When people discuss zero-click search, they often miss one key detail:
Desktop and mobile behave very differently.
Last week, I showed that zero-click searches on Google have declined on desktop. The share of zero-click was lower in Q1 2026 than in 2024.
For the first time in years, the trend seems to have inverted.
But mobile did the opposite.
And because mobile accounts for most Google searches, total zero-click searches still increased in 2026.
The long-term trend continues:
45% of Google searches ended with no clicks in 2016, in the US.
That jumped to 61% in 2024 and 68% in 2026!
But the desktop reversal still deserves marketers’ attention.
It suggests Google search is increasingly two different behaviours.
On desktop, people click through more. They're more willing to research, compare, open tabs, etc
It makes sense.
Desktop is where we handle more complex searches.
Mobile is obviously different.
We're on the go and we want quick answers.
Above-the-fold AI Overviews discourage scrolling and clicks even further.
So, our content strategy should not treat "search" as a single user journey.
📱 Mobile:
Quick answers, definitions, fast comparisons.
đź’» Desktop
Deeper analysis, original research, technical content.
Nothing revolutionary.
Marketing in the age AI is just "common sense marketing", where all the best practices from the 2000s of even earlier, are more valid than ever.
But it's always worth repeating,
after a decade of "nerdification" of marketing.
Source: SparkToro, Rand Fishkin
Charts courtesy of Codex
