Channel Mix Strategy
Zero-Click Search and What It Costs Paid Media Budgets
Google's AI answers are slashing paid search clicks while driving up costs simultaneously.
Selin Whitfield
Reporter · · 12 min read
Google's AI answers are slashing paid search clicks while driving up costs simultaneously.
Conversational AI needs its own weighting math, not search's old playbook.
Meta's CPAs jumped 38% year over year while engagement fell.
AI chatbots collapse the sales funnel, forcing marketers to rethink budget allocation.
Conversational context replaces keywords as the targeting signal that wins ad auctions.
Marketers must shift budgets to AI chat carefully while rising search costs erode efficiency.
Synthetic priors and proxy variables let brands model AI channels without years of spend history.