Zero-click searches are declining.
March 2026 saw the lowest share of Google desktop zero-click searches in the last two years, according to Datos, A Semrush Company and Rand Fishkin.
It doesn't mean the trend is completely reversing (still 1 in 5 searches end with zero clicks), but it's a signal.
After the messy early days of AI Overviews, Google is now trying to solve an almost impossible problem:
make AI Overviews useful for users,
without damaging its relationship with publishers.
To do so, it made the following changes over the past few months:
- More sources, more prominent.
AI Overviews now surface more links, prominently called-out in separate panels or increasingly in-line within the answer.
- Different query mix.
AI Overviews used to be mostly informational. That is changing.
According to Semrush, between October 2024 and October 2025, queries triggering AI Overviews shifted:
• Commercial: 8% → 18.5%
• Transactional: 2% → 14%
• Navigational: 0.8% → 10%
Those type of searches naturally need a click.
- Difference source mix.
A 2026 study by the Washington University in St. Louis found that almost 30% of cited domains in AIO did not appear on the traditional first page of results. Social, videos and forum discussions now represent a significant share of AIO sources and links, but they rarely rank on the traditional SERP.
- More focus on commerce.
Amazon and eBay climbed the ranking of the most cited sources by LLMs.
Their links naturally drive more clicks.
What does this mean for marketing?
I wish I knew 😅.
But what's clear is that our job is becoming harder.
Now we need to do three things at once:
1. Rank in traditional search.
Very important as AI search still represents a small share of usage.
2. Be selected as a source in AI answers.
Different from number 1.
3. Be present where discussions take place.
LLMs increasingly value what real users have to say about a product or service.
It'll be interesting to see how the search landscape will look like in a year from now.
