{"id":6939,"date":"2026-04-22T07:17:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/?p=6939"},"modified":"2026-04-22T07:17:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:17:32","slug":"rand-fishkin-zero-click-search-began-long-before-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/?p=6939","title":{"rendered":"Rand Fishkin: Zero-click search began long before AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p> <div> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rand Fishkin on 20 years of search and Search Engine Land\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UoHzp1PyXBA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>Rand Fishkin didn\u2019t get into SEO because he saw the future.<\/p> <p>He got into it because he had no choice.<\/p> <p>In the early 2000s, Fishkin helped run a small web business with his mom in Seattle. They hired another company to do SEO until they couldn\u2019t afford to pay them anymore.<\/p> <p>That moment pushed him into search marketing. More than 20 years later, Fishkin has become one of the best-known voices in SEO \u2014 and one of Google\u2019s biggest critics.<\/p> <p>In this interview, he looks back at how search has changed, what went wrong, and what may happen next.<\/p> <h2 id=\"early-seo-was-wild\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Early SEO was wild<\/h2> <p>SEO today can feel messy. But in the early days, it was even more chaotic.<\/p> <p>\u201cThere was no social media,\u201d is how Fishkin described that era, where forums like WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch were the center of the industry.<\/p> <p>People shared tactics openly. Many of those tactics were risky. Buying links was common \u2014 and effective.<\/p> <p>Fishkin did it, too. Then Google\u2019s Matt Cutts called him out in public.<\/p> <p>That moment changed how he approached SEO. He spent years focusing on \u201cwhite hat\u201d practices and following Google\u2019s guidelines.<\/p> <p>Looking back, though, Fishkin now questions whether that shift went too far. He believes Google\u2019s own behavior over time has made those guidelines harder to trust.<\/p> <p>The early industry wasn\u2019t just chaotic \u2014 it was also full of strange and memorable moments. Fishkin recalled massive conference parties with huge budgets and over-the-top ideas, including a staged \u201cretirement\u201d of the Ask Jeeves mascot.<\/p> <p>But what stood out most to him wasn\u2019t the tactics or the parties.<\/p> <p>\u201cMy favorite thing\u2026 is people,\u201d he said, pointing to the relationships and friendships built over decades in search.<\/p> <h2 id=\"when-google-stopped-sending-traffic\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">When Google stopped sending traffic<\/h2> <p>Many people think AI is the big turning point in search.<\/p> <p>Fishkin says the shift started much earlier \u2014 around 2011.<\/p> <p>That\u2019s when the idea of \u201czero-click search\u201d first appeared. Google began answering more queries directly on the results page instead of sending users to websites.<\/p> <p>At first, it was small features like weather boxes and calculators.<\/p> <p>Then it grew:<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li>Around 2016\u20132017: nearly half of searches ended without a click<\/li> <li>By 2018: more than half<\/li> <li>Today: more than two-thirds<\/li> <\/ul> <p>Fishkin emphasized that this trend didn\u2019t start with AI \u2014 it has been building for more than a decade.<\/p> <h2 id=\"publishers-had-a-chance-and-missed-it\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Publishers had a chance \u2014 and missed it<\/h2> <p>Fishkin believes publishers could have taken action early \u2014 but didn\u2019t.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li>\u201cThe time to fight back\u2026 was 15 or 20 years ago,\u201d he said.<\/li> <\/ul> <p>In his view, large media companies should have worked together to push back against Google\u2019s growing control. They could have demanded payment for content or limited how Google used it.<\/p> <p>Instead, they allowed Google to crawl and use their content freely.<\/p> <p>At the same time, Google expanded its influence through lobbying and policy.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li>\u201cPublishers just missed that opportunity,\u201d Fishkin said.<\/li> <\/ul> <p>Now, he argues, the focus has to shift to adapting:<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li>Build subscription businesses<\/li> <li>Monetize attention, not just traffic<\/li> <li>Learn how to operate within platform ecosystems<\/li> <\/ul> <p>Some companies have already made that shift. Fishkin pointed to The New York Times as an example of a business evolving beyond traditional news consumption.<\/p> <h2 id=\"did-google-change\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did Google change?<\/h2> <p>Fishkin does not believe Google has become worse for users.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li>\u201cIf it was easier or better to search on Bing\u2026 people would go to those places,\u201d he said.<\/li> <\/ul> <p>But he does believe Google has become much harder for publishers and creators.<\/p> <p>The change, he said, was gradual. As Google grew, went public, and aligned with investor expectations, its priorities shifted toward growth and revenue.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li>\u201cThey became the people that they spent time with,\u201d Fishkin said.<\/li> <\/ul> <h2 id=\"the-biggest-ai-mistake-people-make\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The biggest AI mistake people make<\/h2> <p>Fishkin says most people misunderstand how AI works.<\/p> <p>They treat AI answers like search results \u2014 consistent and reliable.<\/p> <p>But they aren\u2019t.<\/p> <p>If you ask the same question multiple times, the answers can vary widely.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li>\u201cYou will get completely different answers. And if you do that 10 times, you will get 10 incredibly unique different answers,\u201d he said.<\/li> <\/ul> <p>His advice is simple: don\u2019t rely on a single response. Ask multiple times and look for patterns. If the same answer shows up consistently, it\u2019s more likely to be trustworthy.<\/p> <p>This matters most for important decisions, like health or finance, where relying on one answer could be risky.<\/p> <h2 id=\"what-he-misses-about-the-early-days-of-seo\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">What he misses about the early days of SEO<\/h2> <p>Fishkin doesn\u2019t miss a specific tactic or tool.<\/p> <p>He misses the level of opportunity that existed in the early web.<\/p> <p>Back then, smaller creators and independent sites had a better chance to succeed. Traffic was more evenly distributed.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li>\u201cThe world of clicks and traffic\u2026 was so\u2026 flat compared to\u2026 today,\u201d he said.<\/li> <\/ul> <h2 id=\"whats-next\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">What\u2019s next?<\/h2> <p>Fishkin believes the future of media and search may look more like the past.<\/p> <p>He expects a smaller number of powerful platforms to control most of the flow of information.<\/p> <p>At the same time, individual creators will still produce much of the content \u2014 but within those systems.<\/p> <p>Still, he hopes the web can evolve again.<\/p> <\/div> <p> <em>Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush. We remain committed to providing high-quality coverage of marketing topics. Unless otherwise noted, this page\u2019s content was written by either an employee or a paid contractor of Semrush Inc.<\/em> <\/p> <p>News#Rand #Fishkin #Zeroclick #search #began #long1776813452<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rand Fishkin didn\u2019t get into SEO because he saw the future. He got into it because he had no choice. In the early 2000s, Fishkin helped run a small web business with his mom in Seattle. They hired another company to do SEO until they couldn\u2019t afford to pay them anymore. That moment pushed him [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[5750,12593,5831,83,12592,95,19239],"class_list":["post-6939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","tag-began","tag-fishkin","tag-long","tag-news","tag-rand","tag-search","tag-zeroclick"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}