If you’re looking to increase visibility online for your business, services, or products, the old SEO playbook won’t help you anymore. The game has changed.

AI is rapidly reshaping and disrupting everything from coding and customer service to digital marketing, advertising, and search engine optimization. If you’re in the business of building WordPress plugins, running a hosting service, or helping clients market their products online, this disruption is already knocking on your door.

In this article, I’ll show you how to draw a new map. One that will help you navigate the new terrain and understand how AI is transforming search, what “zero-click” means for your online visibility, and, most importantly, how to position your business to not just survive the shift, but thrive in it.

Let’s start by getting our bearings.

Search Has Changed: Welcome to the World of Zero Clicks

Once upon a time, getting found online meant getting ranked. If your website made it to page one of Google, clicks (and customers) usually followed. SEO was the map, and businesses followed it closely.

2024 seems like aeons ago. We’ve entered the era of AI-powered search, where that map is now all but outdated. SEO rules have shifted beneath our feet. Tools like ChatGPT didn’t just disrupt how content is created; they’re changing how content is found. And nowhere is this more evident than in the rise of zero-click search.

What is a zero-click search? It’s when a user asks a question and gets the answer right there on the search results page, in a snippet, or directly inside AI-generated summaries like Google’s AI Overviews or Microsoft’s Bing Copilot.

For example, the article you’re reading right now talks about “Information Gain.” If you don’t know what this means, you can look it up on Google and get a general idea without having to click through websites to read articles on the topic.

Research shows that almost 60% of US and European searches in 2024 led to zero clicks.

No clicks. No website visits. No chance for your page to load, let alone convert.

And here’s the kicker: even if your content helped power that answer, you might not even be credited, unless your content stands out.

In short, the old SEO game of “get ranked, get clicked” is being replaced by a new game of “be the answer.”

This means that if your content doesn’t offer something original, unique, or expert-driven, it risks being swallowed by AI summarization tools that reward consensus, not carbon copies. Traditional SEO tactics, such as chasing word counts, keyword densities, or regurgitating competitor content, aren’t just outdated. They’re already ineffective.

Trying to navigate this landscape using yesterday’s playbook is like using a paper map in a GPS world.

What we need now is a new map. A new way to think about search and a new strategy to help plugin developers, hosting companies, and WordPress-based businesses to not only adapt, but lead, in the age of AI search.

Let’s map this out, then, and show you how your business can:

• Show up in AI-powered summaries
• Stand out through information gain (we cover this in more detail below.)
  
• Stay relevant even when the clicks stop flowing

Why AI Search Isn’t the End: It’s a Shift From Attention to Action

Yes, AI has changed the search game. Yes, zero-click results are rising. And yes, traditional SEO (the kind that promised “rank high, get clicks, win traffic”) has taken a hit.

But here’s the thing most businesses are missing: if you sell actual products or deliver real services, you’re not out of the game yet. Far from it.

Let me show you why…

Let’s say a WordPress user runs into an issue on their website and searches Google for information (e.g. “how to fix WordPress database error.”)

As the screenshot below shows, ranking no longer really matters, as users can now resolve their issues simply by using the information provided in Google’s AI Overview, without needing to visit websites to go through their tutorials.

This can lead to zero clicks for websites in both organic and paid listings.

Now, compare this with the screenshot below, where the same user searches for information on “the best WordPress plugin for X.”

While AI can deliver information, it can’t deliver outcomes.

It can tell users about your plugin, but they still need to download and install it.

It can summarize hosting comparisons, but it can’t spin up a lightning-fast server or migrate a live site. Users still need to sign up with a hosting company.

In other words, when it comes to accessing tangible products and services (even if these are digital), where users still need to take action to get what they really want (and not just get information), that action can lead them to you, regardless of the source of that information.

So the real question is not “How do I rank?”

It’s: How do I stay visible in the moments that matter…before, during, and after AI answers?

The answer may be surprisingly simple:

Make your content so unique, useful, and trusted that AI has no choice but to include it, and that users know exactly where to go when they’re ready to take the next step.

And that brings us to a crucial new concept at the heart of modern SEO:

Information Gain.

This isn’t about writing longer blog posts or rehashing existing content. It’s about delivering something new. Something no AI or competitor has said before.

Let’s explore how “information gain” works and why it’s quickly becoming the most important factor in getting found, cited, and clicked in the AI-driven web.

Information Gain: Your Edge in an AI-Saturated Search Landscape

As AI reshapes how users find answers and pushes more queries toward zero-click results, standing out in search isn’t about ranking higher. It’s about offering something new.

That’s where information gain comes in.

Information gain is a concept search engines use to assess how much unique, valuable content your page contributes beyond what’s already been seen.

In practical terms, Google wants content that advances the conversation, not just rewords it.

Here’s why that matters:

• Traditional SEO is losing its edge. The old “skyscraper” method (making something longer or adding a few extra tips) doesn’t cut it anymore. Google can now measure whether your content offers fresh insights or merely repeats the status quo.
• AI-generated content is flooding the web. Most AI outputs repackage what’s already online (often adding what’s now referred to as “AI slop”). But AI can’t draw from your own experiences, case studies, internal data, or hands-on product testing.
• Google rewards originality. With AI Overviews and dynamic SERPs, Google increasingly cites and surfaces content that offers distinct value, especially content that’s new to the reader.

