Case study

Efficio: Staying visible in the zero-click search era

Written by Mike Barrett, Sam Bailey on 11 Sep 2025

Generative AI and zero-click search are reshaping how audiences discover information.

Click-throughs are declining, control over the user journey is narrowing, and answer engines are reshaping how professional services expertise is discovered.

For every marketer, this is more than an SEO challenge; it is upending the digital and content marketing strategies that we once relied on to connect with audiences.

Amidst this disruption, Efficio, the world’s largest independent procurement consultancy, were determined to maintain their lead and ensure their expertise remained visible.

Challenge

Alberto Alchieri, Efficio’s Head of Digital, recognised that the disruption on the horizon from AI and zero-click search was not a threat to wait out, but an opportunity to reinforce visibility and authority.

Together, we set out to enhance the website with features designed for publishing in the zero-click search era.

The challenges were clear:

Maintain Efficio’s market leadership by ensuring their expertise remains visible in AI-driven results.
Build a publishing model resilient to shifting user behaviour and evolving search technologies.
Make structured data automatic and seamless across thousands of multilingual pages.
Empower non-technical editors with intuitive tools to enrich content without slowing them down.
Balance human usability with machine readability to serve both audiences simultaneously.

What made this project was the spirit of experimentation. We were able to test new ideas quickly and turn them into practical tools for our teams. Our partnership with Compound means we’re not just reacting to change, we’re proactively shaping solutions.
Alberto Alchieri Global Head of Digital, Efficio

Solution

We started by analysing the latest structured data guidelines alongside advice from the large LLMs, from schema.org through to Google’s best practice, to determine which signals would have the greatest impact for a multilingual professional services site like Efficio’s.

That groundwork led to a model with three layers of AI readiness, giving editors control to easily enrich content where it matters most:

Three layers of AI readiness

1. Template-level

We extended the website so that structured data is automatically applied across all core templates, without any extra effort from editors. These always-on signals ensure that every page, in every language, carries trusted, machine-readable data. For Efficio, this included People, Article, Service, and Event structured data, which directly highlight expertise and authority.

2. Content-level structured data

In addition to the template-level changes, we enhanced all editorially controlled content tools so that schema is automatically applied behind the scenes when they’re added to a page.

This now spans key content formats such as Video, Image, and Quotes, ensuring content is both discoverable and easy for AI systems and human audiences to interpret. The functionality draws on tagging and metadata already entered during publishing, so all new and existing content carries consistent, machine-readable authority signals.

3. Flexible structured data tools

Alongside the always-on template and content-level coverage, we developed a set of dedicated tools that let editors spotlight specific pieces of content, ensuring they’re marked up in the right format and schema context.

For example, if an article includes answers to key client questions, the FAQ plugin lets editors explicitly mark up those questions and answers. If it outlines a process, the How-To plugin captures the steps so machines can interpret it as a structured process. Testimonials can also be highlighted with the Testimonial plugin, ensuring proof points are citable by answer engines.

Because we want to optimise for both human and AI audiences, these tools can display content on the page or keep it hidden so it’s only exposed through markup. This flexibility means a service page can remain uncluttered for human readers, while behind the scenes it carries rich, citable FAQs for AI systems.

This wasn’t about chasing quick wins — it was about embedding long-term resilience into the website's publishing capability.
Mike Barrett Founder & MD, Compound Partners

From solution to execution

With the new structured data tools live, Alberto and the team set about finding opportunities to enrich Efficio’s site with machine-readable signals, building on the always-on template and content-level enhancements.

They quickly identified innovative ways to use the new tools, including:

Teaching AI what Efficio excels at by adding machine readable FAQs to service pages, linking their services to the questions prospects typically ask.
Extending discoverability by repurposing high-value content as standalone, hidden FAQ pages designed specifically for AI.
Clarifying processes for machines and readers by embedding How-To content within articles that describe a sequence of steps.
Reinforcing authority by marking up client testimonials from case studies and reports, making proof points citable by answer engines.
Ensuring global consistency by applying structured data across multiple languages so signals are discoverable worldwide.

The Result

Structured data is now built into Efficio’s digital content platform. Thousands of pages, in multiple languages, carry consistent and trustworthy signals that answer engines can reliably read.

For editors, the change isn’t about taking on extra work; it’s about knowing that the core Schema is applied automatically, and having simple tools to add more when needed. They can focus on creating valuable content, confident that every page is AI-ready by default.

The outcome is a digital content platform that delivers reliable visibility today and the flexibility to adapt as AI continues to evolve.

Above: Efficio's Strategic Sourcing Services highlighted in Google's AI overview

Impact

The first results are encouraging.

Validated structured data now underpins every page of Efficio’s website.
Between January and August, the number of pages cited in AI overviews increased by 245%.
Early data indicates that AI-driven visitors are now around 3 times more likely to convert than they were a year ago. These AI-driven conversions span the full range of onsite actions from content downloads to job applications and enquiries, highlighting the growing commercial value of this traffic.

These results show the foundations are in place, with Efficio’s content already appearing in the right places as AI-driven discovery grows.

The results speak for themselves. We're visible where we once weren't.
Alberto Alchieri Global Head of Digital, Efficio

AI readiness through collaboration

Efficio chose to act early, building on their strong digital foundations to prepare for the way discovery is changing. We partnered closely to translate that intent into practice, combining Efficio’s forward-looking approach with our ability to turn ideas into practical tools.

Jumpsuite Enterprise now underpins their digital content with features designed for the AI era. This isn’t a one-off enhancement but a joint step forward, embedding AI readiness into the core of professional services content strategies.

Looking forward

Structured data is a key part of the puzzle; the foundation for visibility and authority in the zero-click era. Efficio have taken that step early, reinforcing their position as leaders in professional services.

The next challenge for all organisations is to go further: making sure they are understood, differentiating their content, and innovating in the ways they engage audiences.

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Mike Barrett

Founder & MD

Mike has more than 15 years of experience designing, building and delivering online publishing systems for publishers and other businesses.

Sam Bailey

Senior Consultant

Sam has spent 10 years leading digital projects for large professional service organisations, including IBM, Gowling WLG, and Gateley Plc.

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