What is a zero-click search?
A zero-click search is a search where the person never clicks a result that takes them to a website. Someone searches "time in Tokyo", reads the answer at the top of Google, and leaves. Someone searches "best hiking boots", reads the AI Overview, and closes the tab. Both are zero-click searches.
Zero-click searches happen for three different reasons, and most statistics mix them together:
- The answer was on the page. Weather, scores, conversions, definitions, knowledge panels and AI Overviews answer the question directly.
- The searcher searched again. They rephrased the query, so the first search produced no click.
- The searcher gave up or went elsewhere, such as to an app, a phone call from a local listing or another site entirely.
Only the first reason is the one marketers usually mean when they worry about zero-click search.
How many Google searches are zero-click?
The most recent widely cited figure is 68.01% of US Google searches ending without a click from January to April 2026, from a SparkToro study using Similarweb clickstream data [3]. Other credible studies have put the figure anywhere from 17.3% to about 60%, because each one defines a zero-click search differently [4].
| Study | Period | Zero-click share | Counts searches followed by another search? |
|---|---|---|---|
| SparkToro, Jumpshot data [1] | June 2019 | Just over 50% | Yes |
| Semrush [4] | 2022 | 25.6% desktop, 17.3% mobile | No, reported separately |
| SparkToro, Datos data [2] | Sept 2022 to May 2024 | 58.5% US, 59.7% EU | Yes |
| SparkToro, Similarweb data [3] | Jan to Apr 2026 | 68.01% US | Yes |
The gap between 17% and 68% is mostly a definition gap, not a disagreement about behavior. The Semrush study separated query refinements, which made up 17.9% of desktop searches and 29.3% of mobile searches, from true zero-click searches [4]. The 2026 SparkToro figure includes searchers who performed another search, and that group alone grew 7.2 points from 2024 to 2026 [3].
Is zero-click search really rising?
Zero-click search is rising on every measure that has been tracked over time, but the size of the rise is less certain than headlines suggest. SparkToro's 2026 study compares its 68.01% figure with 60.45% for 2024, an increase of 7.56 points [3].
One detail is easy to miss. The 2024 comparison figure of 60.45% does not match SparkToro's own published 2024 figure of 58.5%, and the 2024 and 2026 numbers come from different data providers, Datos and Similarweb [2] [3]. SparkToro acknowledges the two panels are not the same users or devices [3]. The direction is consistent across studies; the exact size of the change is an estimate across two different samples.
How do AI Overviews affect zero-click searches?
AI Overviews make zero-click searches more likely. In a Pew Research Center study of about 69,000 searches by 900 US adults in March 2025, people clicked a traditional result on 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, against 15% when one did not [6]. Only 1% of visits included a click on a link inside the AI summary itself, and 26% of visits with an AI summary ended the browsing session, against 16% without [6].
Google's own position is different. When it launched AI Overviews to everyone in the US on May 14, 2024, Google said the links included in AI Overviews get more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional listing for that query [9]. Google has not published data showing how often AI Overviews end a search without any click.
For a test of whether page details affect being cited inside AI Overviews, see Does a year in your title get you cited by AI Overviews?.
When did zero-click search start?
Zero-click search started as soon as search engines began answering questions on the results page, in the late 2000s, but the term became widely used in 2019 when SparkToro reported that most Google searches no longer produced a click [7] [1]. Each new answer feature since has pushed the share higher.
2007 to 2012: answers move onto the results page
Google's Universal Search (2007) mixed YouTube and Maps results into the page, rich snippets (2009) showed details such as reviews in the listing, and the Knowledge Graph, launched May 16, 2012, began answering questions about people, places and organizations directly in knowledge panels [7] [8].
2019: the term goes mainstream
In August 2019, Rand Fishkin reported Jumpshot data showing that in June 2019, for the first time, a majority of browser-based searches on Google.com ended without a click. On mobile the figure was close to two thirds [1].
2021: Google responds
In March 2021, Google's Danny Sullivan argued that zero-click figures were misleading. Google listed reasons a search might not produce a click that are not lost traffic: people reformulating queries, quick facts such as weather and sports scores, local results that lead to calls or directions, and searches that open apps [5]. Google said it had sent more traffic to the open web every year since it began [5].
2024 to 2026: AI answers
Google launched AI Overviews in the US on May 14, 2024, and AI Mode, a full AI answer tab, followed in 2025 [9] [7]. SparkToro's next two studies put the zero-click share at 58.5% (2024) and 68.01% (early 2026), the latter covering a period when AI Overviews appeared on more than 20% of searches [2] [10].
What is the difference between a zero-click search and a no-click query refinement?
A true zero-click search ends because the searcher got an answer or gave up, while a query refinement ends the first search only because the person searched again. Someone who types "sneakers", sees the results, then types "black sneakers" has not been denied a click; they narrowed the question [5]. Most headline zero-click figures count both as zero-click [3] [4]. When a figure is quoted, check which definition it uses before drawing conclusions.
How do you tell if zero-click search is affecting your site?
To tell if zero-click search is affecting your site, compare impressions with clicks in Google Search Console over time. If impressions hold steady or rise while clicks fall, click-through rate is dropping, which is the signature of answers being given on the results page.
Practical checks:
- Filter Search Console by query type. Question queries ("what is", "how to") and definition queries are the most exposed.
- Look for queries where you rank in the top three but click-through rate has fallen sharply. Search the query yourself and see what now sits above your listing.
- Separate branded from non-branded queries. Branded clicks usually hold up better.
What should you do about zero-click search?
The answer to zero-click search is to measure visibility, not only visits, and to target queries where a click is still the natural next step. Searches that need a comparison, a purchase, a tool, a long guide or original data still send clicks. Quick facts and simple definitions increasingly do not.
Being the source an AI answer or knowledge panel draws on still has value: your brand is named in front of the searcher even when no click follows. Track how often your brand is mentioned and cited in AI answers alongside traffic, and set expectations with stakeholders that falling clicks on informational queries may reflect the results page, not your rankings.