So, how can plugin developers use information gain to stay visible?

Rather than using AI content tools to clog up the web with more rehashed AI slop, use the tools instead to speed up your research and improve your content processes, so you can better communicate as a human with other humans.

Here are just some of the many practical ways to create information gain and publish content that will help you get found online through AI search:

• Publish proprietary insights. Have anonymized usage stats? Aggregate them into a short performance benchmark. For example: “75% of our free plugin users upgraded after enabling this one feature.”
• Document experiments. What happened when you changed onboarding UX? Or tested pricing across regions? Share your before-and-after.
• Add what’s missing. Scan top-ranking posts for gaps. Are they all rehashing the same advice? Offer nuance, contrarian angles, or edge-case examples that plugin developers actually encounter.
• Use expert context. Interview a dev, a marketer, or a power user. Their fresh take adds information gain and trust.

Bottom line: Information gain is your SEO moat. It future-proofs your content by making it the most useful thing on the page, even if AI is summarizing it or not linking to it.

Stop chasing what’s already been said. Start creating what only you can say. Tell your story and own your data.

Creating content that offers readers genuine value and information gain, however, can be very time-consuming.

This is where WP Mayor can assist.

WP Mayor: An Information Gain Engine for WordPress Brands

If you look carefully at the screenshot shown earlier, you’ll see that a review of interactive image and mapping plugins for WordPress published on WP Mayor’s blog was used as one of the main sources of information for the resulting AI overview.

As you can see from the above, while the content we create for our clients may not rank high on Google’s organic listings or even send clicks directly to their site, they can provide AI search overviews with a rich source of information gain about our clients’ products or services, and help increase their online business visibility.

As promised in the title of this article…

“WP Mayor can provide AI search overviews with a rich source of information gain about your products or services, and help make your WordPress business visible in the age of AI and zero-click SEO.”

Google’s AI systems, and the humans who train them, are rewarding original, insightful, expert-driven content. WP Mayor is purpose-built to deliver exactly that.

At WP Mayor, we don’t just create content. We generate net-new insights. Authentic, authoritative, and uniquely valuable information that AI can’t fabricate and competitors can’t replicate.

This is the new map we suggest you follow.

Our services are built from the ground up to deliver high information gain. These include:

• Expert Product Reviews: These aren’t generic overviews. Every review is conducted by a WordPress pro who actually tests your product, digs into real-world use cases, and presents firsthand analysis. That’s information no AI can produce and no reader has seen before. The results? AI Overviews cite us. Readers trust us. And your product earns visibility even in zero-click scenarios.
• Product Booster: Combining our editorial muscle with strategic positioning, we extract differentiators, highlight unique selling points, and craft messaging that aligns with buyer intent across blog content, email campaigns, and more. This means your brand stays top-of-mind even if users don’t click, and top-of-funnel visibility converts into mid-funnel consideration.
• Video Content: Our on-camera product walkthroughs, tutorials, and expert interviews bring a human face to your software. This boosts both engagement and authority. Videos embedded in your own content and ours add unique multimedia context that improves search performance, brand recall, and user trust.

Why WP Mayor Content Can Help You in AI-Powered Search

AI-driven search assistants such as Google’s AI Overviews or Bing Copilot don’t rank results in the traditional way. They synthesize answers based on trusted sources.

Here’s why WP Mayor creates content with a high likelihood of consistently getting cited:

• Original, high-signal content with low redundancy and high domain relevance, created by WordPress specialists with proven editorial standards.
• Human expert analysis that AI models rely on for informed opinions. Your review isn’t just written, it’s optimized for visibility in both SERPs and AI summaries.
• Established brand authority in the WordPress ecosystem. Your brand is featured on a trusted platform with built-in distribution to thousands of readers, subscribers, and followers, increasing your likelihood of being discovered by your target audience and appearing in AI search results.

So, even if someone doesn’t click through the traditional SERPs, your product is still likely to be found in the AI-generated answer. That’s modern discoverability. That’s how WP Mayor content is designed to perform.

The Bottom Line: Stay Visible, Stay Trusted & Stay Ahead With WP Mayor by Your Side

AI has changed SEO forever. That much is clear. Zero-click search results, generative answers, and evolving user behavior have disrupted how people find information, and how they find you.

But here’s the good news: if you offer real products or services, you’re still in the game. Because no matter how smart AI gets, users will always need to take action to get results. They’ll still need to download your plugin. They’ll still need to sign up for your hosting. They’ll still need to visit your site.

The challenge is making sure they can find you, and that your content is distinct enough to cut through AI-generated noise. That’s where Information Gain comes in. It’s the new SEO currency. The key to visibility in a world where AI chooses what users see first.

By using high-impact content strategies and working with trusted partners like WP Mayor, you can still drive awareness, traffic, and conversions, even in a world of shrinking clicks. Our deep expertise, established authority, and content services are designed to put your product exactly where it needs to be: in the conversation, in the summary, and in the minds of your buyers.

You don’t have to face the AI revolution alone. You just need the right map.

Let us help you get found… no clicks required!

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