TopRank Marketing

According to research from SparkToro and Similarweb 68% of Google searches now end without a click.

Only 27% of Google searches send visitors to the open web.

And according to Rand Fishkin, most marketers are still measuring success as if it's 2015.

On the latest episode of the podcast, host Lee Odden sat down with Rand Fishkin, founder of SparkToro and co-author with Amanda Natividad of the new book, Zero Click Marketing, to discuss what happens when AI search, social platforms, creators, communities, and answer engines fundamentally change how buyers discover information.

A few standout insights from the conversation:
📌 Traffic can go down while sales go up.
📌 Visibility matters more than clicks when discovery happens across AI, social, search, influencers, podcasts, and communities.
📌 Brand building remains one of the strongest drivers of long-term growth.
📌 You don't need to be everywhere. Focus deeply on the channels where your audience actually pays attention.
📌 Original research, authentic expertise, and unique perspectives become more valuable as AI generates more average content.
📌 AI visibility is not the same thing as business impact.

One of Rand's most important observations:
“You’ve got to get okay with the idea that your reach is now going to be far greater than it was, but your traffic is going to be way lower.”

For B2B marketers, that changes how we think about SEO, content, influencer marketing, audience intelligence, attribution, and what it means to become discoverable in an increasingly fragmented world.

Listen, Watch or Read the full episode to learn how leading B2B marketers can adapt to a future where buyers may never click but still make buying decisions: https://www.toprankmarketing.com/podcast/beyond-b2b-22-rand-fishkin/

Don’t let the SEO vs. AEO tactics debate distract you from the search strategy that actually works:

Become the best answer where buyers are looking.

While AI Overviews, zero-click results and evolving SERPs have changed how visibility is earned, the B2B brands getting results are not abandoning SEO fundamentals, they're evolving them.

A modern search optimization strategy means:

• Researching intent, not just keywords
• Mapping topics to real buyer questions
• Refreshing high-visibility content with updated POVs, stats and CTAs
• Strengthening technical SEO, schema, crawlability and page speed
• Proving experience, expertise, authority and trust
• Building credibility through expert voices, earned media and original research
• Tracking how AI-powered search experiences correlate to awareness, engagement and revenue

The future of search is not SEO or AEO.

It's relevance, authority and usefulness across every discovery surface. It’s about making your content consistently visible, trusted and chosen by buyers, LLMs and search engines.

Read the full post by Nick Nelson for 10 practical ways to elevate your B2B brand’s search performance in today's AI-powered search environment https://www.toprankmarketing.com/blog/expert-seo-tips/

Your AI content is louder. Is it better? Machines generating content for machines means a loss in brand authenticity, trust, and pipeline impact. Learn a better way in this month's B2B Marketing Insider: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-ai-content-louder-better-toprank-online-marketing-ipowe/