Zero-click SEO: How AI is disrupting the B2B buyer’s journey

Shownotes

In this episode of The OnBase Podcast, host Chris Moody dives deep with Vincent DeCastro to unpack one of the most dramatic shifts in marketing history: the rise of zero-click search and AI-driven buyer journeys. They explore how generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude are transforming how buyers discover and evaluate solutions, often without ever visiting a brand’s website. Vincent shares how this new reality is disrupting search, reshaping ABM, and forcing marketers to collapse silos between brand, demand, and content functions to stay relevant.

From the death of traditional SEO to the new rules of visibility in the age of AI, this episode offers a masterclass on how marketers must evolve to survive and thrive in a post-click world.

Best Moments

• 04:30
  The ABM evolution: How Vincent’s SEO roots led to redefining marketing through AI.
• 09:52
  The rise of Zero Click: Why impressions are up but clicks are down.
• 13:35
  Breaking silos: How brand, demand, and content must now merge.
• 20:22
  The technical audit: Why your site’s code could make or break pipeline.
• 23:58
  The new buyer journey: Awareness and consideration have gone off-site.
• 28:12
  The “Open the Kimono” Rule: Why ungating your best content is now essential.
• 36:22
  The future of search: How LLMs will monetize and what it means for marketers.
• 41:14
  Future-proofing your strategy: The three things every marketer must do today.

Key takeaways

• Zero-click search has changed the game
  Generative AI is now giving users answers directly in the results, before they ever reach your site. That means impressions go up while clicks go down, creating a new paradox that marketers must understand and address.
• Content is now for machines and humans
  Your website is no longer just for prospects. It’s for LLMs to read, parse, and summarize. Structuring your content for AI consumption is the new SEO.
• Break down the silos
  Brand, content, demand generation, and ABM can’t operate independently anymore. AI interprets your business holistically, your teams must do the same.
• LLM optimization is the new SEO
  Technical readiness is step one. Run audits to ensure your site can be crawled by AI tools, update evergreen content regularly, and monitor how your brand is being summarized by these new “AI engines.”
• The future of search is paid, personalized, and platform-based
  Generative platforms like ChatGPT will soon monetize results the way Google did with ads, but based on personalized prompts, not keywords. Brands must adapt early.

Quotes

Zero-click search isn’t killing Google — it’s redefining it.

Tech recommendations

• Screaming Frog – For analyzing log files and ensuring your site is AI-crawl ready

About the Guest

Vincent DeCastro is the Founder and CEO of ABM Agency, a B2B marketing leader that’s been reshaping account-based marketing since 2009. With over a decade of experience at the intersection of search, ABM, and AI, Vincent helps enterprise organizations navigate the massive changes in digital behavior driven by zero-click search and generative AI. His agency has been at the forefront of understanding how AI and large language models (LLMs) are redefining visibility, authority, and buyer intent in the modern B2B landscape.

Connect with Vincent.