring pages for machine readability, and ensuring key information is accessible. Brands also need to influence the off-site sources AI relies on; participating in trusted conversations, not just publishing to their own domains. In short, marketers must expand beyond keywords and landing pages to earn visibility in a conversation-first search landscape.

Strategies for Marketing Teams

Marketing teams can take several concrete steps to thrive in this zero-click, AI-driven environment:

• Create Q&A–oriented content. Rewrite your messaging around user questions. Build FAQs, how-to guides or chatbot-style pages that answer common queries in clear, conversational language. AI models explicitly favour content structured as question-and-answer. Use everyday terms (e.g. “best”, “most”, “how to”, “should I”) and focus on genuinely solving user problems rather than promoting features.
  
• Engage on relevant platforms. Identify where your customers ask questions, niche forums, Reddit subreddits, industry Q&A sites, or social groups, and be present there. AI engines often begin their searches in these communities. For example, Profound AI data suggests answer bots rely on just a few specific subreddits per topic. Use tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity to ask your own product questions (“What’s the best [product] for [use case]?”) and note which forums appear in the responses. Then build authority in those communities by commenting, answering questions, or posting helpful content that addresses real user concerns.
  
• Blend paid and organic presence. Treat conversational platforms as full channels, using both advertising and earned media. For instance, run targeted ad campaigns (AMA ads, promoted posts or category takeovers) to raise awareness in those communities, while also maintaining a brand profile that can organically answer questions or share expertise. (Some marketers are even running live AMAs with product experts and promoting them to spark discussion.) A coordinated approach can amplify impact: insights from your organic community activity can inform ad creative, and you can amplify high-performing organic answers with paid sponsorship.
  
• Prioritise authenticity and trust. Since AI algorithms value balanced, honest content, ensure your communications feel genuine. Highlight both positives and limitations of your products, and share real customer experiences. In practice: if AI can glean both pros and cons from your content, it will deem it more credible. Consistent brand voice and transparency (across your website, press releases, influencer content and ads) help too: marketers note that reputation and credibility now often trump simply having the “right” answer on a page.
  
• Optimize for AI crawlability. Follow Bain’s advice to make content easily consumable by AI: use semantic, descriptive markup and long-tail keywords, and eliminate barriers. Specifically, avoid putting valuable information behind logins or in PDFs that AI bots can’t read. Use clear headings, bullet lists, and embedded media so that answer engines can parse your pages quickly. In short, treat your content as an open knowledge base for AI: the easier it is for a bot to find and digest, the more likely it will influence AI answers.
  
• Monitor and iterate. Finally, track your visibility in these new channels. Use brand-monitoring and social-listening tools to watch for mentions of your products in online discussions. If possible, measure brand lift via surveys in parallel. As AI search continues to evolve, regularly review which content and communities are impacting AI-driven results, and refine your strategy accordingly.

With these strategies, marketing teams can turn the “zero-click” challenge into an opportunity. By anchoring their brand in helpful conversations and authentic content, companies can remain visible even when the path from search to site has shifted. The zero-click era demands creativity and agility, but it also rewards brands that meet customers where they now seek answers.

References:

1. Capgemini Research Institute. “71% of consumers want generative AI integrated into their shopping experiences.” Press release, Jan 2025.
   
2. Sommerfeld N, McCurry M, Harrington D. Goodbye Clicks, Hello AI: Zero-Click Search Redefines Marketing. Bain & Company; 2025.
   
3. Moran K, Rosala M, Brown J. How AI Is Changing Search Behaviors. Nielsen Norman Group; 15 Aug 2025.
   
4. Silliman E, Boudet J, Robinson K, et al. New front door to the internet: Winning in the age of AI search. McKinsey & Company; Oct 16, 2025.
   
5. McCoy K. How brands are trying to optimize, outsmart AI answer engines across the zero-click landscape. Digiday; Nov 7, 2025.
   
6. Fishkin R. 2024 Zero-Click Search Study: For every 1,000 Google searches, only ~360 clicks go to the open web. SparkToro; July 1, 2024.
   
7. Southern M. Reddit Prioritizes Search, Sees 5X Growth in AI-Powered Answers. Search Engine Journal; July 31, 2025.
   
8. Pyle T. The Data on Reddit and AI Search. Profound; Nov 2025.

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