Reasons to be skeptical about (total) Zero Click Search
A living list of the reasons I think the panic is over-blown - and any evidence I can gather
One of the current bogeymen of publishers is what's variously called “zero click search” or “Google zero”. It's the idea that, as Google introduces more and more Ai into their search engine, traffic from search will trend to zero – or maybe even disappear altogether.
Right now, I'm of the opinion that this is overblown. I think traffic from search will drop, but different types of content will be more impacted than others. But I don't think the fundamental "search for something to read/watch/listen" element will ever entirely disappear.
But for future linking purposes, I've decided to create this little living article where I can add thoughts and links to support my skepticism – or acknowledge that I was wrong, if we do end up in a zero click world.
Why am I skeptical?
- Google has said that the links are not going away. In essence, you’ll get different search experiences based on your search intent.
- The whole business model for AI (such as it is) collapses if there isn’t a steady supply of fresh material to train on. Disincentivising the creation of new original content is literally starving the AI businesses.
- There’s consumer resistance to AI-driven search, with other search engines like DuckDuckGo benefiting, as people shift to AI-light or AI-free alternatives.
- Fundamentally, zero click search assumed that the only reason people use search is for commodity information – and that's not borne out by the reality of search patterns.
