What a Zero-Click Strategy is and How It Helps Your SEO

Today, we’re diving into a topic that’s transforming how people discover your services online — even before they visit your website.

What is a Zero-Click Strategy?
It’s all about showing up in search results in ways that answer your audience’s questions before they ever click — like in featured snippets, “People Also Ask” boxes, and definitions. It’s visibility without the click, and yes — it still supports your SEO.

In this episode, we cover:
 🔎 What zero-click searches are and why they matter
 🧠 How helping professionals can benefit from this strategy
 🛠️ Tips to optimize your content for high-ranking answer boxes
 📈 The long-term SEO value of being the go-to answer
🧭 Why visibility and trust come before conversion
❌ Common myths (like “you’re giving too much away”) — and why they’re wrong

Whether you’re a therapist, wellness provider, speech therapist, or holistic practitioner, this episode is packed with actionable advice to help you show up where the client journey begins — the search bar.

🎧 Tune in to learn how zero-click content can build trust, elevate your authority, and connect with your ideal clients before they even know they need you.

#SEOForTherapists #ZeroClickSearch #FromKeywordsToConnections #PrivatePracticeMarketing #HelpingProfessionals #ContentMarketing #SEOForWellnessPros #SimplifiedSEO #PodcastEpisode #TherapistMarketingTips #MentalHealthSEO #SearchVisibility #SEOThatConnects

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02.414)
you

Speaker 1 (00:07.256)
Hey there, you're listening to From Keywords to Connections.

we talk about more than just SEO.

We explore the real stories, strategies, and moments that help people connect in meaningful ways.

and Winnie bringing you honest conversations about strategy growth and the connections that matter most.

We're so glad you're here.

Speaker 1 (00:50.006)
Hi everybody and welcome back to From Keywords to Connections, the podcast exploring the intersection of smart SEO strategy and meaningful human connection. Today we're going to get back to the SEO of things. We've been doing some personal podcasts that were more about mental health and kind of the personal side of being a small business owner. But today we're going to talk about a concept that might sound technical at first, but it really plays a crucial role in how potential clients discover your practice online.

It's called the zero click strategy. So in this episode, we're going to break down what that is, why it matters for private practice and wellness professionals and how you can create content that positions you as the go-to resource even before someone's ready to reach out. Let's kind of start the discussion with what zero click strategy is. And it kind of sounds like it makes no sense. Like, what the heck is the point of a zero click strategy? thought the entire of everything was getting clicks.

point.

Speaker 2 (01:50.096)
So how could there be a strategy for zero click?

There really is this strategy that is so hugely important and it is really important in those first two or three months when you're starting to do your SEO work, when you're starting to build that presence and build that foundation, kind of before you start getting those calls, before you start getting those organic search results, this is where that zero-click strategy really comes into play. So what it is, is it's

A zero click search results is when users receive an answer directly on the search page, meaning they don't need to click a link to get to you or to find the answer. So this would be like the featured snippets that are on Google. The people also ask the answer boxes and the definitions. Yeah. The A.I. results and the definitions that pop up on on Google when you search something.

So the goal here is for visibility. The goal is to be seen as an authority at the top of search results. So it means that while you're not getting clicks, you're still being seen as an authoritative resource and you're getting pulled up in those search results. You're getting pulled up in those people also ask sections. You're getting pulled up in those AI search sections. You're getting pulled up on those definitions.

And even if people aren't clicking, they're seeing you and using your information, using your website, seeing your website and using that all as a way to answer their questions. So you're building that brand visibility and the expertise, authority and trust with Google. So that's where that zero click comes in. People aren't actually clicking on your website, but they are seeing your content, seeing your answers and seeing your logo, seeing your brand.

Speaker 1 (03:49.74)
And that's just as important in the beginning of the SEO work and even past that.

And this is even more important, I would say, for helping professionals than compared to some other industries. Because in the helping professional world, most potential clients aren't starting with ready to jump into services. They're doing research. They're asking questions. They're starting to dive in, kind of tip their toe in, leading them to be ready to start services.

