Expert Summary
About 27% of Australians use generative AI for at least half their searches. However, 64% encounter Google AI Overviews. The real crisis is the “zero-click” reality: over 70% of Australian queries now end without a website visit because the AI provides the answer directly.
The Situation in 2026
Australian business owners are currently squeezed between rising digital ad costs and a cost-of-living crisis that has made buyers more cautious. This is compounded by AI-led search disruption, where the traditional “search-click-convert” funnel is breaking because AI answers the query before the click occurs.
Key Considerations
- Zero-click rates have exceeded 70% for Australian Google queries, spiking to 83% when AI Overviews are present. If your lead generation depends on driving traffic to a landing page, your volume will drop; the new goal is securing the AI citation so the customer trusts you before they ever visit.
- Mobile devices account for 75%+ of searches, and zero-click behaviour there exceeds 75%. For local businesses, this means being “found” no longer means a website visit—it means appearing in the AI’s local recommendation with the correct hours, pricing, and GST-inclusive costs.
- Roughly 27% of Australians use generative AI for at least half of their internet searches, a trend accelerating with under-40s. If your target demographic is younger, you cannot rely on traditional SEO; you must be present in the LLMs they use for research and product comparison.
- While 31% use ChatGPT monthly, 64% of Australians encounter Google AI Overviews. Most people interact with AI without consciously identifying it as such, meaning your brand visibility now depends on how AI engines retrieve and evaluate your business as a trusted entity.
ROI and Growth Perspective
ROI Growth Agency is seeing a clear divide: businesses chasing “rankings” are losing ground to those prioritising Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). We focus on structured markup and authoritative entity building to ensure AI engines cite your business as the solution, protecting your revenue from the zero-click collapse.
Published by ROI.COM.AU — Australia’s business growth resource.