SEO for ‘zero-click’ searches

Google wants to keep its visitors on the site for as long as possible. It does this by displaying answers directly in the search results. This means visitors don’t need to click through to find answers to their questions. We call these ‘zero-click’ searches, and research shows that over 65 per cent of search queries do not result in a click-through. Another interesting fact is that 30 per cent click through on an organic search result and around 5 per cent on an advert.

'Zero-click' results stand out particularly clearly in the search results. These are the so-called rich snippets. For example, if you’re looking for football match results, Google returns the following result:

Rich snippet for football results

If you click on “More about this match”, you’ll see all the statistics on yellow cards, red cards, fouls, line-ups, group standings, etc. Google collects all this data from various websites and displays it in its search results. You always have the option to click through, but Google already provides the answer to the most important information.

Google My Business

The first step for an organisation to improve its organic rankings is to set up a Google My Business listing. It takes between 30 minutes and an hour to set this up properly, but Google users will immediately see the address details, opening hours, contact details, photos and other practical information.

A Google Business listing summarises the key information and provides interesting, relevant links.

In the Netherlands, virtually all businesses have a Google Business Profile, but it is important to claim that listing and add further details to it. Business listings also appear in search results for services and include a rich snippet featuring a map with data from Google Maps, so as to show the nearest business.

Structured data for rich snippets

As mentioned, Google extracts data from other websites and displays it in rich snippets. Structured data is the key here. By providing every web page on your website with comprehensive structured data, you increase the likelihood that Google will use data from your website to populate rich snippets. Of course, various factors play a part in this, but we’re all familiar with them.

SEO for zero-click searches is still relatively unknown amongst business owners, but just think of the opportunities this opens up. We see this development as a an addition to the existing SEO services.

The state of zero-click in 2026

We wrote this article in 2020, when ‘zero-click’ mainly referred to featured snippets and the answer box. Since then, the trend has become much more widespread: AI Overviews and chatbots answer entire questions without the need for a single click. As a result, publishers have seen their Google traffic fall by tens of per cent, and some are considering blocking Google altogether.

The lesson from this article still holds true, only the stakes are higher: make sure you’re visible where the answers are found, even if it doesn’t result in a click. How to determine whether your drop in traffic is down to this and what you can do about it is explained in declining organic traffic. You can find out how to get those answers in our article on generative engine optimisation.