“Zero-click” searches on rise due to AI summaries: survey

KYODO — More people are finding information from online searches without clicking links provided by search engines, indicating information summarised by generative artificial intelligence (AI) that now appears at the top of search results is being considered sufficient.

A recent private sector survey in Japan showed “zero-click” searches have become the norm in more than 60% 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, based in Tokyo, 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 zero-click 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 conversational AI services, such as ChatGPT’s AI chatbot operated by OpenAI, directly rather than by entering keywords into a search engine.

The number of people directed to posts on the note website via conversational AI services roughly tripled between January and August this year, according to the survey.

Highly specialized posts were notably popular among those who clicked through to the site, the company said.

Source – Bangkok News