Zero-Click Search
A zero-click search is a query that is already answered directly in the search results – through featured snippets, knowledge panels or AI-generated overviews – so that users no longer have to click through to a website.
In practice
Zero-click searches lower the conventional click-through rate but raise a brand's visibility as a cited source. Being named as the source of such an answer often brings better-qualified traffic among the clicks that do still happen – a central argument for AEO rather than a pure focus on clicks.