Zero-Click Search The New Frontier for Community Banks BY NEAL REYNOLDS, President, Bank Marketing Center Just when community bank marketers were starting to get comfortable with AI and digital marketing, the landscape is shifting once again. For years, marketers have labored to master search algorithms, strategize SEO and achieve that enviable top position on the search engine results page (SERP). Some took the more arduous route, with rich content and thoughtful (and often expensive) SEO, while others chased fast fixes like keyword stuffing. Now, enter the “zero-click” era. As Bain explains in “Goodbye Clicks, Hello AI,” AI-powered search engines and generative AI summaries are becoming the norm. Instead of clicking through to a website, users see answers right on the SERP. That’s what zero-click means: no click required. The transformation to zero-click is gaining traction. A Bain survey indicates that approximately 80% of consumers rely on zero-click results for at least 40% of their searches, which is estimated to result in a 15-25% reduction in organic web traffic. For community banks that lean heavily on organic discovery, that change hits hard. WHY IT’S A BIG DEAL FOR BANKS In the not-too-distant past, the search game followed a straightforward buyer journey or funnel: content → clickthrough → engagement → conversion. When someone typed in, say, “how do I open a business checking account?”, that was a bank brand’s moment to shine; someone was following the traditional funnel from content to conversion. However, with AI summaries taking over, that moment of engagement is fading away. Here are the main challenges: Losing Share in Discovery Searches Bain points out that as clickthrough rates drop, marketers are losing “share of voice” in non-branded searches — early-stage queries from people who don’t yet know which bank they’re considering. AI systems compile answers from multiple sources and prioritize those deemed most authoritative or cited. A bank marketer’s carefully crafted content might help inform that summary, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the bank will get a mention. For instance, someone might ask about “the best mortgage rates in Charlotte, NC.” The AI summary might mention big national banks, brokers or credit unions, while the bank that spent considerable time and money on “carefully crafted content” doesn’t even appear in the SERP.
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