AI Is Killing Clicks: What Comms Leaders Need to Know This Week

Traffic volatility. Layoffs. Licensing battles. This is what comms leaders should actually be planning for.

Jul 28, 2025

welcome back to pr@ctical, where we track the shifts that matter most to modern comms teams.

this week’s briefing offers a clear look at what’s changing—again.
clicks are disappearing. traffic is collapsing. and the biggest names in media are rewriting their survival playbooks.

we’ve entered the post-click era—and comms strategies that don’t account for it will quietly stop working.

📉 google traffic is vanishing—fast.

new research from pew + similarweb shows just how steep the decline is:

ai overviews (google’s generated answer summaries) now appear in nearly 1 in 5 u.s. searches
when ai overviews appear, the average click-through rate (CTR) drops to just 8%, compared to 15% for searches without them
zero-click searches (where users get answers without clicking) now account for 69% of all google queries—up 13 points year-over-year
major publishers are reporting 20–50% traffic declines from google:
- huffpost: −50%
- business insider: −55%
- daily mail: −32%
- cnn: −28%
- the sun: −50%
- new york post: −27%

🔍 zero-click defined:
a search result where the user gets the information they need without clicking through to any external website—typically because of an AI overview or featured snippet.

as nicholas thompson, ceo of the atlantic, warned:

“assume traffic from google will drop toward zero.”

⚠️ publishers are adapting fast, but painfully:

business insider shut down 70% of its SEO commerce content and launched BI Live, a live-events division expected to drive 15%+ of future revenue
the washington post is pushing direct-audience tools like Ask The Post AI and Climate Answers
the sun is shifting efforts toward youtube, doubling video watch time even as web traffic drops

🧯 newsroom layoffs accelerate

📎 licensing = ai visibility
when a media outlet licenses content to openai, it’s more likely to be cited in generated answers—both in ChatGPT and, increasingly, Google AI Overviews.

💡 takeaways for comms leaders

ai-optimized visibility is now a must.
format press releases, landing pages, and bylines using clear, structured Q&A language and trusted third-party references. if it can’t be surfaced in ai, it may not be seen.
reporters are under pressure.
traffic volatility is forcing journalists to prioritize engagement KPIs. make their job easier with ready-to-use assets, strong framing, and searchable credibility.
layoffs create beat gaps—and new opportunities.
more freelancers are surfacing daily on linkedin. some are open to brand-funded newsletters, contributed content, or partnership pitches.
events are the new front door.
live activations, sponsorships, and thought-leader placements offer visibility outside of shrinking newsroom space. get in early.
syndication is strategic again.
long-term value may come from appearing in AI training datasets and search results—not just a one-day spike in clicks.

👀 watching for next week:

will google’s AI mode chat interface push zero-click searches even higher?
how are AI-generated newsletters shaping retention and reader loyalty?
which regional publishers will strike new licensing or syndication deals next?

if this helped you recalibrate your comms strategy, forward it to a teammate or exec who needs the bigger picture.

see you next monday with another signal-first scan of the media landscape.

stay sharp, stay visible,
sarah

🪄 pr@ctical—where sharp taste meets sharper tools.

p.s. if you want a generative ai visbility report for your b2b or b2c tech brand, email me at evans@zenmedia.com.

Sources:

Search Traffic & Zero-Click Trends