Headline Zero-Click Rate (2026)
Across the cohort, the share of search impressions that produced no outbound click reached new highs. The number is meaningfully different by device and by query type.
- Overall zero-click rate (all queries, all devices): 64.8%
- Mobile zero-click rate: 71.2%
- Desktop zero-click rate: 53.4%
- Branded query zero-click rate: 49.1%
- Non-branded query zero-click rate: 72.7%
- Zero-click rate on queries with an AI Overview present: 78.4%
- Zero-click rate on queries without an AI Overview: 51.2%
Where the Lost Clicks Went
Not every zero-click search ends in zero action. A large share resolves on the SERP itself; another share routes to other Google-owned destinations. The breakdown below comes from session-replay sampling on a 12,000-query subset.
- Query resolved fully on the SERP (answer satisfied): 38.1% of zero-click impressions
- Refined the query and ran a second search: 22.4%
- Clicked into Google-owned property (Maps, YouTube, Google Shopping): 19.2%
- Abandoned without further action: 14.7%
- Switched to AI assistant tab (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini): 5.6%
Year-over-Year Movement
Zero-click grew 9.6 percentage points in 12 months, the steepest rise we have measured in any year of running this cohort. The growth was not uniform; it concentrated in informational and how-to queries where AI Overviews expanded the most.
- Zero-click rate Apr 2025: 55.2%
- Zero-click rate Apr 2026: 64.8%
- Year-over-year change in informational queries: +14.1 points
- Year-over-year change in transactional queries: +3.4 points
- Year-over-year change in local intent queries: +5.8 points
Outbound CTR by Position
Even with rising zero-click, the long tail of outbound clicks still goes mostly to the top of the page. Position 1 still wins, but the gap between position 1 and AI-Overview citation has narrowed.
- Position 1 (no AI Overview): 28.4% CTR
- Position 1 (with AI Overview, page cited): 22.1%
- Position 1 (with AI Overview, page not cited): 11.6%
- Positions 2-3 (no AI Overview): 14.7%
- Positions 2-3 (with AI Overview): 8.7%
- Positions 4-10 (with AI Overview): 4.1% combined
- AI Overview citation outbound CTR: 4.2% of total Overview impressions
The single highest-leverage SEO move in 2026 is being cited in the AI Overview. Citation outbound CTR plus retained organic CTR together close most of the gap to a no-Overview SERP.
Zero-click hit 64.8% in 2026, up 9.6 points in a year. The fight has moved off the website and onto the SERP itself, with AI Overview citations and Google Business Profile interactions doing the work that homepages used to.
What Still Drives Outbound Clicks
Some query shapes continued to generate outbound traffic at strong rates despite the rise in zero-click. The pattern is consistent and useful for content prioritisation.
- Long-tail queries (4+ words): 41% lower zero-click rate than head terms
- Queries containing 'how to' followed by a specific tool or product: -28% zero-click
- Queries containing a price, model number, or version: -34% zero-click
- Queries with explicit transactional intent ('buy', 'order', 'book'): -52% zero-click
- Branded queries with the brand site present in the top 3: -39% zero-click
Local Intent and Zero-Click
Local-pack queries showed a unique pattern. The zero-click rate was high (68%), but a large share of zero-click impressions still produced an action: a phone call, a direction request, or a website tap from the pack itself. For local businesses, the right metric is profile interactions, not site clicks.
- Local-pack zero-click rate: 68%
- Average phone calls per 100 local-pack impressions: 2.1
- Average direction requests per 100 impressions: 3.4
- Average website clicks per 100 impressions: 4.7
- Combined profile interactions per 100 impressions: 10.2
Strategy Implications
Three responses came out of the cohort that worked. First, optimise for AI Overview citation on informational queries. Second, double down on long-tail, transactional, and branded queries where outbound CTR has held up. Third, treat Google Business Profile as the new homepage for local intent: most of the action happens there, not on the website.
