What are Zero-Click Searches?

Zero-Click Searches

Zero-click searches are search results that don’t generate a click-through to a site. Often, people don’t click through because Google provides an instant answer at the top of the search results. The answer satisfies search intent swiftly without a person having to click through to a resource.

Types of Zero-Click Search Results

Featured Snippets

Featured snippets are short snippets of text that appear on the top at zero position of SERP. They provide relevant answers to question-based queries. There are typically 5 types of featured snippets.

• Paragraph snippet – You’ll paragraph snippet for questions like: How to do/get…, Who is…, Why is…, what is…
• List type snippet – These featured snippets often list out steps that explain how to do something, such as recipes. They can appear as a numbered list or bulleted list depending on the search query.
• Table snippet – Table snippets are results that display content in a table format.
• Video snippet – Video snippets are results that appear in video format or answer the searcher’s question using text from your video description.

Rich Answers

Rich Answers, aka Instant Answers (formerly Quick Answers) are answered by Google, instantly, without credit to the website.

These answers  typically cover short, factual things like how far the sun from earth or what is 30+20.

Google says they don’t need to provide the credit because these answers are part of public domain.

Definition

Definition-based results are for search queries that involve word definition, meaning, usage, and spelling.

Map Result

Google map results are for location-based search queries that display a Google map result in SERP

Calculator

Google also provides a calculator for mathematical related searches. Users can perform basic or highly complex mathematical operations straight from the google search results page.

Knowledge Graph

Knowledge Graph answers often pull from a variety of sources and show up on the right in a big beautiful box or above the organic results in a photo gallery (or carousel).

You typically see these kind of results for brands, people, and organizations.

What Contributes to Zero-Click Search?

People Reformulate Their Queries

Google explains that people naturally refine their searches when they don’t get the results they anticipated. An example of this would be a user performing a broad search for ‘trainers’. They may find that when they see the results, they wish to modify it further to ‘white trainers’ as there is too much choice to click on a result. Once they modify their search to get the results they want, they are far more likely to click through to a marketing website.

People Look for Quick Answers

People want answers quickly, so when a simple query is performed like a weather forecast, a translation or a currency conversion, Google will show the marketing information directly in the search results. This means that the user has their digital information and doesn’t necessarily need to click through for more.

People Connect with a Business Directly

Thanks to Google My Business listings and Google Maps, business’ key contact information and opening hours are displayed in the search results. This means that a user can get a telephone number, directions or opening times for your business without having to visit your website.

People Navigate Directly to Apps

If users have a relevant app on their phone that correlates with their search query (e.g., Netflix or Amazon), the links will take them straight to the app instead of the website. This can count as a zero-click search.

How can you avoid zero-click searches?

Use long-tail keywords

To avoid zero-click searches you need to target relevant keywords where people want to gain more insights than they’d be shown in the search results. One approach involves targeting long-tail keywords.

Why?

People who search for information using long-tail keywords are likely looking for comprehensive digital answers.

Review the search results

Once you have your list of suitable keywords, the next thing to do is review the search results. Here, you want to put yourself in the position of a regular Google user to determine:

• What kind of information turns up for that keyword: Featured snippets? People also ask boxes? Just SERP results?
• Does it require further research to satisfy the searcher’s intent?
• If so, are you encouraged to click through the SERP results?

Consider user intent

Consider what information a person searching would want. Avoid keywords that might have succinct answers, such as date of birth, death, or the exchange rate. Be wary of definitions, as they will often have a reduced CTR.

Even though these keywords might have a high search volume, chances are Google will provide a concise one-way answer when users search for them online.