And having the zero click strategy is going to more than likely bring them back to you. If they've seen you pop up in those snippets, seen you cited as a resource and the AI generated answers at the top. Any of those places that Mary just mentioned, if you're in those, people are going to notice they're going to remember.

that you're the one who gave them those answers that they were looking for when they kind of started their journey to start looking into resources as they're doing that research to see even just what's out there. Your name popping up and seeing it pop up in multiple places across searches is going to be incredibly helpful in building their trust because a of times if someone's searching for a helping professional, that's that's not always an easy choice. Sometimes it's an easy choice. Hey, we got to do this. Let's go find someone. But sometimes it's a buildup.

They have to kind of work up to it. And they want to know that the person that they're kind of trusting in to help them has that authority, has that trust. And that is a group. The zero click strategy is a great way to start building that trust before they ever see your site, before they ever press that contact button. That can be really important and then lead to future clicks is kind of that big part. The zero click strategy doesn't mean that you're never going to have clicks. It's building

Speaker 2 (05:49.369)
So that later on you're getting stronger clicks.

Absolutely. And it's one of those things where we've talked about in the past on our first or second podcast about user intent. So a zero click strategy is really focused on that research phase of user intent. It's really focused on when people are really just starting their search, starting to get involved in what they're looking for, doing that research like Winnie said. And the more they see your name pop up,

on those people also ask, those AI results, the definitions, the more they see your brand come up, the more you're going to get that brand recognition and the more it's gonna stick in their head. So as they move through those different phases of the user intent and the search process, they're gonna be like, okay, so I remember seeing this particular website pop up three or four times, so I'm gonna check out their website.

and then they'll go to your website, they'll check it out, and then when they get to that decision making process, then they'll fill out a contact form. So it's all about supporting the user throughout the entire search process, not just focusing on getting that click, getting that contact form. It's about becoming visible right in the very beginning and supporting them through that whole research phase.

really supporting them through their entire journey and finding someone to help them.

Speaker 2 (07:28.262)
And there are certain ways that with SEO optimization that we can ensure that we're optimizing obviously for the long term goal of getting those clicks, but also make sure we're optimizing for the zero click visibility at the same time. It's not like you pick one strategy over the other. It's kind of the zero click strategy is that beginning strategy where we're building everything up and it leads into.

the overall SEO strategy of getting you more clicks, getting more calls. There's really a variety of different ways that we can do that. One of the biggest ones that we do is having questions, those frequently asked questions on Google, especially as headings or even titles of blogs. It's a great way to do that because that can get you pulled up into the frequently asked questions, you know, being those answers on there.

It can also lead to being in the AI kind of answers and being cited there on the side because, normally it has on the left is the answer to your question to the right is what the resources they pulled that from. That can be really good for that zero click strategy. I'm additionally continuing to use long tail keywords, which is something that we push a lot helps build the zero click strategy.

following your impressions, you know, in the first two months, two, three months, a big thing I'm watching is, your impressions growing? And if they are growing, we want to look at where it's growing the most and make sure we're targeting that because that is going to be a part of that zero click strategy to make sure kind of going back to that user intent of what is the user intent, but also where, where is that growth coming from?

Are there new keywords that maybe we haven't delved super into, but now you're getting impressions for it? Are there questions that you're getting impressions for? Just for example, one I can think of that I've seen quite a bit is like, what is EMDR therapy, which is a common FAQ section that we suggest adding to service pages for EMDR. But that's a question that people get impressions for because it's highly searched. So it's one that we encourage, you know, putting answers for and addressing.

Speaker 1 (09:50.638)
Absolutely. And another thing that you want to do is when you're asking those questions, when you're doing those FAQs, you want to be very concise and direct in your answer. You don't want to write, you know, two paragraphs to answer a question because that's just going to make it so somebody, nobody's going to read a two paragraph answer to a question. They want it to be concise and direct. Google wants it to be concise and direct. Usually like 40 to 60 words in a question answer.

So, you know, on those FAQs, make sure that you're, you know, you're really thinking through your answer and just highlighting the key points and being very direct in how you answer those questions.

Or if you want to expand on it because there are some ones where you kind of want to expand on that answer make sure in that first couple sentences you're in it's an initial small first paragraph that's like you know can you use insurance for xyz yes you can use insurance for xyz you know maybe another sentence and then if you're wanting to delve into it a little bit more make that a separate sentence underneath it because then google will pull from that

beginning one where you directly answer the question. Here's the question. The answer is yes.

