Don’t panic when organic traffic declines this year (yet)

Zero Click Searches: Navigating the Future of SEO

Those three words strike fear into any search engine marketer.

What happens in a world where everything becomes an AI search? In this scenario, the visitor gets all their information from an AI chatbot. Does that negate the efforts of trying to optimize your website organically?

Key Takeaways on Zero Click Searches

What strikes me as important in this conversation are three key takeaways:

1. Organic Traffic vs. User Intent: Organic traffic might decrease, but user intent is rising. Users will rely more on large language models (LLMs) for their top-of-the-funnel questions. When they need more help, they will return to these same LLMs. This results in lower but more focused traffic.

   
   

2. Diverse Ranking Platforms: Ranking is not just about Google anymore. Other rising platforms are becoming increasingly important. We don’t know who the winners of tomorrow will be, but we can add our unique voice and value across different platforms.

   
   

3. The Value of Unique Opinions: Your unique opinion matters. Long listicle articles trying to game the system are not effective. Our lived experiences are unique compared to LLM-based answers and can provide a fresh perspective.

   
   

Change is coming, and it is moving rapidly.

The Future of Website Visitors

I’ll confidently make the following prediction:

“Modern website visitors will be more demanding, more discerning, and will require thoughtful, concise, and relevant answers.”

Since the inception of the internet, people have been sharing links, information, and really cool websites. I don’t foresee that changing.

Humans Want to See Humans

Numerous studies show that people ignore stock photos. They spend more time looking at images of real people. This is also true for video content. Nothing makes me click away faster than AI-generated content or voiceovers on YouTube.

In the future, content could be differentiated with labels indicating whether it was produced by AI or by people. This would help users tell them apart.

Before this post starts becoming a diatribe of a Black Mirror episode, let’s get back to the point.

Platforms Prefer No-Click Content

Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others prioritize native content. They don’t want visitors to navigate away from their platform. Posts without links tend to receive greater reach and impressions than those with links.

Here’s an experiment done by Hootsuite showing that posts on LinkedIn without links receive six times the reach compared to those with links.

The lesson here is not to obsess over simply growing traffic. Visibility and reach also play a crucial role in a well-structured marketing plan.

The Migration of Search Demand

Search demand from users hasn’t gone away; it’s simply migrating. As long as people are typing questions into a search box—whether on ChatGPT, Google, Bing, YouTube, or Reddit—there will be a space for SEO.

For years, SEO has been synonymous with growing website traffic. While that remains important, we must now also focus on total brand reach.

Action Plan for Declining Organic Traffic

If you experience a decline in organic traffic, consider the following action plan:

• Provide Immediate Value: Answer the user's question right away.

• Include Helpful Sections: Summaries, FAQ sections, and TLDRs can assist the user.

• Maintain SEO Basics: Continue doing the fundamentals of SEO well.

• Measure AI Brand Mentions: Track mentions of your brand in AI contexts, not just website traffic.

• Follow UX Best Practices: There’s no point in trying to SEO-optimize a webpage if it’s not properly displayed or accessible to users.

  
  

Parting Thoughts

There’s too much hysteria in the digital marketing space about AI and the supposed death of everything. We should be adaptable to change and nimble enough to shift with the times. One platform may rise at the expense of another, but with every adversity or change, there will be another equal or greater opportunity.

In this evolving landscape, remember that the phrase "zero click searches" encapsulates the challenge and the opportunity that lies ahead. Embrace it, and you may find new ways to connect with your audience.