What is Zero Click Content and Why Should You Create It?

Since time immemorial digital marketing has been about the number of clicks you get and how much traffic is diverted to a landing page. The landing page advertises your brand or sells your product or service and to get your visitor to land there from other types of content or ads is a feat in itself - without even uttering the word "conversion".

In fact, that is also the gist of content marketing and what most marketers do on social media. It's all about that click - and digital marketers can do just about anything to get it!

Previously (and still today) marketers aim to get more people to come to their site from other platforms, which is why they only give small bite-sized content on those platforms. You have to go somewhere else by clicking the outbound link for the complete picture.

Most content types, including social media posts, involve marketers taking the audience back to their website.

For example, social media posts usually include a link to a landing page, a website home page, a video, or add a link to a blog that would then lead the audience to a landing page selling a product or service.

Also Read: What is a Zero-Click Vulnerability Email and How Can You Avoid It?

You have seen posts that give you a caption and a Read More or Find Out More link, right? Nearly all of them are structured this way.

This is the case with blogs and emails too - you usually have to click out of that piece of content to get more information about a product/service.

In the end, it was always about giving a CTA and directing the audience toward the next step - which is either going to a site, platform, blog post, or another content type and eventually converting into a customer.

Content is designed to take you through the different stages of the customer journey or the customer sales funnel.

Times have changed.

Amanda Natividad from SparkToro mentions that many platforms penalize content that leads the audience off the platform and it is "harder than ever to get audiences to click that call to action."

Therefore, they are given uninterrupted content right there on that platform with zero clicks.

In a world with zero-click content - the audience is not given step-by-step instructions on what to do next but is given valuable standalone content without expecting anything in return.

Why?

Zero-click content marketing is done in the hopes of establishing a relationship with the audience.

The marketer or content creator assumes that perhaps content that offers valuable practical advice will be shared, retweeted on Twitter, or spread on other platforms even if it is not clicked on and does not lead to an immediate conversion.

Anyone who is not sharing it will appreciate the simply engaging material and automatically start wondering about the brand, product/service that is being talked about. This will enhance brand recognition and recall.

Before we delve deep into the why, let's look deeper at the what.

What exactly is zero-click content?

Let's talk about this in detail.

If you have seen uninterrupted Youtube Premium, you know how empowering and enlightening it feels to watch a video without ads. We watch movies and series without ads on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Zero click content takes you down the same road.

Zero-click content is highly engaging or standalone content that does not provide links or CTAs to take the audience elsewhere but is simply compelling content that gives the whole picture there and then. No clicks required.

Such content is often able to get high engagement and drive traffic towards the brand/product/service on its own - without telling the audience what to do or giving a prompt at all.

Basically, it's like offering someone free lunch without expecting anything in return. However, the person is so grateful that they become your best friend and return the favor at a later time.

You might not even be expecting them to engage with your brand at all. As mentioned above, all you want to do is build a relationship with your audience and get them to share your content or talk about it on various platforms or maybe just remember your company name for a later time.

Zero click content or (no - click content) is where you get the whole picture (or the whole post) in one place without having to go anywhere else and you can find it in various places such as social media platforms.

A LinkedIn post, a Tweet on Twitter, a Facebook community post, etc where you don't have to click outbound links for more information count as zero-click content.

Blog posts and emails that tell you everything there without asking you to schedule a meeting, request a demo, etc. can also be considered zero-click content.

However, that's not all zero-click content is. Zero-click content is also all the content that appears on the search engine results page (SERP) before the organic search results. These can also be called zero-click searches.

Let's elaborate this new phenomenon further.

What are zero click searches?

How many times have you entered keywords or a query and gone to a Google SERP only to find plenty of information before you even looked at the first organic search result?

Probably plenty of times. These are zero-click searches - Google searches that end on the SERP because of information in the images, Knowledge panel or graph, People also ask or Related Questions section, Maps, or other SERP features.

You can see what this content looks like here:

When asking Google where is Birmingham, it automatically shows a map at the top. This answers the question without a click, therefore it is a zero click search.

The image above shows the Related Questions section which provides short answers to the query. This also means that the user does not have to click on any website to get an immediate answer to "Where is Birmingham?"

Rand Fishkin from SparkToro mentions in his article that in 2020 more than 2/3 of Google searches ended without a click. He claims that was because you can get complete information right there on the results page.

Google does claim that this data is a bit skewed - but it is largely true. We will shed more light on why the data is skewed a little later in this article.

So if most Google searches end on the search page, how can your SEO strategy focus on appearing at the top of search results in the standalone insights and structured data provided there?

