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Zero-click searches are pegged at 22% and 68%, and both numbers hold up
Publication date: 19.09.2026
In short
- US estimates of the zero-click share of searches range from 22.4% to 68.01%.
- The gap comes from how a click is defined, the device mix and the user panels, not from anyone miscounting.
- Small publishers lose the most: they have shed 60% of their search traffic in two years.
The same behavior — someone asks Google, reads the results page and leaves — has been measured this year at both 22.4% and 68.01% of searches. PPC Land pulled the numbers into one explainer, and it shows that none of the authors got it wrong; they were simply counting different things.
68.01%of US searches end without a click, according to SparkToro’s June 2026 study; the Datos desktop panel found just 22.4% in March.
Why the numbers differ threefold
The zero-click share isn't measured by Google but through panels: a small group of people agrees to have their browsing recorded. Datos (a Semrush subsidiary) and Similarweb run such panels, and Jumpshot did until it shut down. Each search lands in one of five buckets: organic click, paid click, click to a Google property, new query, or no action. Some researchers count a click to YouTube or Maps as a click, others as a zero-click exit. Add different weights for desktop and mobile and different panel makeup, and a threefold spread stops being surprising.
The metric has a long history. Google launched the Knowledge Graph in May 2012 and featured snippets in January 2014, and in August 2019 Rand Fishkin’s analysis first showed that more than half of searches end without a click (50.33%). After AI Overviews launched in May 2024, the numbers climbed:
| Source | When | What was measured |
|---|---|---|
| Rand Fishkin | August 2019 | 50.33% of searches with no click |
| Datos and SparkToro, desktop | March 2026 | 22.4% |
| SparkToro, US | June 2026 | 68.01% |
| Similarweb, news queries | May 2025 | 69% vs 56% a year earlier |
Who pays for the lost clicks
Ahrefs calculated that AI Overviews cut clicks to top-ranking pages by 34.5% (April 2025) and by 58% (February 2026). Chartbeat data shows small publishers losing 60% of search traffic over two years, mid-sized ones 47% and large ones 22%. The hundred biggest media companies, the piece estimates, spend around $113 million a month on paid search — 274% more than three years ago. Traffic that used to arrive for free is now partly bought back.
Google rejects that picture. Back in August 2025 Google’s Liz Reid argued that total organic click volume from Search to websites remains relatively stable year over year, and disputed the methodology of studies including Pew Research. Regulators aren't waiting: the European Commission opened an investigation into Google's use of publisher content for AI on December 9, 2025, the UK CMA ordered Google to let publishers opt out of AI Overviews without losing search visibility (obligations start December 3, 2026), and Penske Media filed a US antitrust suit back in September 2025.
What this looks like in a Ukrainian site's reports
All of these figures are about the US, so they can't be transplanted onto Ukrainian results. But the mechanism is easy to test on your own site: take the queries Google answers instantly (exchange rates, weather, "what is…") in Search Console and compare their impressions and clicks with commercial queries. Lots of impressions and few clicks on the informational ones is your own zero-click, no panels needed. To tie it to sales, keep SEO reporting in GA4 nearby, and the way AI answers eat clicks is covered in the guide to AI Overviews.
There's a fresh wrinkle too: since August 31, 2026 Google has been rolling out AI reports in Search Console that show impressions without clicks or queries. Measuring this effect yourself is about to get harder.
It's worth noticing that every party to the dispute earns money from its own version of this number: SparkToro sells audience research, Datos and Similarweb sell panels, and Google sells ads on the same results page.
