‘Zero-click’ searches on rise due to AI
More people are finding information from online searches without clicking links provided by search engines, indicating information summarized by generative artificial intelligence (AI) that now appears at the top of search results is being considered sufficient.
A recent survey in Japan showed “zero-click” searches have become the norm in more than 60 percent of Google queries, with the trend prompting businesses and entities to review their customer engagement strategies.
The operators of websites will likely see decreased advertising revenue and lost opportunities in obtaining new customers due to the trend, experts say.
Data analysis firm Values Inc. and subscription blog platform operator Note Inc. estimated that there were about 6.18 billion Google searches in Japan in September, but those searches led to only 2.26 billion visits to websites listed in results.
While the two firms suspect other functions in search, such as map and directions results returned when users search a place name, are also reducing clicks, they believe the emergence of generative AI accelerated the trend.
At the same time, the emergence of generative AI also contributed to a change in the way people search for information online.
A growing number of people now gather information using AI services rather than by entering keywords into a search engine.
