As the rise of zero-click searches continues, marketers need to keep themselves up to date on the stats and what it might mean for their overall SEO strategies.

Or do they?

Before we answer that, a quick refresher: A zero-click search occurs when Google displays the answer to a user’s query at the top of the first SERP. In other words, there is no need to click through to anyone’s website. And the latest figures show us that a whopping 26% of desktop search results are zero-click, while on the mobile front the number stands at 17%.

So back to our question, do we as marketers really need to care about this? If a zero-click search satisfies the query, does anyone actually win? No clicks, no traffic, no chance for a conversion. Most people probably don’t even notice who it was that answered the query, meaning no brand recognition even.

That said, the chances of the user still clicking through to the site are there, and the zero-click result is by default the top result in the SERP. So bottom line – it matters. If you can be that zero-click answer at the top, it’s a big win for you.