Yeah, absolutely. And then another thing that we're really doing more of are starting to add this as part of our packages at simplified is schema markup. And that is just basically a way to add a code to your pages that Google reads and it, and AI reads, it tells Google and AI very quickly and almost immediately exactly what the page is about.

Speaker 1 (11:29.868)
what the page is related to, what the topic is, if it's an FAQ, if it's a blog, if it's a service page, you know, it's just code that we put on those pages in the background to highlight exactly what the page is about. So Google doesn't have to read the whole page. Google sees that code in the header and it knows immediately what this page is about. And that makes it more likely to pull up an AI results.

because AI utilizes that schema. So that's something that we can dive into later maybe and have Sterling come on and kind of talk about what schema markup is and because it is technical. is something that you have to actually enter code onto your website and do, but it's something that we're doing as part of our optimization process. That's just one thing that you can do, you can learn about is that schema markup where possible.

I'm starting to get definitely more into that site schema, especially now there's also different types, know, their service page site schema, but they also have like FAQ site schema and about page that is a lot more technical. So I definitely think having a, an episode with Sterling here with us to kind of delve into more is going to be great. But other things you can do is also not just have like words on words on words, paragraphs on paragraphs, breaking up that content by adding an accordion folder with your FAQs in it, adding bulleted lists.

I know at one point, you know, there was concern that Google didn't read bulleted lists or didn't like them. And, you know, that might've been the case at one point, but Google evolves. And with that, Google likes those bullet points, likes those lists, especially if you're using it to help address common questions, common concerns, and they will pull those.

those lists and use them as part of their snippets to kind of break things down easier. Because I think Google is realizing sometimes it's easier to look through a list to get your answer than to try to read through paragraphs on paragraphs.

Speaker 1 (13:38.082)
And that could be like where you use the heading, symptoms of anxiety. And then you just have a bulleted list underneath it that lists all the symptoms of anxiety. And Google will see that. And that's perfect to pull for a snippet because it's very clear and concise. These are symptoms of anxiety. Here's a bulleted list that lists all of them. And

That's where Google can pull something that's very easy to understand, reliable, and can pull that for that snippet for somebody to just read on the page on the search results. So that's where those types of things come in. And you can use tables, like say you're using a graph to show some data, things like that. But there are a lot of different things you can do on your page to make your page more friendly that aren't

you know, that don't involve the code and being on the back end of your website trying to alter things in the code. There are things that you can just do with formatting on your page, like, you know, the bullet points, the tables, the lists, and all of those things really help create those opportunities to get pulled in those high performing snippets, those AI results, those people also ask sessions, sections.

So those are things to keep in mind when you're writing is like when he said don't just write paragraph after paragraph after paragraph, break it up with those bullet points, break it up with tables, break it up with lists. And you'll be more prone to get recognized by Google for doing those things.

I would encourage anyone who's kind of starting to think about the zero-click strategy and the snippets and all that sort of stuff, pay attention when you're Googling. not even about in the same context. I'm not saying go and Google. We don't suggest Googling your keywords because it interferes with Google Analytics and impression data.

Speaker 2 (15:36.782)
But as you're just generally searching, as stuff comes up and you are Googling for things in your day to day life, pay attention to what you see under the AI summaries, what you see under the people also asked and the snippets. Pay attention to what catches your eye as well, because I think, you know, unless you're focused on marketing, you know, before I got into SEO, I never really paid attention to what was on Google. just Googled.

I got what I needed. got off. was not paying attention to what like the psychology behind it. Now I can tell you every time I said, that's interesting that they pulled this. I can see why or like X, Y, Z. I think that can help with it because I think you'll start to notice that the zero click strategy is a thing. think for most people, it's kind of like running the background. We don't notice it. But then once it's kind of like brought to your attention, kind of like.

You talk about a yellow car and how you never see them. And then all of sudden they start popping up everywhere. It's kind of like that. You might not notice these things. And then now that we're talking about it, now we're kind of putting it in front of you. You're going to notice those things as you start Googling, which can be really helpful for implementing those changes on your own website.

And it may seem counterintuitive that the zero-click content can have SEO benefits, but it really does. It really helps with your SEO. The results that we're talking about, those people also ask, those AI snippets, those things that pull up on the page that people just read on the search page and don't click on, they may not immediately convert.

