I assume most people know that Google makes almost all of its money from ads. And, in practice, those ads are based on clicks. Paid clicks. That fact means that Google can’t survive in a zero-click world. While that same reality is not (yet) true for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and other AI answer engines, they’re almost certainly going to need some form of ads—again, probably clickable ads—to fund their operations.
For example, ChatGPT alone is planning to invest over 1 trillion dollars in their compute and infrastructure. That’s “trillion.” With a “T.” Some quick back-of-the-envelope math says that, at $20 per month, they’d need to sign up roughly a quarter of the world’s population—and keep them paying for a couple of years—to cover that cost. That seems… unlikely.
So, does zero-click search forecast a world where Google is doomed? Does it mean the entire ad-based world is over? And, most importantly, what does zero-click mean for your business? That’s what “Revisiting the Real Story of AI and Zero-Click Search” on the podcast is all about.
Want to learn more? Here are the show notes for you.
A Revisiting the Real Story of AI and Zero-Click Search (Thinks Out Loud Podcast) — Headlines and Show Notes
Show Notes and Links

* AI and Zero-Click Search: The Real Story (Episode 467)
* The Rise of Agentic AI Among Your Customers (Episode 466)
* Will Agentic AI Kill Your Content Marketing? (Episode 470)
* Are ChatGPT’s Apps Good for Your Business? (Episode 471)
* The New SEO? (Episode 469)
* Exploration–exploitation dilemma – Wikipedia
* Revisiting The Brand is the Prompt (Thinks Out Loud) – Tim Peter & Associates
* Traffic Is Down; Revenue Is… Up? – SparkToro
* Revisiting AI is Eating the World (Thinks Out Loud)
* Google Earnings Q2 2025 PDF Link
* Google briefs brands on AI Mode ads ahead of Q4 rollout
* Back to Episodes