60% of Searches End Without a Click. Is Your Workshop Ready?

Right now, someone in London is searching for exactly what you make. Six times out of ten, they'll get their answer without ever visiting your website — yours or anyone else's. This is called zero-click search, and it's already changing how London's craftspeople get found.

The 100-question experiment

Ask ChatGPT who makes the best bespoke furniture in London. Write down the answer. Now ask it again. Different answer. SparkToro's team did exactly this — they asked AI tools the same question 100 times and got nearly 100 different brand lists in different orders.

This isn't a glitch. This is how AI search works. Every time someone asks, the answer shifts. That means checking once and seeing — or not seeing — your workshop's name tells you almost nothing. It also means your competitors can't lock in the top spot either. The field is more open than it looks.

The number that matters

According to SparkToro's 2024 Zero-Click Search Study, based on Datos clickstream data, roughly 60% of searches in 2024 ended without a click to any website. Google still dominates search — Datos' own clickstream data from tens of millions of desktop users puts Google's desktop share at around 95% (Datos, State of Search Q3 2025). Other measurement tools like StatCounter, which track pageviews rather than search sessions, put the figure closer to 90% across all devices. The exact number depends on how you measure, but the picture is the same: nearly everyone searches through Google, and most of those searches now end without a click.

People haven't stopped searching. They've stopped clicking.

Where the answers go instead

If people aren't clicking through to websites, where are they getting their answers? Three features you've probably seen yourself, even if you didn't know their names:

• AI Overviews — Google now writes a summary answer at the top of the page. Your website might be the source it drew from, but the customer already got what they needed without clicking through.
• Local packs — the map showing three businesses with their hours, reviews, and phone number. Many customers call directly from here. They never see your website.
• People Also Ask boxes — those expandable questions with snippet answers. A Nozzle.io study of 1.2 million desktop search results found PAA boxes in 78% of results (Nozzle.io, 2022), though more recent Semrush Sensor data suggests the figure has settled closer to two-thirds of searches as AI Overviews have begun displacing some SERP features (Semrush, 2025). Either way, they're everywhere — and they deliver answers without a click.

Each of these features is designed to give the searcher what they need immediately. That's good for the person searching. For the business being found — or not found — it changes the game entirely.

Think of it as a billboard, not a doorway

A shop window on the King's Road doesn't work because everyone who walks past immediately comes inside. It works because they see your name, register what you do, and remember you when they need you. A stand at a craft fair works the same way. You don't measure it by how many people bought something on the spot.

Visibility in AI answers is the same. When a potential client asks "Who makes bespoke oak dining tables in North London?" and your workshop name appears in the answer — even if they don't click through — that's your name, delivered to exactly the right person at exactly the right moment. That has value, even without a click.

The honest caveat

AI search isn't perfect, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. In a 2025 survey of over 1,000 internet users, more than 60% reported encountering misinformation or biased responses when using AI for search (Ethical SEO/Prolific study, July 2025). A separate global study of 48,000 people across 47 countries found that fewer than half are willing to trust AI (University of Melbourne/KPMG, 2025). These systems get things wrong — outdated information, incorrect opening hours, occasionally recommending businesses that have closed.

But the direction is clear, and the businesses that show up in these answers — even imperfect ones — are the businesses people remember when they're ready to commission work.

What actually matters now

If website traffic isn't the only thing to watch any more, what should you pay attention to? Three questions worth asking regularly:

1. Are you mentioned? When someone asks AI about your trade in your area, does your name come up? Not from one question — across many different questions and phrasings. A single check tells you nothing.
2. Is the information accurate? If AI does mention you, is it saying the right things? Wrong services listed, outdated portfolio descriptions, incorrect location — these mistakes can cost you work without you ever knowing.
3. Are you the recommendation, or one of many? Being mentioned alongside five competitors is different from being the specialist AI points people towards. Both have value, but they're not the same.

These aren't metrics that need software to track. They're questions you can check yourself, today, by opening ChatGPT or Google and asking.

One thing you can do this week

Open your most important service page. Read the first paragraph. Does it answer a question, or does it describe your company history?

If the first thing on your "Bespoke Kitchens" page is "Founded in 2005, we are a family-run workshop..." — rewrite it. Start with what the customer actually needs to know: "A bespoke kitchen costs between £15,000 and £40,000 and takes 8–12 weeks from first measurement to final installation."

That's the format AI can cite. That's the format that answers a question directly. Your company story matters — it builds trust and it's part of who you are — but it goes below the answer, not above it.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading

These are independent sources — none of them are affiliated with Findcraft:

• SparkToro's AI Search Study — the 100-question experiment showing how AI gives different brand recommendations each time.
• Semrush AI Overviews Study — analysis of 10M+ keywords showing how AI Overviews, People Also Ask, and other SERP features are reshaping search (December 2025).
• Trust, Attitudes and Use of AI: A Global Study 2025 — University of Melbourne/KPMG study of 48,000 people across 47 countries on AI trust levels.
• PAA Prevalence Study — Nozzle.io's original analysis of 1.2 million desktop search results (2022). Useful baseline, though SERP feature prevalence has shifted since.
• Search Engine Land — Zero-Click Searches Up, Organic Clicks Down (Q1 2025) — Datos desktop clickstream analysis showing continued zero-click growth trends.
• LearningSEO.io — Aleyda Solis's free SEO learning roadmap. The most accessible starting point for understanding the fundamentals AI search builds on.

A note on how we check our numbers

You may have noticed we cite multiple sources for some statistics in this article, particularly Google's search market share. That's deliberate. Different measurement tools use different methodologies — clickstream panels, pageview tracking, survey data — and they don't always agree. Where numbers diverge, we show you the range and name the sources rather than picking whichever figure suits our argument. If a statistic is too old or too poorly sourced to stand up, we say so. This is part of how we practise what we preach: the same honesty we ask AI to show about your business, we apply to our own content.

Findcraft provides AI visibility services for craftspeople. This guide reflects our honest assessment of the current search landscape — including the parts that are still uncertain.

Content produced through the M.A.R.C. methodology — our framework for evidence-based, ethically-governed content.