How to measure traffic when clicks disappear?

In short: Stop measuring clicks. Start measuring citations, mentions, and visibility. When AI answers remove clicks, you need new metrics that reflect how discovery actually works.

Traditional analytics are broken because they measure clicks that no longer happen.

Why clicks disappeared

Clicks disappeared because:

• •AI answers provide complete answers
• •Users don't need to click through
• •Zero-click searches are normal
• •Traditional metrics don't reflect visibility

What to measure instead

Measure visibility, not clicks:

• •Citations in AI answers
• •Mentions in communities
• •Authority signals
• •Answer appearances

How to track visibility

1. 1.Monitor AI citations — Are you being cited?
2. 2.Track community mentions — Are you being mentioned?
3. 3.Measure authority signals — Is your content trusted?
4. 4.Count answer appearances — Are you in the answers?

The framework

Think: Visibility metrics over traffic metrics

• •Citations > clicks
• •Mentions > visits
• •Authority > rankings
• •Answers > results

The conclusion

Clicks are gone. Visibility is what matters. Measure citations, mentions, and authority — not just traffic. That's how you track success in an AI-driven world.