functioned as a marketplace of attention. Today, it is evolving into a marketplace of intent. Large language models grasp what users mean, not just the exact words they enter. They can respond directly to that intent. Sending people to external websites to hunt for information is no longer necessary. For over two decades, the web relied on an unwritten agreement. Creators supplied content. Search engines compensated them with traffic. You contributed knowledge to the web. In return, the web rewarded you with visibility. That exchange powered the digital economy, supported journalism and elevated brands. Every article, review and how‑to guide served as a small handshake in a reciprocal system. That handshake is weakening. AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity now produce answers themselves. They draw on the world’s content but seldom send audiences back to the original sources. Google’s AI Overviews condense entire pages directly in the search interface. Chatbots deliver responses without clicks and often without clear citations. A relationship that once felt mutual now leans heavily to one side. The effect varies by business model. Some organizations make money from content. Others make money because of content. Put simply, content is either the product or the promotion — a distinction rooted in Kotler’s 4Ps. For publishers, content is the product. For brands, content is the promotion. Zero-click search: From finding answers to receiving answers We’ve moved into the zero-click era — a transition from searching for answers on sites to getting them instantly on the results page. A zero-click search happens when a user types a prompt and gets what they need without…