Measuring a company’s online visibility is no longer just about checking its position on Google. Since generative engines (AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot) display summaries before any clickable link, a well-ranked page can lose a significant share of its clicks. Therefore, web marketing must integrate this new reality to remain effective.
SEO Click-Through Rate with and without AI Summary: Measured Differences
The analysis by the Pew Research Center, published on July 22, 2025, and based on 68,879 Google searches observed in March 2025, provides a rare point of comparison. The table below summarizes the observed gap.
| Situation | Click-Through Rate on a Standard Result |
|---|---|
| Search with AI summary displayed | 8 % |
| Search without AI summary | 15 % |
The click-through rate is almost halved when an AI summary appears. For a company that relies on organic traffic, this means that the volume of visitors can drop without the ranking having moved even one position.
This phenomenon, often referred to as “zero clicks,” does not render SEO useless. Instead, it changes its role: SEO now also serves to provide reliable sources for AI responses. A page cited by a generative assistant gains brand recognition, even if direct clicks decrease.
To delve deeper into this approach and structure an appropriate strategy, many companies choose to work on web marketing with Cyberlabo to articulate traditional SEO and visibility in generative engines.
GEO: Optimize Your Visibility in Generative Engines
The term GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) refers to techniques aimed at making a brand or site appear in the responses produced by AIs. France Num now recommends working on a company’s presence in these responses, in addition to SEO, social media, and marketplaces.
What Differentiates GEO from Traditional SEO
Traditional SEO optimizes a page to rank higher in a list of links. GEO optimizes content to be selected as a source by a language model. Both disciplines share common foundations (structured content, domain authority, semantic markup), but GEO adds specific requirements.
- The AI’s response favors content that states verifiable facts with an identifiable source, rather than pages with high keyword volume without precise data.
- Short question-answer formats, integrated into well-marked paragraphs (H2, H3, lists), increase the likelihood of extraction by the model.
- Consistency between mentions of a brand across multiple sites (directories, third-party articles, social profiles) enhances its credibility in the eyes of generative systems.
Working on GEO does not replace SEO; it expands it. A company that neglects either leaves an untapped acquisition channel.
Social Media and Paid Campaigns: Arbitrating Based on Data
Social media remains a major visibility lever, but its organic reach has decreased on most platforms. Regular posting is no longer enough to generate traffic to a site. The arbitration between organic content and paid campaigns depends on the audience’s maturity and the available budget.
When Organic Content is Sufficient
An account that already has an active community (comments, shares, private messages) can leverage organic content to maintain the relationship. Consistent posting, short video formats, and direct interactions keep visibility without media purchases.
When Paid Campaigns Become Necessary
To reach a new audience or promote a limited-time product, Google Ads campaigns or social media ads offer precise targeting. Return on investment is measured by cost per acquisition, not just by the number of impressions. Monitoring this metric allows for quickly stopping an unprofitable campaign.
Web Marketing and Content: Structuring for Humans and Machines
Content remains the foundation of any online visibility strategy. However, producing a blog post or product page guarantees nothing without an appropriate technical structure.
A structured content with verifiable data is more likely to be cited by an AI. Specifically, this involves integrating factual answers in the early paragraphs, using schema.org markup when the CMS allows it, and sourcing key claims.
Content intended for social media follows a different logic: short formats, strong visuals, calls to interaction. A common mistake is duplicating a blog post on a social network without adapting it to the platform’s native format.
- On a website: prioritize long articles, well-marked, with tables and sourced numerical data.
- On social media: focus on short videos, carousels, and interactive formats (polls, questions).
- In email campaigns: segment the contact list to personalize the message and increase the open rate.
Each channel has its own suitable format. Adapting content to the channel, rather than recycling the same text everywhere, improves performance on each of them.
Visibility in web marketing relies on a balance between traditional SEO, presence in generative engines, and activation on social media. The analysis by the Pew Research Center shows that AI summaries are already changing user behavior. Integrating GEO into your digital strategy now means anticipating a channel that is gaining weight quarter after quarter.
