A zero-click search is a search that ends without the searcher clicking any result. The person reads what the results page shows, searches again or leaves, and no website gets a visit.
How zero-click searches happen
SparkToro, which has published research on the pattern since 2019, defines zero-click searches as those that end without a click on any result, whether the searcher leaves satisfied, leaves frustrated or changes the query. It attributes the rise to AI features, instant answers, page elements that keep searchers on Google and shifting user preferences.
SparkToro measures it with clickstream data, the recorded browsing of a panel of real users. It argues that studies built on keyword-level click-through rates miss how people actually search, including repeat searches and queries that never appear in SEO tool datasets.
SparkToro's latest study, published in June 2026 using Similarweb's US desktop and mobile web panel, found that 68.01% of Google searches from January to April 2026 ended without a click. It leaves out searches in the Google app, so SparkToro expects the true share to be higher, and it warns that its older figures came from different panels and are not a like-for-like trend.
Why zero-click matters for AI answers as well as classic search
In classic search, SparkToro's reading is that rankings still matter but no longer earn traffic the way they once did. AI answers go further: the engine writes the answer itself, and in Pew's data below people rarely clicked the sources inside one. What counts there is whether the answer names your brand or cites your page, which is what AI share of voice and citations in AI answers measure.
Google counts appearances in AI Overviews and AI Mode as impressions in Search Console, and in June 2026 it began rolling out a dedicated generative AI report. Google also says the clicks that do come from results pages with AI Overviews are higher quality, meaning people tend to spend more time on the site. That is Google's claim about quality, not a count of clicks. Our guide to using Google Search Console for AI search shows where to find the numbers.
An example: Pew's study of AI summaries
Pew Research Center analyzed the browsing of 900 US adults during March 2025, covering 68,879 Google searches. On pages with an AI summary, users clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits, against 15% on pages without one. They clicked a link inside the AI summary itself in 1% of visits. Sessions also ended more often after a page with a summary: 26% of the time, against 16%.
Common misconceptions
- "Zero-click started with AI." SparkToro's first study, in 2019, already put the figure at 49%, before Google introduced AI Overviews in 2024. It was measured on a different panel, so treat the comparison as rough.
- "A citation in an AI summary brings visits." In Pew's data, links inside AI summaries drew clicks in 1% of visits.
- "No click means no value." SparkToro, which tracks the trend, advises brands to earn influence and awareness without requiring a visit, and to stop treating traffic as the main measure of success.