How to evolve your SEO strategy for zero-click search

AI is, once again, disrupting how we search and gather information online, and it’s starting to change the field of SEO. SEO has been a notoriously volatile segment of digital marketing. In fact, there was a time when keyword stuffing was the latest strategy and writing keyword-heavy text for the algorithm was the content of choice! These days, we have come back to the beginning in a lot of ways with renewed focus on high-quality content and a strong and intuitive user experience (thank goodness) as the gold standard. Now, faced with zero-click search, marketers are wondering what to do and how much time to invest doing it before things change again. We’ll walk you through what zero-click search means, how it’s impacting the industry, and how you can protect your traffic results. 

What is zero-click search and how is it impacting SEO?

Zero-click search is what happens when search engines respond to queries on the search engine results page (SERP), saving the user from having to click on a link to get the information. For instance, when someone conducts a search or types a keyword into the search bar, such as “What is a zero-click search,” the search engine delivers an overview responding to the question, sometimes citing sources if it’s a technical response and other times just providing a summary. Search engines provide different types of zero-click search responses, including featured AI overviews, snippets, knowledge panels, and rich result widgets like weather, maps, and more. 

In reality, Google has been using zero-search results for a long time, it’s just that now brands are starting to notice as they lose visitors to the site and AI overviews become far more robust and accurate. In the eyes of search engines, they are crafting a stronger user experience because zero-click search results deliver relevant information to people right away, saving them from having to go through multiple sites to find what they need. Consequently, this is moving some websites that would have ranked further down the page and rendering some of them useless. It’s not all bad news, however, as there are steps you can take to ensure relevancy and results, and it’s another way to clear out misleading or lackluster content. 

What does this mean for your business? 

When it comes down to it, you aren’t just up against search engines and zero-click search, you are up against changing consumer preferences as people start to move away from finding information on websites and towards social media and AI tools. To help, you can think of zero-click search as a new challenge, one that is forcing you to put your best foot forward, rather than one that is bringing you down. It might not be ideal, but there are steps you can take to maintain position and drive traffic to your site.

SEO practices to stay ahead in a zero-click world

1. Have a think about your SEO goals and focus on the ones that will drive the most value. If you have to fight harder for clicks, it makes sense to fight for the ones that are going to drive conversions or help you meet other goals. Pay attention to the keywords where you can rank and try to get featured in the snippets on each page. This is where keyword tools come in very handy because they should show you the metrics for each keyword as well as where you sit in the ranking and the difficulty of getting featured. 
2. Adjust the structure of your content – It makes sense to have a variety of content in different forms on your website. For the keywords or content you want to be featured for, make sure the structure aligns with content commonly used in zero-click searches. For example, keep things concise by using bullet points, lists, and short paragraphs, maintain a useful and intuitive structure by adding headings and subheadings, and respond to as many commonly asked questions as possible to increase your chances of appearing in the “People also ask” section. AnswerthePublic is a great resource for this!
3. Get optimizing for local SEO! This is vital for multi-location businesses, but also for all businesses. Having an updated Google Business Profile with reviews, photos, and up-to-date information shows Google the value of your content. Remember, the entire ecosystem is connected, and the more involved your brand, the higher the chances of being featured in any of the zero-click results. 
4. E-E-A-T is here to stay! You’ve heard it once, you’ll hear it again; practice the EEAT strategy with all content you put on your brand profiles and website. It stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Google has been championing the E-E-A-T approach since 2014 to give brands direction when it comes to content and rankings. Ideally, relevant, engaging, authoritative content should reign supreme in the algorithm, and there are different ways to make that happen. For instance, you can show your audience you are the expert by collaborating with industry leaders, prove to them you are a relevant, trusted authority by creating a detailed about page and Google Business Profile, refresh content regularly to show budding experience, and make sure each piece is high-quality, value-add content. 

 Diversify your platforms

These days, it is not enough to have a website. Depending on your audience you will also need to be engaging on other platforms, including social media, maps, ecommerce sites, advertising, and anything else that relates to your industry. Diversifying your brand’s traffic channels will ensure that zero-click search, even if it does negatively impact your site, will not have as large of an impact. Many industries also have platforms for vetting organizations and may charge a small fee to have a profile but can drive a lot of traffic to your site if done correctly. 

While it can be challenging to deal with the constant changes, zero-click search is not necessarily a bad thing, especially for businesses that are already investing in high-quality practices and content. Give the tips above a try, and if you still need guidance, reach out to the MDG team today.