BRANDING & MARKETING FUNDAMENTALS ARE MORE CRITICAL THAN EVER
Consumer behavior is in constant flux. With evolving trends, new technology releases, and shifting societal norms, consumers continually remake the patterns and behaviors that drive business. As agency professionals, it’s our role to recognize these shifts, analyze their impact, and adjust our strategies in ways that continue to drive business forward.
In 2025, we are seeing the trend toward “zero-click” searches shaking the long-standing gold standard of website visits as a leading indicator of business. This recent phenomenon has the industry writhing from dramatic drops in organic web traffic, suppressed search impressions, and even decreased ad performance. Google algorithms continue to favor AI overviews and other new content sources on the first page of many searches. Pay-per-click ads, which have historically been placed in priority positions of search results, are often being suppressed in favor of AI snippets. This shows that the search giants are willing to cannibalize their own income streams in the name of AI progress.
Before we get into how to shift your strategies to accommodate this changing dynamic, let us take you back to the retail stores of the early 2000s. For decades, the standard of success in that industry was foot traffic, with counters and turnstiles logging how many people walked through the door.
Historically, consumer research was done inside the brick and mortar – comparing models, features, and price points based on store displays and floor models. Then, as the internet exploded in the late 2000s, online research, comparison sites, and consumer ratings became a prevalent part of the consumer purchasing pattern. Both small brands and big-box retailers saw a dramatic drop in foot traffic as that research process moved online – a scary time for those who had always relied on head counts as a leading indicator of success. Perspectives had to change, with buyers only entering stores when they were ready to make a final purchase decision. And, of course, the eventual shift towards e-commerce from 2012-2015 made its mark on the industry again in ways we never could have imagined.
At Ampersand, we believe the same is true for SEO and web traffic moving forward. We are at a new, exciting, and pivotal crossroads. We see consumers no longer deep-diving into pages and pages of internet results to get the information they need. AI is moving quickly, driving overview content to the first page of Google results and requiring “zero-clicks” from users to get the information they need. Essentially, Google has become every brand’s homepage.
What’s more, users are leveraging other platforms like Meta AI, ChatGPT, and forums like Reddit and Quora to research and compile information for them, decreasing Google’s relevancy. These changes have left website owners shaking their heads at dramatic drops in traffic over the last few months. Marketers are now rethinking leading indicators, measurements of success, and how to grow a business in this new era of AI search.
The good news is that we know the foundational elements of growing a brand remain unchanged. There are ways to combat a decrease in website visits while still allowing your business to grow and thrive. In most cases, AI cannot deliver the end product or service users seek, so while consumer behavior early in the purchasing process has been markedly changed, sales will continue to be stable in most environments. As marketers, we encourage clients to rely on the foundations that existed far before SEO to win in today’s “zero-click” search environment:
DRIVE BRAND AWARENESS
Brand name awareness will continue to be a force in the marketing toolbox. Generic searches for products or services may result in informative AI overviews, but search queries including your organization’s name will rise to the top of local AI content. This positions your brand and business as the solution to the user’s problem, regardless of the number of clicks you receive.
By driving brand awareness through traditional means and other digital tactics, you can ensure your name is at the top of consumers’ minds when they enter the research and evaluation phase. As such, they are more likely to “Google” your name than a generic service listing, helping your brand appear in these AI results and allowing them to vet your company as a potential solution to their problem.
PROVIDE VALUABLE, MEANINGFUL, HUMAN-GENERATED CONTENT
AI trendsetters have made it clear that content remains critical to the process. Early indications are that valuable, educational information will become the source content for AI overviews, and this is how you want to show up in this new era. Citation links back to your site may not always be present, but continuing to provide meaningful content in the forms of articles, blogs, case studies, and more helps position you as a thought-leader and makes you more likely to rise to the top of new AI input algorithms.
While it’s tempting to lean into AI for content generation, trusted sources have explained that purely AI-based content will not win in the long game. We believe that original materials with a human element and ingenuity are still the most beneficial forms of content. Regurgitation of third-party sources, purely AI-generated content, and dated materials may be penalized over new, relevant, original human thought.
WEB EXPERIENCE STILL MATTERS
Before you set aside your CSS and Javascript in favor of other tactics, remember that real shoppers can and will make it back to your website in their final phases of evaluation. The longer the sales cycle and the larger the purchase, the more critical it will be to please the visitors with an engaging, high-performing website. Unless you run a purely e-commerce business on external channels, visitors to your homepage will likely be the most engaged and ready to convert traffic you’ve seen in a while. Tire-kickers are for AI results, but meaningful prospects rely on your website to help seal the deal.
We also know that web performance has become more critical as well, with Google and other search engines clearly stating that only the highest functioning, reputable sites utilizing search engine best-practices will continue to rank. Mobile experience, website speed, and technical optimization are more critical than ever to continue to rank with the search giants.
SHIFT YOUR ANALYTICS MINDSET
Like the shift from head counts in retail stores, it’s also time to rethink what the leading indicators of success are to you. For those who have historically viewed website traffic as the gold standard of early marketing success, continuing to rethink analytics and tracking is a critical piece of the puzzle. The proof is in the pudding, so don’t be afraid to track and share the true, unbiased counts of inquiries, estimates, and closed sales with your marketing agency or team. They are your partner in growing your business, helping you distinguish between AI rhetoric and tech changes versus market shifts that truly impact your business.
When you are ready to think past web visits and truly leave your brand’s mark on the communities you serve, please reach out. We can help drive greater brand awareness past the first page of Google results, making you a household name that outlives algorithm changes of today and tomorrow, building meaningful growth for your business.