You know, they may not immediately send someone to your website, but they increase your brand recognition. You know, that's hugely important. Building that brand recognition, building that name recognition, they help increase your authority and they help create that traffic from users who might later revisit your site because they remember your brand. They remember that you were coming up in those search results. And if a lot of people

Speaker 1 (17:41.944)
When they see that you pull up in those people also ask sections or the AI search results are like, okay, Google trust this source. It's obviously authoritative and they'll remember that and utilize that as a resource when they're ready to move forward. And then they'll go to your website. And so this improves those engagement signals over time. This is why we really suggest using those long tail keyword strategies because

It's all about user intent and we're optimizing for legitimate questions that people are asking, not just anxiety. Someone would probably ask, know, I'm feeling stressed. What can I do? Or I'm feeling anxious. What are some things I can do to...

stop this feeling or, you know, we're thinking about things that people are actually asking. And that's why we use those long tail keyword strategies, because they put those words together, like anxiety treatment without medication, because people are looking for solutions that don't require taking a pill, they want solutions that they can use right now. So they're asking those questions. Anxiety treatments I can do on my own, you know, anxiety treatments.

I can do at home, things like that. So these long tail keywords position the provider as a helpful expert in their niche. And again, that's why we talk about niching down and being specific because you want to focus on one thing. You want to focus on that one thing to start that you can really prove to Google and to the AI LLMs that you are an expert in that particular field.

And by writing that content that uses those long tail keywords, by writing the content that has those bullet points, those lists, those concise direct answers, using those questions in the headings, by doing all of that and presenting it to Google and to the AI models, you are showing them that you're an authority in that niche. And that's when they start pulling your results for those questions that people are asking.

Speaker 2 (19:57.952)
Absolutely. Just kind of another example is for your functional medicine doctors out there, holistic doctors out there. You have someone who's starting to go look down that path. Maybe they're not getting the resources they need out, you know, from what they've been doing and they're starting to look and you know, what do functional medicine doctors treat? What can I expect from a session with a functional medicine doctor? All questions I've seen on

Frequently asked questions and they're they're gonna be doing that research and let's say you continually pop up You know in several places whether it's in the AI spot It's in the frequently asked question spot where what have you they're obviously not ready to start and you know book an appointment yet but they are doing that research and even if they're not cognitively thinking or even if they're not clocking that they That it's your specific name

They are subconsciously aware of they've seen your logo here, they've seen your logo here, they've seen your logo here. So when they start to search for functional medicine, Dr. Kansas City, and your name pops up with all of your information and your logo, that is going to catch their attention. And they're going to be like, wait, that's where I learned who functional medicine, Dr. Street. And it's going to be like a putting all the pieces of a puzzle together for them.

and lead to that future client for you, even if it's, you know, they've been looking up different questions related to your specialty for the past, you know, couple months even that kind of builds up to a client who one knows what they want when they contact you, which can be really helpful. And two leads to an ideal client.

There's also, I mean, there's a lot of common misconceptions about this particular strategy and a lot of misconceptions about the whole AI snippet thing coming up on Google. The people also ask sections coming up on Google, those rich snippets. Sometimes people feel like Google is giving away too much, like they're giving away the information and then that's going to deter people from clicking on your website.

Speaker 1 (22:18.924)
because they don't have to click on anything. They've got the answer right there. But that's not the case because all it does is really provide a very limited short answer to a question that people will eventually click through on because they want to clarify that information. They want more information. They want a more in-depth answer.

Really what it's doing is providing that value that builds trust and those people who need that more personalized help will eventually click through because they need that more personalized help. After they've gotten that short answer, it kind of points them in the direction of where they want to go, what they want to do. It gives them that guidance for that next step in the search process.

So it's not giving away the information, it's really helping point them in the direction of your website, point them in the direction of the help that they can get from you.

And realistically, these questions are not questions that can take away from the need for your service. More than likely, if someone's searching what are anxiety symptoms, they're trying to figure out if they're suffering from anxiety, which, you know, let's say they search for anxiety symptoms, you give them a great list of what anxiety symptoms are. And now they're recognizing, I might need to start getting an anxiety treatment.

