AI Overviews, zero-clicks & SEO: how to stay visible in the LLM era
9 minutes
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June 11, 2025
Since Google I/O 2025, the SERP has undergone a radical transformation. Exit the “10 blue links”, make way for AI Overviews, to AI Mode, and to conversational engines like Gemini 2.5, ChatGPT Search or Perplexity.
These new interfaces no longer link to pages. Elles Compose answers from multiple sources.
What the numbers already show
- -34% of CTR on position 1 since the arrival of Overviews, according to Ahrefs (April 2025) source: Ahhh, AI Overviews Reduce Clicks
- 4 searches out of 5 end without a click (Bain & Company, May 2025) source: Bath, Goodbye Clicks
- BrightEdge even evokes a +50% increase in impressions, without an equivalent increase in traffic
Towards a new logic of visibility
The challenge is no longer to be clicked, but To be quoted. In this era of “zero-clicks”, your content is no longer destinations. They become Response bricks that LLMs use to generate summaries.
SEO is not going away. He Change of ground. To exist tomorrow, you need to understand how to properly power AIs today.
During the Google I/O 2025 keynote, Sundar Pichai made it clear: the objective is no longer to rank pages, but to Compose answers. AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini 2.5 embody this shift to a conversational, AI-driven SERP.
To fully understand this mutation, you can (re) watch the official keynote below:
Becoming an LLM-friendly source: the new criteria
To appear in AI Overviews or conversational engines like Perplexity or ChatGPT Search, it's no longer backlinks or keyword density that take precedence. These are clarity, structure, and informational value.
Content readable by AI... as if by a senior consultant
Language models no longer crawl your pages like a simple crawler. They the read, analyze, and prioritize content blocks in the manner of a human expert.
They extract:
- The direct answers to specific questions,
- The useful definitions,
- The sourced and contextualized figures,
- The explicit and concrete methodologies.
Unstructured, unstructured, or overly promotional content will not be Not repeated, not quoted.
What is becoming strategic
The content that emerges in the AI results share the same fundamentals:
- One logical and hierarchical structure (coherent Hn tags, standalone sections)
- Of short, clear and individually extractable paragraphs
- One demonstration of real expertise (examples, figures, reliable sources)
- One original value that AIs can't guess on their own
Each section should be able to Respond to an intention. If not, it will be ignored.
SEO vs GEO: two complementary, not competing approaches
In a zero-click context, it would be tempting to abandon traditional SEO in favor of GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). That would be a mistake.
Both approaches respond to different and complementary objectives :
- The Traditional SEO continues to generate organic traffic via indexed pages and funnel queries.
- The GEO, on the other hand, optimizes your visibility in the responses generated by the AI, where the user no longer clicks... but You read.
To deepen this distinction between SEO vs GEO, it is essential to understand that these two levers are not mutually exclusive but reinforce each other in a global visibility strategy.
An effective SEO strategy in 2025 So combine:
- well-positioned pages (structure, mesh, semantics),
- content designed to be excerpts, quotes, summaries.
To no longer be visible in AI engines is to lose ground. But no longer being clickable in classic SERPs means giving up conversions.
How do you become a source for generative AIs?
In the age of conversational engines, your content is no longer just indexed, they are interpreted, broken down, and then partially integrated into AI responses. To maximize your chances of being cited, you should structure each page like a knowledge base.
By applying these principles, you are no longer satisfied with Writing for Google, but you Train AIs to quote you.
More demanding, more specific, more conversational users
The arrival of AI Overviews and Conversational Engines is radically changing the way users interact with search. We don't type anymore “SEO tool” buts “What SEO tool should you choose for a B2B showcase site with less than 10 pages?”
That's the whole logic of Query Fanout : Google or ChatGPT break the question down into sub-questions to compose a more relevant answer. So your content should anticipating these specific intentions.
This evolution is reflected in three major changes:
- Longer, more contextual queries
There is a clear decline in generic research. Users want advice tailored to their situation, and AIs prefer content that can respond to it accurately. - A search in several stages
The user asks a first question, gets a partial answer, then reformulates or deepens. This requires a strong semantic mesh between your pages and a real editorial tree strategy. - A need for immediate authority
Hollow contents are quickly discarded. What matters now is the ability to reassure the AI about the reliability of your words : source quotations, numerical examples, concrete FAQs, etc.
Measuring what really matters: from position to authority signal
In the world of traditional SEO, the queen metrics were the organic traffic, the ranking by keyword And the Click-through rate. But in a world dominated by AI flyovers and conversational responses, these landmarks are losing relevance.
What is disappearing
- CTR & SEO position : a site can remain in position 1 but be invisible because it is drowned under an AI Overview.
- Number of visitors : if the AI synthesizes your content without generating a click, your traffic decreases... even if you are “present”.
This reversal requires SEO teams to Get out of control with a click to adopt a logic of presence. In other words: Am I recognized as a trustworthy source, even without a click?
Conclusion: Staying visible means becoming useful
SEO is not going away. It is changing.
In a world where AIs generate answers, your role is to become the raw material.
To do this, it is no longer enough to be well positioned. You have to be structured, quoted and reliable.
The content must precisely respond to complex intentions, and your site must guide AIs as well as humans.
That's why we're helping businesses rethink their SEO strategy in this new era.
From performance auditing to Webflow redesign through GEO optimization, our approach has a simple objective: Make your site a source of authority that AI naturally chooses.
To find out more about our expertise: Contact us here →
Express checklist: Are you ready for SEO in the LLM era?
FAQ: Responding to frequent queries... and AI
How do I know if my content is taken over by an AI?
Test your topics on ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini: if your key phrases or ideas appear in the answers, that's a good sign. You can also install AI mention trackers, or cross-reference queries in Search Console logs.
Do backlinks still count in an AI context?
Yes, but their role is changing. AI uses backlinks to assess the reliability of a source, not just its raw authority. Better 5 quality backlinks (media, experts) than 100 low value links.
Should I continue to track my SEO positions?
Yes, but by complementing them with other indicators: citation frequency in AI Overviews, paragraph extraction rate, time spent on pages, performance of your passages included in the AI responses.
How do I structure my content to be taken up by AI engines?
- Start with a clear answer from the start
- Segment each subpart as a standalone response
- Use clear tags (H2/H3), an educational tone, and specific examples
Is Webflow adapted to this new SEO?
Yes. Webflow allows a fine mastery of HTML, excellent loading speed, and accurate semantic markup. It is therefore perfectly compatible with AI requirements, provided you use it well: no misconfigured CMS, no generic content.
