By Adam McCleery
Publication Date: 2026-04-07 11:50:00
Sharyn Smith. Photo credit: Social Soup
Australians are increasingly turning to AI when shopping.
Around 60% of searches now end without a single click, with some data in Australia showing zero-click rates of over 70% as people receive direct answers from AI assistants rather than websites.
At the same time, around seven in ten Australians use AI tools for online shopping research.
These changes are significant for marketers because visibility is no longer about page rank; it’s about whether an AI model even recommends a brand.
Sharyn Smith, founder and chief executive of Social Soup, said brands that are still pouring money into traditional search engine optimization risk falling behind.
“In the research phase, everyone is currently using large language models to do research for themselves,” she said AdNews.
“How do you appear in these results? How do you influence them?”
AI models, she said, are increasingly looking for trust signals, social proof, reviews and real…