And that is what can help lead to them searching for the services that you offer. These questions, and then I've not seen really a question out there that would take away from any of the health professionals. Am I searching, what do functional medicine doctors treat? More than likely the user intent behind that is someone trying to figure out if a functional medicine doctor can help them, which is then going to help answer that question. And if it is,

Speaker 2 (24:15.608)
you know, is going to potentially be the right fit will lead to them searching for your services and switching from the investigative piece of search into the service finding piece of search.

Yeah, and I mean, so you can really think of zero click strategy as like a gatekeeper, like a gateway to the deeper, more high quality content on the site. It's just that gate that people step through to start with, to get on the path to finding the real deeper, more intensive information that they need.

The zero click content is just the beginning. It's those brief, of highlighted, concise answers that really direct the people where they need to go for your services. So it should lead them to that high quality content you have on that site. It should lead them to those in-depth blogs. It should lead them to those quality service pages that you have that can answer all of those more in-depth questions that they have.

it should lead them to your contact page if that's what they finally decide that they need to do. So it doesn't take away or give too much away. It really provides that value building or that trust building and that brand recognition. I can't stress how important that is and those impressions during the first few months of the SEO process. So don't look at it as

a negative thing, look at it as an opportunity to get your brand out there. Be visible on the web, be visible in search results, be visible on Google, and just view it as an opportunity to get recognized as an expert by people who are searching. And the more impressions you get means the more people are looking at your stuff. And the more people who look, the more people are gonna remember your brand.

Speaker 1 (26:12.482)
your answers and the more people who are eventually going to come back to your website and click on your services and recognize that you're the person and you're the fit for what they need help with.

It's, it's the educational piece. One thing I was thinking, one thing that kind of popped in my mind was the, we talk a lot about modalities, especially in the mental health field. And people will be like, well, people might not know what somatic therapy is, but if someone searching, you know, different treatment options for trauma, and you know, you've listed somatic therapy on there, that's going to lead them down a rabbit hole of researching what somatic therapy is.

So they can figure out if that's going to be the right, if they think that can be the right fit for them, which is still going to lead them back to you and lead them back to, okay, this is where I've learned about the different modalities. I think this might be a good fit. Now I'm ready to talk to a somatic therapist and it helps inform their searches. So instead of just searching therapists, they're looking for a somatic therapist or they're looking for what specifically they think is going to help them.

which also helps cut down on queries from people who might not be the right fit. They're not looking for the services that you offer, but they didn't know that because they didn't find those kind of resources when they were searching.

Yeah, absolutely. And so just to give you some examples of some questions that you could put on your FAQ or some questions that you could put as headings that could potentially generate some zero-click results. Like when he said, what is somatic therapy?

Speaker 1 (27:59.028)
and a brief answer. How does mindfulness help anxiety? What is breath work therapy? Things like that. What are the signs of anxiety like we talked about? How do I know if I need therapy? How does trauma affect the brain? What is the difference between a therapist and a psychologist? All of these things are questions that could potentially be pulled up in those search results and be answered by your content rather easily. And they're things that you are knowledgeable about. So

it's just thinking of the questions that people are asking, creating an answer to that question and posting it on your, on your page in a format that Google is more likely to look at. that, you know, that's why we encourage those FAQ sections on service pages. That's why we encourage those bullet lists, those, you know, those tables, those, those visual aids that really outline what content is and you know, what you're trying to get across to.

Yeah, I think those are some great options and not a single one of those I feel like would take away from someone reaching out for services. If anything, I think it would help by entering those questions through the snippets and the FAQs helps encourage people to then start searching to be able to reach out, which is exactly what I want.

And so then I think one of the things that we talk about a lot at Simplified and that we talk about a lot with SEO in general is that SEO work, especially organic search engine optimization is a long game. It's a long-term investment where it does take several months to really see that click through those calls, those appointments being scheduled.

But this is part of that process that we encourage our clients to really look at and follow for those first two, three months is those impressions that they're getting because that's how we monitor whether what we're doing or not is successful or not.

