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For a long time, digital marketing success has been measured in obvious metrics, such as website clicks. We had come to understand that website traffic was part of the foundation of digital marketing, and it signified how well the website, business, and content was being received.<\/p>\n
Well, something has been shifting. Website traffic has been declining and a phenomenon known as the “zero-click search” has arisen. While the first instinct when noticing this change might have been to panic, we’ve noticed that there is something else going on entirely, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, it does mean that things are changing. Here’s more information about what we are seeing.<\/p>\n
The world of digital marketing has changed, and AI is at the heart of it. Search engines have evolved since they first started decades ago, but some of the biggest changes have happened recently, thanks to AI. While they used to connect the user to links to websites that gave searches the information they asked for, they are no information hubs that understand intent and provide answers on their own.<\/p>\n
Pair that with the emergence of AI services that will do the same, and this means that the search engines themselves have seen a shift. The collective is starting to show that they prefer these “generative ai-driven” answers. AI now delivers information summaries, information about products, brand insights, and more, all embedded within the search engines. Users no longer need to click on the websites directly to get the answers they want.<\/p>\n
When this trend first surfaced, it raised alarm beds. The assumption was that fewer clicks would mean less exposure to the brand, and therefore, a drop in sales or leads. Now that the dust has settled, we are starting to understand that things are simply changing, but these changes don’t mean less business.<\/p>\n
Sure, there are fewer overall clicks to the website. However, this doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. AI could be reducing people’s need to visit your website directly to get preliminary information about you and about your products or services. We have had a few people report, and we are seeing this trend ourselves, that while the overall number of clicks has dropped, lead quality has improved.<\/p>\n
This means that the role of your website is changing. In the old way that people were gathering information, they were relying on a company’s website to give them information through every stage of the sales cycle. Now, a lot of the early and middle stage research is happening off a website, through AI search and its generated results. Potential customers do a fair amount of research, and by the time they find your website, they are nearly ready to buy from you.<\/p>\n
Not everyone is seeing this trend, but it’s becoming enough of a trend for at least some businesses that it is worth noticing. \u00a0This could indicate that we are in the early stages of this change, that the website’s very role in the sales cycle has changed.<\/p>\n