Milena Traikovich has spent her career at the intersection of data and human behavior, helping businesses navigate the often-turbulent waters of digital demand generation. As an expert in performance optimization, she has witnessed the gradual erosion of the “click-as-conversion” era, moving instead toward a more nuanced understanding of how brand authority is built in an automated world. Today, she shares her insights on the rising phenomenon of zero-click searches and how marketing teams can adapt their measurement strategies when traditional traffic metrics no longer tell the full story. We explore the shifting role of content as a source for AI, the psychological impact of brand recall without site visits, and the importance of storytelling when communicating value to stakeholders.
With more than half of searches now ending without a click, how are you identifying the moment a user moves from an AI summary to a direct brand inquiry?
Tracking this transition requires a move away from immediate session data toward a broader analysis of “delayed signals.” When SparkToro reports that over 50% of Google searches result in no click, we have to recognize that the user’s journey hasn’t ended; it has simply moved off-grid. We identify this shift by monitoring the surge in direct traffic and specific branded search volume that occurs in the hours or days following a major AI-driven mention. It is a step-by-step process of correlating our inclusion in AI summaries with a subsequent “echo” in our analytics, where users who previously didn’t click now appear as high-intent direct visitors. By treating direct traffic not as a mystery but as a byproduct of earlier visibility, we can map a clearer path from a quiet AI interaction to a loud brand inquiry.
Exposure to a brand name in an AI response builds recall even without a site visit. How are you adjusting your reporting to value these non-click interactions?
We have shifted our reporting to prioritize “mental market share” by drawing on principles found in the 2023 Nielsen study, which proves that brand recall increases even without direct ad interaction. In practice, this means we stop viewing a lack of a click as a failure and start viewing it as a digital billboard effect that places our name on a user’s mental shortlist. For example, if an AI assistant recommends our service to a user, they might not visit our site immediately, but they are significantly more likely to search for us by name later. We now value these impressions by tracking the growth of branded query volume, treating it as a primary KPI that proves our visibility is working beneath the surface of traditional click-through rates. This allows us to capture the long-term value of being the “answer” provided by a machine, even when the user stays on the search page.
Since AI models rely on structured, factual data to generate answers, how should content creation strategy pivot?
The pivot in content strategy is moving from creating “landing pages for humans” to “source documents for machines” that still manage to resonate with people. We now focus heavily on accuracy, clarity, and the use of well-organized, factual material that serves as a high-quality data feed for AI models. This doesn’t mean we write exclusively for bots, but it does mean our information must be unambiguous so that an AI can confidently pull our brand into its summaries. Our current approach involves auditing every piece of content to ensure it acts as a definitive reference point, which increases the likelihood of being cited by an AI agent. It is about building a foundation of consistency where the machine finds facts and the human finds a trustworthy authority once they eventually arrive at our door.
Attribution models often fail to track the first point of contact in an AI-driven environment. What alternative methodologies are you implementing to bridge this gap?
To bridge the attribution gap, we are moving toward methodologies like brand lift surveys and deep search trend analysis rather than relying solely on the “last click.” Google’s own research has shown that search volume for a brand often spikes following exposure, even when there is no immediate click, so we use these trends to validate our top-of-funnel influence. We also implement “How did you hear about us?” fields during the conversion process to capture those invisible first touches that AI summaries leave behind. These qualitative insights, when paired with a quantitative analysis of branded search growth, provide a much more accurate picture of the complex, non-linear journey modern users take. By combining these tools, we can prove that our marketing is working in the “dark” spaces of the internet where traditional tracking pixels cannot reach.
When page views drop but brand interest remains stable, how can marketing teams explain this discrepancy to stakeholders?
The narrative we share with stakeholders focuses on the fact that being seen is no longer the same as being visited, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We use a combination of external studies, such as the 2024 Pew Research Center analysis showing a reliance on summaries, to provide context for why traditional traffic numbers might be dipping. We explain that while page views may be down, our “unattributable” direct traffic and branded queries are holding steady or rising, which indicates that our influence is actually expanding. It is a matter of bridging the trust gap by showing that our brand is becoming a part of the user’s subconscious through AI exposure. By shifting the focus to these downstream signals, we help stakeholders understand that a leaner traffic report can actually represent a more efficient and powerful brand presence.
What is your forecast for the future of search visibility?
I foresee a future where search visibility is defined by influence and authority rather than just the volume of sessions hitting a server. Clicks will not disappear, but they will become a secondary metric as we move into a reality where being the “trusted source” for an AI agent is the ultimate goal of any marketing department. Success will be measured by how often a brand is mentioned in conversational interfaces and how that presence translates into direct, high-intent actions later in the funnel. We are moving toward a “quiet marketing” era where the most successful brands are those that focus on being factual, clear, and consistently present in the summaries that users now rely on for their daily decisions. Ultimately, the winners will be those who stop chasing the click and start chasing the memory.
