The share of online searches that do not result in any clicks to a third-party site is increasing every year. Google’s AI Overviews, widely deployed in 2025, are absorbing some of the organic traffic that businesses previously captured effortlessly. In this context, a company’s online visibility is no longer built solely on traditional SEO. It depends on a combination of levers whose rules are changing due to European regulations and algorithmic developments.
Zero-click searches and AI Overviews: what changes for online visibility
The so-called “zero-click” phenomenon refers to queries for which the user gets their answer directly on the Google results page, without visiting any site. This trend is accelerating with AI Overviews, these AI-generated boxes that synthesize an answer at the top of the page.
For a business, the consequence is direct: a well-positioned piece of content may generate no visits. Traditional organic traffic is decreasing in volume, which forces a rethink of how visibility is measured. A good Google ranking is no longer enough if the answer is pulled by an AI box.
Marketing teams following this issue are gradually reallocating part of their budgets towards formats designed for visibility in these boxes (structured data, concise answers, marked-up FAQs) rather than solely producing long articles. An illustration of this integrated approach can be found on CGI Network’s marketing page, where SEO coexists with other online presence levers.
Content marketing strategy: produce for visibility, not for volume
Publishing regularly only produces results if each piece of content targets a specific search intent. An article that does not answer any real questions brings neither traffic nor credibility.
Targeting intent rather than keywords
Useful content starts from a question that the audience is genuinely asking, not from an isolated keyword found in an SEO tool. The difference is measured by the bounce rate and the time spent on the page.
An article that precisely answers a question generates more visibility than a dozen generic posts. This requires working upstream on search intents by analyzing the questions asked by customers, long-tail queries, and the results already offered by Google for each topic.
Formats to prioritize based on the goal
- FAQ pages marked up with structured data increase the chances of appearing in AI Overviews and featured snippets, even if the site is not the oldest in the industry.
- Detailed case studies, with company-specific data, constitute content that is difficult for competitors to replicate and is valued by freshness algorithms.
- Fact-based comparisons (between tools, methods, providers) capture a strong transactional intent and generate qualified traffic.
Social media and digital presence: the issue of dispersion
Being present on five social networks simultaneously with daily posts remains a common recommendation. However, some B2B companies achieve better results by concentrating their efforts on a single network (LinkedIn, for example) rather than dispersing their resources.
Presence on social media is not measured by the number of platforms covered. It is measured by engagement rates and the quality of interactions generated. An active community of a few hundred targeted professionals is worth more, in terms of conversion, than an inflated follower count across multiple platforms.
The choice of network depends on the target audience. For a company whose clients are other businesses, LinkedIn captures the attention of decision-makers. For a consumer brand, short video (on platforms that favor it) captures attention better than a standard text post.
Digital Services Act and online marketing: the European regulatory framework
The Digital Services Act (DSA), applied in the European Union, directly modifies the marketing practices of companies that host or distribute third-party content. Customer reviews, comments, sponsored content, and targeted advertising are now subject to transparency and moderation obligations.
For influencer marketing, the DSA requires clearly indicating the commercial nature of content. Brands collaborating with content creators must ensure that each sponsored post is identified as such, under penalty of sanctions.
What this means for visibility strategy
Companies using customer reviews as a visibility lever (Google Business listings, specialized platforms) must implement reporting and moderation mechanisms that comply. Advertising transparency also applies to online advertising campaigns: targeting information must be accessible to the user.
The DSA does not hinder digital marketing, but it imposes a compliance framework that requires an audit of existing practices. The available data does not yet allow for measuring the direct impact of the DSA on the average marketing performance of European companies, but the obligations are clear and verifiable.
SEO, online advertising, and budget allocation: balancing the levers
Natural referencing (SEO) remains a medium-term visibility lever, but its yield is evolving. In a context of increasing zero-click searches, focusing the entire marketing budget solely on SEO presents a risk of dependency on a channel whose rules change without notice.
Online advertising (SEA, social ads) offers an immediate visibility lever, with finer control over targeting and budget. However, it stops producing results as soon as the budget halts, unlike SEO, whose effects last longer.
- SEO produces lasting results but takes several months to generate stable traffic. It works better when combined with structured content for AI Overviews.
- Online advertising generates immediate and measurable traffic, but its cost per acquisition increases in competitive sectors.
- Email marketing, often underestimated, maintains one of the lowest acquisition costs and allows reaching an already engaged audience, provided the contact base is segmented.
The balance between these levers depends on the sector, the size of the company, and the maturity of its digital presence. A fixed allocation, identical from one quarter to the next, does not take into account seasonal variations or algorithmic changes. A company’s online visibility is built on a regular adjustment of investments, guided by performance indicators specific to each channel.
