Fewer people click on search results than they used to, because Google and AI tools now answer questions right on the page. As an SEO agency that looks after search and digital marketing for established Australian businesses, we can see that search engine optimisation now does less to bring visitors to a website and more to make sure your brand is the one people see and trust.
The numbers at a glance
- 68% of US Google searches now end without a click (SparkToro, 2026)
- When Google shows an AI summary, only 1% of visits end with a click on a link inside it (Pew Research Center, 2025)
- ChatGPT names 28% fewer brands in each B2B technology answer than it did in March (BrightEdge, 2026)
- When ChatGPT recommends a software tool, it links to that tool's own website only 12% of the time (DerivateX, 2026)
- Each LinkedIn post was seen 23% less in 2025 than in 2024, even though people posted more (Metricool, 2026)
- Report downloads fell 26% across established B2B programmes (Factors.ai, 2026)
- The average price of a Meta ad rose 12% in a year (Meta, 2026)
- The cost of showing a LinkedIn ad 1,000 times nearly tripled in two years (Merkelijkheid, 2026)
What SEO used to do
For about twenty years, SEO had one main job. A business wrote helpful pages about the questions its customers searched for, got those pages near the top of Google and won the click. Once people landed on the website, the business worked to turn them into customers and because every visit could be tracked, SEO was judged on traffic, rankings and leads.
In a previous article we explained why rankings alone no longer show how visible you are. Here we go a step further, because for many searches the click that SEO was built around is going away.
People are clicking less
SparkToro found that 68% of Google searches in the US ended without a click to any website in early 2026, up from 60% in 2024. The actual number is probably higher, because the study did not include searches made in the Google app. Google's AI summaries add to this, as we covered in our look at AI Overviews and falling clicks.
Pew Research Center found that people clicked a normal search result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, compared with 15% when it did not. They clicked a link inside the summary in only 1% of visits, so being quoted by Google's AI is not the same as getting visitors from it.
Yet, SEO still matters. SparkToro's own data shows search still sends clicks for brand name searches, local businesses and people who are ready to buy.
What has changed is the result, because most of the time SEO now shapes the answer people read rather than sending them to your site.
Being named is the new goal
When a buyer asks Google or ChatGPT which company or product to choose, they get a short list of names and that list is getting shorter. BrightEdge found that ChatGPT named 28% fewer brands in each answer about B2B technology in September 2026 than it did in March, with most of the drop in early research questions.
These tools also lean on other websites more than yours. In a DerivateX study of 40 types of business software, ChatGPT linked to the recommended company's own website only 11.6% of the time. The rest of the time it either linked to someone else's site or gave no link at all.
So the goal has changed. It is less about pulling lots of readers to your site with general articles and more about being one of the few names people see when they are ready to choose. This makes SEO more like brand marketing and it suits businesses that buyers already know.
Research from Forrester found that 92% of B2B buyers start with at least one supplier already in mind.
Getting seen for free is getting harder
If AI tools build their answers from what others say about you, good pages on your own site are not enough. You also need to get your ideas in front of people elsewhere, but most of the big platforms now show your posts to fewer people for free.
Metricool found that each LinkedIn post was seen 23% less in 2025 than in 2024 and Instagram Reels reached 35% fewer people, although Facebook and YouTube grew. Factors.ai found that report downloads also fell 26% across more than 100 B2B companies.
Since LinkedIn changed its feed in March 2026, State of Brand reports that company pages have been hit hardest while paying to boost posts has become easier. Paying people with big followings to share your message is the other option, but Favikon puts most paid B2B LinkedIn posts at US$200 to US$2,000. That is a cost you pay every time rather than something that builds over time, as SEO used to.
Paying to be seen costs more
When it gets harder to be seen for free, businesses spend more on ads and prices go up. Meta reported that the average price of an ad on its apps rose 12% in the year to June 2026.
LinkedIn has risen faster. A study by Dutch agency Merkelijkheid of its own European campaigns found that the cost of showing an ad 1,000 times nearly tripled in two years, from €25.92 to €73.83.
Google search ads are steadier. LocaliQ and WordStream found the average US click now costs US$5.42, more than twice the 2016 price, but the cost of each new lead actually fell this year. Most of this data comes from the US and Europe, so Australian prices will differ, but the trend is clear: reaching new people costs more and well known brands are in the best position to handle it.
That is why Google Ads, Meta ads and LinkedIn ads work best when they are planned alongside SEO rather than on their own.
What to do next
This is not a reason to cut SEO. It is a reason to give it the right job, measure it the right way and plan how your content gets seen.
| Change | What to do | How to measure it |
|---|---|---|
| Give SEO a new job | Focus on showing up when people are ready to buy, not on attracting lots of readers | How often you appear in Google and AI answers for your most important searches |
| Measure SEO like brand marketing | Look at the demand SEO creates, not just visits and leads | Searches for your brand name, how often you show up in search and people visiting your site directly |
| Get mentioned on other sites | Invest in reviews, industry news, partner content and comparison articles | Mentions of your brand on the sites AI tools rely on |
| Put people first on LinkedIn | Let leaders and experts post and pay to boost posts that already work | How many people at the companies you want to win see and respond to your posts |
| Build audiences you own | Grow email lists, events and communities | List growth and how much they help sales |
| Update ad budgets | Plan for higher costs using your own past results | Total cost to win a customer across all channels |
Useful data points
| Topic | Data point | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Searches with no click | 68% of US Google searches ended without a click in early 2026, up from 60% in 2024 | SparkToro |
| AI summaries | People clicked a normal result in 8% of visits with an AI summary and 15% without one | Pew Research Center |
| AI shortlists | ChatGPT named 28% fewer B2B technology brands per answer in September 2026 than in March | BrightEdge |
| AI sources | ChatGPT linked to a recommended software company's own site 11.6% of the time | DerivateX |
| Social media views | LinkedIn views per post fell 23% in 2025, while Facebook posts reached 51% more people | Metricool |
| Reports and webinars | Report downloads fell 26% and webinar sign ups fell 13% | Factors.ai |
| Paid creator posts | Most paid B2B LinkedIn posts cost US$200 to US$2,000 | Favikon |
| Meta ads | Average price per ad rose 12% in the year to June 2026 | Meta |
| LinkedIn ads | Cost of showing an ad 1,000 times rose from €25.92 to €73.83 in two years | Merkelijkheid |
| Google ads | Average US click costs US$5.42, but the cost of each new lead fell this year | LocaliQ and WordStream |
So, is SEO still worth it?
Yes, but not for the reasons it used to be. SEO now does more to decide which names people see and trust than to bring them to your website, while other ways of reaching people are getting harder and more expensive.
Businesses that measure SEO for the job it does today will find it easier to justify. Those still judging it only on clicks may end up cutting the very thing that keeps them on the shortlist.
If you would like help working out what this means for your business, Bright Labs can help you plan SEO, paid media and content together through our digital marketing services.
