“My own numbers, what they tell me about SEO and AI visibility, and where to focus instead.”
I’ve been tracking the stats on abbasmarketing.com for over six years, and this year they’ve told me a really interesting story. Zero click search has well and truly arrived, and I can see it in my own numbers.
What my own numbers show
Comparing this year with last, my visits from Google more than doubled, from 412 to 839. My impressions (the number of times my site appeared in search) were up 78%. That’s down to a big focus on SEO over the past year or so.
But here’s the twist. One of my blogs, on architecture firm marketing strategies, was shown 177,000 times in four months. It was clicked 145 times.
“People are seeing my stuff, but they’re not clicking through.”
I’d put a lot of work into that page, with better titles, diagrams and structure, and it paid off. A year ago it sat around position 65 on Google. Now it averages position eight or nine. More people see it than ever. Almost none of them click.
Why zero click markreting is happening
More and more people get their answer straight from the search results page, especially from Google’s AI overviews, so they never need to visit a website. It hits hardest on broad, informational searches, which is exactly the kind of search my blog sits on.
So I focus my effort on commercial search terms. These are the searches closest to someone looking to hire a marketing and BD consultant. I work on them in layers. First the basics, like page titles, meta descriptions and redirects. Then internal links between my service pages, case studies and blogs. Then FAQs built from the questions buyers actually ask me.
Your digital footprint matters more than ever
AI tools build a picture of you from everywhere you show up online, including your LinkedIn, PR, podcasts, speaking slots and thought leadership. They’re checking whether you are who you say you are, and whether other people say it too.
“If you looked at your analytics lately and felt a small knot in your stomach, look beyond the visits line.”
How often you appear and who knows your name tell a much richer story. Your website used to be where people found you. Now it’s often where they check you out after an AI tool has already mentioned you.
Key takeaways
SEO and AEO: both still work, they just pay off differently now
Commercial intent: focus on the searches closest to someone hiring you
Digital footprint: show up consistently beyond your own website, so AI tools and buyers get the same picture everywhere
Traffic is one number, but enquiries and lead quality are what pay the bills, so that’s where I’d put your attention.
You can hear the full story, including what ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity told me about how they recommend firms, in my episode of The Built Environment Marketing Show talking about websites, SEO, AEO and GEO. I’ve also produced an SEO and AEO basics worksheet that you can download here.
Thanks for reading
Ayo Abbas is a strategic marketing consultant, speaker and trainer working with architecture and engineering firms.
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