In May 2024, Google launched AI Overviews. If you had a Google Search Console account, you saw what happened next: impressions held steady, clicks fell. The search was still happening. The visit wasn't.
Google answered the question for the user. With an AI. And the source Google used to build that answer got a small citation -- not the full click.
For informational queries, zero-click rates jumped past 65% after AI Overviews launched. Blog posts that used to drive consistent organic traffic started flatting out. The content was still ranking. The traffic wasn't arriving.
This isn't going to reverse. It's going to get more extreme as AI answer quality improves. The old model -- rank for a keyword, earn the click -- is being replaced by: get cited in the answer, earn the attribution.
Attribution is the new click. Being the cited source in an AI Overview or a Perplexity answer is worth more than a position-three ranking. The user sees your brand name. They see your URL. They get your answer. Brand recall happens even without the visit.
The brands that will survive the zero-click era are the ones getting cited as sources -- not the ones hoping users scroll past the AI answer to find their blue link.
Check your current citation rate across AI search engines at engagemii.com/aeo. The audit is free and takes two minutes.
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