SEO in the Age of AI: Why Your Clicks Are Disappearing

SEO in the Age of AI: Why Your Clicks Are Disappearing

April 16, 2025
5
min read
TL;DR — AI answers are swallowing clicks. Google’s AI Overviews now appear on roughly two‑in‑five queries and depress organic CTR, while zero‑click searches hit record highs. Meanwhile Perplexity, ChatGPT‑style search and social‑video search (TikTok, YouTube) are stealing discovery share, forcing SEOs to evolve toward entity authority, answer‑ready content and—crucially—video. Brands that double‑down on Shorts and TikToks (where Gen Z already prefers to search) ride the wave of rising reach and ad budgets.

Traditional click‑through rates (CTR) from Google are under pressure as AI Overviews, chat‑style engines like Perplexity and ChatGPT, and social‑video search on TikTok and YouTube reshape discovery. Organic CTRs plummet—with only 36 % of U.S. searches clicking through—and AI referral patterns are driving engagement differently. SEOs must pivot from ranking for blue links to optimizing for “answer‑ready” content, structured data, and brand mentions inside AI summaries. At the same time, video platforms have become de facto search engines for younger audiences: 74 % of Gen Z now use TikTok 74 % of Gen Z users use TikTok for search EMARKETER, and over 90 % of firms leverage video marketing on YouTube 91 % of businesses used video marketing in 2023 . The modern SEO must therefore master Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and a cross‑channel video strategy to capture both AI‑driven snippets and social‑video discovery.

📉 Declining Organic CTR from SERPs

Zero‑Click Searches Are the New Normal

The era of ten blue links is fading fast: in 2024, for every 1,000 U.S. Google searches, only 360 clicks go to non‑Google properties—meaning nearly two‑thirds of searches end without an open‑web click 2024 Zero‑Click Search Study sparktoro.com.

Meanwhile, AI‑powered search referrals to U.S. retail sites surged 1,300 % over the 2024 holiday season, reflecting deep engagement when users find precise answers in AI tools—but at the cost of traditional SERP CTRs AI search is starting to kill Google’s ‘ten blue links’ The Verge.

AI Overviews Steal the Spotlight

Google’s AI Overviews rolled out broadly in 2024, with hundreds of millions of U.S. users getting quick, link‑rich summaries before ever scrolling classic results. Early data show billions of AI Overview invocations, and Google expects to reach over a billion people by year‑end​blog.google. These snapshots often satisfy information needs without a click, depressing standard CTRs even further.

🤖 The Rise of AI‑Native Search Engines

Perplexity and the AI Challenger Wave

Startups like Perplexity AI have capitalized on the AI search trend, landing a $520 million valuation in early 2024 and attracting major backers—signaling investor confidence in answer‑first discovery AI‑powered search engine Perplexity AI, now valued at $520 M TechCrunch.

ChatGPT as a Search Alternative

Meanwhile, ChatGPT’s user base exploded—doubling from 200 million to 400 million weekly active users between August 2024 and February 2025, per a16z data—demonstrating massive appetite for conversational search interfaces ChatGPT’s weekly active users increased to 400 M TechCrunch.

These AI search engines bypass traditional SERPs, rewarding sites that surface clear, structured facts and authoritative entity signals—rather than those merely optimized for keyword ranking.

🛠️ Evolving SEO Roles: From Keywords to Answers

Embrace Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

To thrive, SEOs must optimize for AI models by:

  • Structured Data & Schema Markup: Implement FAQPage, HowTo, and Recipe schema so AI Overviews can pull verified answers easily.
  • Concise “Answer Blocks”: Lead each page with a 40–60‑word summary of the core answer, improving the chance of being quoted verbatim.

Search Engine Land’s guide to Answer Engine Optimization details how to adjust metadata and content blocks for AI read‑through​Search Engine Land.

Quality Signals Matter More Than Ever

A recent SISTRIX analysis shows that AI Overviews now cite 5–6 different sources on average, and top‑ranked domains in AI Overviews tend to be those with strong expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (EEAT) profiles AI vs. SEO: What does the Future of Search look like? SISTRIX.

📹 Video Platforms as the New Search Front Door

🎵 TikTok: Gen Z’s Go‑To Search Engine

TikTok has rapidly evolved into a primary discovery tool: 74 % of Gen Z now use it for informational searches, and 51 % prefer it over Google for many queries 74 % of Gen Z users use TikTok for search EMARKETER.

Social commerce is booming: TikTok Shop drove ≈ $1 billion in monthly U.S. sales in late 2024, and racked up $100 million in sales on Black Friday alone—proof that discovery can convert without leaving the app TikTok Shop drove around $1 billion in monthly sales .

▶️ YouTube: The Video Search Giant

YouTube remains the default video search engine: in 2023, 91 % of marketers used video marketing, and YouTube watch‑time rose 8 % year‑over‑year—showing demand for both short and long‑form educational content 91 % of businesses used video marketing in 2023 ; .

EMarketer forecasts that video ad spend will nearly match search ad budgets by 2028—underscoring how ad dollars (and audiences) are migrating to video formats Video Ads Will Capture Nearly As Much Ad Spending as Search by 2028 EMARKETER.

🚀 Tactical Playbook for Modern SEO
Goal Action Why It Works
Appear in AI Overviews Publish a concise answer summary + structured schema at top of each page AI models extract from clear, semantically tagged blocks (Search Engine Land)
Build Entity Authority Add author bios, site About page E‑E‑A‑T signals, and brand mentions in content AI Overviews prefer trusted entities over generic pages (SISTRIX)
Track “Answer Impressions” Use SERP‑tracking APIs to monitor presence in AI snippets Impressions replace clicks as key visibility metric (blog.google)
Diversify Discovery Channels Produce TikToks/Shorts echoing blog topics; embed video in posts Gen Z and young audiences start on video platforms, then seek depth on site (EMARKETER)
Optimize Video Monetization Layer CTAs, first‑comment links, and use TikTok’s Creative Exchange for pro editing TikTok campaigns yield measurable brand lift and conversions

🔮 The Road Ahead

  • AI Attribution Models: Expect Google to test inline link cards and publisher “traffic‑share deals” as it seeks to balance user satisfaction with pushing traffic to quality sites​The Verge.
  • Answer‑Quality Core Updates: Future core ranking updates will likely integrate “answer quality” signals, rewarding pages that read well to LLMs and get cited in AI Overviews​Search Engine Land.
  • Shoppable Video: With TikTok Shop and upcoming shoppable Shorts, discovery, engagement, and purchase can all happen inside the video app—potentially bypassing site visits entirely.

Bottom line: clicks from classic blue‑link SERPs are on the decline, but brand impressions and direct conversions via AI and video channels are surging. The future SEO must be an Answer Engineer and a Video Strategist—crafting content both chat‑ready and studio‑worthy to own discovery in a click‑starved world.

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Nico Gorrono
SEO and AI Automation Expert

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