“76% of searches now end without ever leaving Google.”
Kevin Indig
Are you still measuring your organic reach by vanity metrics?
Do you count things like clicks or traffic?
Then you may be only seeing 1/4 of it. Why?
Most people just read the answers on Google!
Also Google’s AI takes care of many queries.
Only those who really matter visit websites or buy something.
So how does this fundamental shift impact your SEO efforts?
Are the doom-sayers who proclaimed “SEO is dead” for the past decades finally right?
Let’s take a closer look! Spoiler alert: mostly lurkers stay on Google.
How Google keeps most people onsite
So in 2025 many informational queries asking questions about the meaning of things or some more specific insights stay on Google.
These “stay on Google searches” (or “zero-click searches” as the negativity driven pundits call it) dominate now with three fourths of all searches.
The knee-jerk reaction to this is: we’re doomed! “SEO is dead!” Why?
The vanity metric most people tracked for the past decades is ever dwindling: traffic.
Instead of tracking something else most people rather assume that “the end is nigh”.
Let’s take a closer look at when and how Google keeps searchers on Google with the help of its AI Overviews.
AI Overviews answer most informational queries sufficiently enough for the majority of users.
Just take a look at what happens when someone from the US searches for [seo].
They get the meaning of the acronym explained directly on Google.
It takes three actions to even be able to look up a source.
These actions are not easy to perform as they require interacting with tiny symbols in unexpected places.
For the past decades search results mostly consisted of links to third party sites.
Over the years more Google-owned features crept in that made users stay onsite.
With AI Overviews there is no need to click out as the third party information is already summarized on Google.
- We see a quick summary, then we have to click a “show more” arrow button to expand that.
- Then we have to click a tiny link icon at the end of a paragraph to see a search snippet at the side.
- Finally after locating the snippet in the sidebar you have to click that and can view the source.
This way we can quickly verify whether the source looks legit or “read more” in case we’re not fully satisfied yet.
Studies show that most people do not get that far. After clicking the button just a few even scroll far enough to see most of the explanation.
Almost 85% of searchers trust Google AI Overviews.
So there is no need to “read more” in most cases.
These searches are not “zero click” in a strict sense then.
Searchers click even twice yet get redirected within the Google interface. Only the the third click leads out!
The engagement pyramid
Over the years one of my most favorite explanations of how the Web works is the engagement pyramid.
It shows us how most people are usually passive, some are active occasionally and only the “top dogs” truly engage.
So out of the typical 90/9/1 visitor engagement pyramid you only get the top 10% of engaged users to do something.
Around 90% are usually passive lurkers on social media and on search it’s similar by now.
The majority (76%) of lurkers stay on Google and consume information passively there.
Lurkers do not click through to third party sites (that is you)!
Thus your search traffic is most likely dwindling ever since the introduction of AI Overviews.
Or essentially it is dwindling for years as other features have cannibalized search traffic for a long time.
So what can you measure now? I suggested some other metrics in early 2024 when I “predicted” that traffic and websites will become outdated metaphors.
The Web is about walled gardens now with increasingly high walls.
Only a few strong users can do parkour and overcome the obstacles increasingly closed platforms put in their path.
So what do you measure now that Google is an answering machine?
Is showing up in answers worth it?
I’d say measure hard business metrics or third party platform encompassing ones like “share of voice“.
Who cares whether people click through when they look up “the best [insert your offering here]” and finally end up buying it?
They may as well just buy it at Amazon or Google instead of your store directly.
Once they bought on a third party platform you can give them a discount for buying directly at your store or site.
Of course the majority of SEO experts will want you to show up in the answers. They will say something like “optimize for AI Overviews by doing this and that.
Usually it’s along the lines of “just keep on doing proper SEO”.
I’d say that’s an approach that is not really worth it anymore in many cases.
I was always wary of providing Google with free content.
Now that Google does not send visitors back to your site this is even more nonsensical.
Creating content for Google stinks
Content marketers have been preaching the “content is king” mantra for many years without often even looking up what it means!
Now it means that you create content for Google and do not get anything in return.
It stinks! Yet that’s good news! You can stop wasting your energy and money on often redundant content creation.
There are so many “what is SEO and how does it work” guides out there.
Do you really want to add another one of those to the content pool Google is taking from?
“Me too” content was never a good idea yet now it’s a complete waste of time.
So instead of the umpteenth SEO definition you can just jump to the specifics. What is your unique take and “selling proposition”?
What is the thing nobody else does ideally?
So for example I offer SEO services while having 20+ years of experience and I do everything myself. I
- research, find and build audiences
- create completely genuine 100% human content
- and optimize online presences (not just websites).
Most “technical SEOs” out there will just fix your code or ensure you’re in the index. I’m in contrast a content and social SEO.
I get the technical SEO best practices right yet don’t neglect the major parts of SEO that make up 80% of it.
Enough about me though! You get the point by now I hope.
- I don’t have to explain SEO anymore. Google does that.
- The only people who come visit me already know what it is.
- They want more. They want something Google can’t give them.
They are probably the people who are already looking for a versatile specialist with lots of experience!
So this is actually good news. You don’t get bothered by the redundant lurker traffic.
And you don’t waste resources on content that reinvents the wheel.
You can invest less in “top of the funnel” informational content!
Plus you can save money on your own website and also sell directly via Google when it comes to flights for example.
So the the open Web was about sites. The new closed Web is about platforms. There are just a few of them.
Google is one of the major gatekeepers you have to appease.
Yet you don’t have to feed it content all the time like in the past.
Brand recognition is key now
You can focus on getting people to stay faithful to your brand and come back next time directly to your site.
Of course there are many ways to achieve that.
Offering discounts for returning visitors is my favorite.
Increasing the customer lifetime value is usually far easier than new customer acquisition.
Search engine optimization is usually about first time visitors.
Why? SEO optimizes too often for generic keywords.
Nowadays you can focus on brand building more.
This is the most important impact to your SEO efforts!
You have to make people memorize and remember you.
Or at least you have to make people recognize you in search results.
Ideally they seek you out directly on Google or via your website.
The typical “keyword [+your brand]” search query is a good start!