That isn't the main focus of this article, but let's discuss that briefly.

Appearing in zero-click searches

Google's SERP is structured in such a way that you get precise information at the top of the page with images, a Knowledge graph or Knowledge panel, and the popular featured snippet in the People Also Ask section.

So, how do you get there?

Your SEO strategy has to be tailored for the chance to make it to the top of search engines' results pages with zero click data.

With zero click on the rise, your content may never be seen even if it is ranking number #1 on Google - which makes it important to optimize for featured snippets and other types of content too.

Prometsource mentions five steps you can take to optimize content for SERP features.

1. Do keyword research to find out which keywords optimize content for the SERP on your given topic. You would also want to look at long-tail keywords on your chosen topic for the People Also Ask section. For featured snippets answer questions related to your topic in ideally 40-50 words within your content.

2. Optimize current pages or blogs ranking for a keyword that may appear in SERP features. Add questions and answers to your content. Edit and add keywords in the content where needed to give it a better chance of ranking in the SERP features.

3. Add schema and make sure schema exists for all of your pages.

4. Make sure your meta title and description are added to your webpage information. Adding Alt text to images helps them rank in the image search.

5. Register your website with Google My Business. A detailed website or business profile helps you make it to the top of the SERPs.

The importance of zero click content today

After talking about what zero click content is and how to rank for zero click searches, we are going to talk about the importance of zero click content more thoroughly.

We already talked about SparkToro's study which found that in 2020 about 2/3 of Google searches ended on the SERP page. We said that there is a bit of a problem with this claim though we can consider it to be largely true.

Google refutes this information and says that the data is a little skewed. A study in 2022 suggested that zero click searches were actually more prevalent on mobile devices.

Searches on desktop even resulted in the audience going to the second page or entering the next query for better results. This suggests that a desktop user is probably looking for more in-depth answers.

The search engine giant claimed that mobile users usually searched for quick answers that they got in the SERP features.

However, as mentioned above, desktop or laptop users were usually looking for more thorough information and did go through the organic results and even the paid results. In fact, clicks for the paid results are increasing.

So, how relevant is zero click content today?

With the data above that still suggests that most searches end without a click (as most people use Google on mobile devices), zero click content is highly relevant. Even if desktop users do go through the organic results and Google is still giving room to its sponsored content, the SERP features do help end searches quicker.

As Anne said, getting a user to click a CTA is becoming increasingly difficult and it is better to publish content that answers quick questions and creates a relationship with the user, enhancing brand recognition and recall.

Optimizing for zero click searches as well as creating content for social media or other platforms that does not include outbound links is equally important. Content that offers valuable standalone insights is definitely likely to be the favorite of users and you can gain more impressions this way, even if they are without clicks.

Yes, now websites and businesses are marketing themselves without asking the user to do anything, just by giving them their best content upfront - creating an impression in the user's mind.

Here is more why you should answer queries and give thorough information without anticipating a click.

Why should you create zero click content?

If the content you create appears in the organic results but is not being seen, it is of no use. However, if you land in the SERP features with standalone content that is not taking the reader anywhere and is only there to give the user an answer to their query, what's the use of that?

In the same way, why would you want to give away valuable advice without telling the reader or viewer what to do next?

We have touched on this compelling idea above, but let's go further in convincing you that this is a good idea. Here are a few bullet points for your reference.

• If you are posting on a content sharing and promotion platform such as social media, native content is more rewarded there and the algorithm works in your favor resulting in more impressions. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram are all examples of platforms that encourage the user to stay on the platform rather than divert traffic out of it and reward content that does that.

• Marketing is not only about clicks but is more about putting the idea or concept of your brand, product, or service in people's minds. Standalone content can do that.

• Featured snippets are an example of zero-click content. Many people click on the full article or content for more information if they like the featured snippet.

• Whether you create videos, blogs, or bite-sized content for marketing purposes, getting it shared and talked about is a highly effective strategy in spreading your brand seeds rather than getting users to click and then bounce out of disappointment.

• Zero-click content is the new thing and it helps you make impressions both digitally and in the viewer's mind.

Bottom line

We are going to set an example here by not explicitly asking you to check out GoCustomer's pricing plan but just like you can reach your audience on Google through zero click content, you can't reach your audience's Inbox without a good email warm up tool and an effective email marketing service.

Therefore, GoCustomer is a great aid to your current online marketing efforts and has a proven track record in increasing email marketing conversions - we do hope you remember that.

Get your marketing engines roaring and start creating excellent standalone content!