The Rise of Zero-Click and Social Search Behaviour

Digital search habits are shifting dramatically. Over half of Google searches now end without any click, with users often getting their answer directly on the results page and bypassing websites entirely. 

At the same time, search is expanding beyond Google. Younger audiences increasingly treat social platforms and AI answers as search engines. Nearly 2 in 3 Americans use Reddit as a search engine weekly, and many even say it’s better than Google. 

Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have become discovery tools, with almost 40% of Gen Z preferring them over Google for certain queries.

A majority of Gen Z respondents have used TikTok as a search engine. Quora and other Q&A forums also play a role, with millions relying on them to find answers and with their content ranking high on Google.

As a global digital marketing agency, we have seen how the ground is shifting under brands. Today, the mandate for CMOs is not just more leads or impressions.

It is about staying visible in an ecosystem where AI intermediates every interaction and where content has to scale without creating chaos. Here is how the new playbook is being written.

Scaling Content in a Zero-Click Funnel

Audiences no longer land on your site. They consume, compare, and decide inside AI overviews, snippets, TikToks, Quora threads, and Reddit debates. The funnel is not linear. It is evaporating. Brands must scale content into every node of discovery, not just optimise for clicks.

Marketing in a World Without CTRs

CTR is no longer the north star. In a zero-click world, impressions, dwell time, and reputation loops carry more weight. We are moving from measuring traffic to measuring trust.

The Fall of Funnel Thinking

Funnels assumed predictable steps. Today, the buyer journey is a mesh network made of UGC, reviews, AI summaries, WhatsApp forwards, and creator shout-outs. Visibility is fragmented, but influence is everywhere.

Trust: The New Currency in Decision-Making

With information everywhere, trust has become a pivotal metric in digital marketing success. It’s not just about getting in front of the user; it’s about being believed when you do. 

Here’s what you need to know to win your consumers’ trust in this AI-led ecosystem. 

• Consumers are more likely to buy from brands they trust and stay loyal to them.
  
  
• For Gen Z, trust is a non-negotiable factor in brand choice.
  
  
• In an era of AI-curated content and misinformation, being recognised as trustworthy is a competitive advantage.
  
  
• Trust loops, aka repeated positive interactions, are replacing vanity metrics as indicators of success.
  
  
• Peer recommendations are still the most trusted form of marketing.
  
  
• Customer advocacy and social proof are critical levers for influence.
  
  
• Trust has become a hard currency that directly drives conversions and loyalty.

Surviving the AI Overview Era: What CMOs Need to Rethink About SEO

AI overviews are rewriting search. Traditional SEO will not win you real estate. AI-ready content stacks will. Brands need content designed for machine readability, reputation signals, and authority scoring.

Search Is Not Google Anymore

For the next generation, searching does not mean typing into Google. It is TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Quora, and Discord. Dark social is the new homepage. Brands must diversify visibility across platforms that never show up in analytics dashboards.

‍Old vs. New Marketing Metrics

The funnel-era playbook of clicks and impressions is giving way to engagement and trust-centric metrics. Marketers need to measure what truly matters in a post-funnel world – quality of attention and influence over mere quantity of eyeballs.

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Volume metrics like reach and clicks are being supplanted by value metrics like engagement and trust. A high CTR means little if followed by a quick bounce; a lower CTR with high dwell time shows genuine interest. 

Google itself has found that clicks from its AI-driven results are “higher quality,” because users arrive more informed and spend longer on the site. 

Attention is the new oil: in an AI-assisted world, sustained attention and trust matter more than a momentary click.

Brand vs Demand 2025

In the past, demand generation ate brand. Now, brand is the demand driver. Trust and recall are what AI models surface. If your brand is not recognisable, you will not even enter the algorithm’s answer set.

Indian Brands Leading by Example

• Saffola: Used a WhatsApp chatbot to gamify cravings management, reaching over 8 million people and driving a 500%+ sales lift.
  
  
• Tata CLiQ: Personalised WhatsApp nudges for cart abandonment and wishlist alerts delivered 10x ROI and half a million dollars in incremental sales.
  
  
• Freshdesk & Wingify: Built early traction by engaging authentically on forums and Q&A sites, turning participation into customer acquisition.
  
  
• Zerodha: Scaled to 16 million users with no ad spend, relying on product quality and referral loops where 30% of customers came via word-of-mouth.
  
  

Each case shows how meeting users where they are, whether on WhatsApp, Quora, or product communities. This builds influence and growth far beyond the funnel.

Evolving KPIs: From Conversions to Moments of Influence

Traditional KPIs tracks hits, clicks, and conversions at the bottom of a funnel. Leading marketers now focus on moments of influence throughout nonlinear journeys. These include:

1. Share of Search - presence in AI-driven results and recommendations.
   
   
2. Engagement Quality - deeper interactions, such as sentiment and time on page.
   
   
3. Referral and Virality Rates - advocacy through shares, referrals, and loops.
   
   
4. Retention and Expansion - ongoing influence reflected in retention or account growth.
   
   
5. Trust and Reputation - upward movement in reviews, sentiment, and trust indices.
   
   

These new KPIs measure whether you’re influencing decisions at the micro-moments that matter.

The Funnel vs. The Flywheel (Product at the Centre)

The linear funnel is increasingly obsolete. In its place is the flywheel model, where customer experience after purchase feeds back into new business. Happy customers become repeat buyers and evangelists, creating a self-reinforcing loop.

In the funnel, a lead is “won” and often forgotten. 

In the flywheel, the product and customer are at the centre, continuously fueling momentum. Dropbox, for instance, grew through a referral flywheel, rewarding users with storage for inviting friends. 

Every business can find its flywheel, but it requires marketing to work hand-in-hand with product and customer success.

Organizing for AI: Legacy Martech vs. AI-Ready Firms

Here’s how marketing teams must evolve to match the new environment:

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In an AI-first org, AI is woven into every role. The org chart shifts from silos to networks, with strategy, creative, and data tightly integrated.

Building the Marketing Pyramid: Infrastructure → Reputation → Influence

Think of modern marketing as a pyramid:

• Infrastructure: Tech foundation with structured data, crawlable content, APIs, and analytics pipelines.
  
  
• Reputation: Credibility through thought leadership, reviews, backlinks, and community trust.
  
  
• Influence: Market-shaping authority, where your brand becomes the default answer surfaced by AI or communities.
  
  

Many companies skip layers, chasing virality without a foundation. The pyramid ensures scale, sustainability, and readiness for AI-driven growth.

AI-Ready Content Checklist

Make your content search engine/ AI snippet ready. Here’s what every CMO should ensure is in place:

1. Structure first: Use schema and structured data so AI and search engines can parse your content easily.
   
   
2. Format clearly: Write with summaries, headers, and bullet points that make content skimmable.
   
   
3. Signal authority: Add expert bylines, references, and credibility cues that boost trust.
   
   
4. Go multimedia: Include images, videos, and alt text so content is discoverable across formats.
   
   
5. Enable access: Provide APIs, feeds, or machine-friendly formats so data is easy to ingest.
   
   
6. Maintain uniformity: Keep product names and metadata uniform across all platforms.
   
   

Following this ensures your content is not only valuable for people but also optimised for the AI intermediaries that connect you to them.

Conclusion: Thriving Beyond the Funnel

The aftermath of the funnel is a new order where trust, community, and AI-driven intelligence set the rules. 

Success will not come from chasing clicks, but from building loops of influence, reputation, and product-led momentum. 

The brands that adapt will not only show up in the right places but will define the conversation in their industries.

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