Speaker 1 (30:02.926)
If your impressions are climbing, if you're getting more visibility, that means that that zero-click strategy is working. You're getting the brand recognition and you're getting all of those things and laying the foundation for what we're doing and it is being successful. So that's one way you can really look at is what I'm doing working.

is what I'm writing working. Even on your own, you can look at Google Search Console and see what type of impressions you're getting for what type of words and figure out if what you're writing is resonating with people. And that's, you know, that's just one of the things that we look at for the long-term strategy is, you know, how many impressions are you getting? How? And we monitor those increases month to month regularly. And we

You know, we monitor what keywords you're ranking for, what, or what keywords you're getting impressions for, what keywords are questions people are looking at. And then we use that to make strategic decisions about what type of content to write about, what type of blogs to write about, what type of, you know, keywords to use. So it's all the zero click strategy is really part of the foundation of good SEO work.

and starting off strong and building a good foundation for all of the work that comes after it.

I couldn't agree more. you know, start if this is something you're interested in building up your zero click strategy, if you feel like you don't, that's not something you kind of put some effort into. Start small, start adding, you know, a couple questions, start including questions as your headers in your blogs, and then just start building up from there.

Speaker 1 (31:50.914)
And it's even something you can go back in and do to existing content. Say you have a service page that you have all these headings on, but none of them are questions. You can change them to questions that match the content of the paragraph. You can go to incorporate questions in your blogs. You can repurpose some of the content you have to make it more AI friendly.

And you know, if you have a service page that you love and you don't want to change your headings or the content in it, it is real easy to add an FAQ at the bottom of your page. It will not change your service page as it is, but then you can add those questions at the bottom and format, you know, make sure they're question, the formatted in the kind of questions that Google is trying to answer and have those answers. unite nice for nice.

short and concise.

Yeah. And even if you put it in an accordion, people used to think that Google didn't read the accordions like when he was talking about that Google didn't read the list, but that's no longer the case. Google reads those things and it's a great way to, again, really, because SEO is not just about getting clicks. It's not just about getting that click on your website. SEO is about brand recognition. It's about getting recognized on the web. It's about

building your name and your recognizability on the web, building that confidence, that trust. There's a lot of things that go into SEO besides just getting a click on your website. Because if people are clicking on your website, but they don't have that background information about what you do or what they're looking for, it's just a wasted click because they're not going to be clicking to get a service.

Speaker 1 (33:43.138)
just going to be clicking because they're trying to figure out what they need. But if they've already seen what they need because they've been researching, those clicks are going to be much more productive and much more useful.

Absolutely. Well, I think that is anything else to add about the zero click strategy.

No, just, I think that, like I said, it's counterintuitive and a lot of people might think that, what, this is stupid? Getting zero clicks, what is that? That's not what I want to do. I don't want zero clicks. But really, you need to...

It's really a huge piece of the puzzle. It's really an important piece of the puzzle. And it's not just, it's not meaning that you're not ever going to get clicks. So just keep that in mind. It's not meaning that nobody's ever going to click on your website or click on your pages. It just means that in the beginning, you know, you're getting those, that visibility on the web, that brand recognition. Again, I can't say it enough, that name recognition, that trust. So.

It is kind of counterintuitive, but it's a really useful strategy that we are working on utilizing and managing in our own practices.

Speaker 2 (35:00.974)
To really see the benefit of the zero-click strategy, feel like you have to look at the whole puzzle, not just at one portion of it. You have to kind of look at the big picture, look at how it all comes together when you kind of start building up your digital marketing, your brand, all of that. Which can be hard when you're, especially when you're just starting out, which is when the zero-click strategy really starts taking effect.

Yeah, absolutely. It'd be a great place to start for a newer website to really monitor how you're growing on the web, just to see what's grabbing Google's attention and things like that. So definitely encourage people to learn more about the zero-click strategy, to learn more about how to ask the questions that people are asking, learn more about incorporating those things into your pages. Just making

those things part of everything that they do.

I Well, if you're starting your SEO journey, start thinking about that zero-click strategy. If you're well into your SEO career or SEO journey, make sure to be starting to pay attention to your zero-click strategy. See maybe how it could be affecting your SEO. We'd love to hear what your thoughts are on zero-click strategy. Give us a follow, leave us a comment and we'll

We will talk to you next time. Bye.

Speaker 1 (36:34.744)
Thanks guys.

Speaker 1 (36:57.506)
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