AI Discovery Is Pushing Search Measurement Beyond Traffic and Rankings

Havas Media Network announced two senior ANZ appointments on September 30, naming Kunal Chakravarty as Head of New Business & Marketing, ANZ, and Agata Adamczak as Head of Organic & AI Performance within its Consumer Science & Analytics team.

The appointments are the news hook, but the larger move is the capability Havas is building around Adamczak. Its new Organic & AI Performance practice is intended to connect organic search and AI-powered discovery with data, content, PR, media and customer experience across the wider Havas Village.

Search Performance Is Moving Beyond The Click

Havas is explicitly separating AI visibility from a conventional SEO scorecard. The new practice combines content strategy, technical optimisation, data intelligence and AI-driven digital growth consulting, with the agency positioning AI visibility as a business-performance challenge rather than simply an extension of traditional search.

Adamczak put the measurement issue plainly: “Traffic and rankings will still matter, but they can no longer tell the whole story.” Havas says brands also need to know whether AI systems cite them, recommend them and represent them accurately, then connect that visibility to consideration, conversion and revenue.

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AI Discovery Pulls More Functions Into Search

That changes the ownership question for CMOs. A ranking can be managed inside a search team. AI representation is harder to isolate because the answer an AI platform produces can draw on brand-owned content, earned media, product information, customer experience signals and third-party sources.

Havas's cross-Village design reflects that broader input set. Search specialists can influence technical accessibility and content structure, but PR affects what external authority exists, media shapes demand, customer experience changes the evidence consumers create, and data teams are needed to connect visibility with commercial outcomes.

The commercial case for looking beyond clicks is becoming easier to see. Adobe Digital Insights reported in July 2026 that 42% of surveyed US consumers had used AI assistants for online shopping. AI-driven retail traffic was up 62% year on year, while AI-referred visitors converted at a 60% higher rate than non-AI traffic. The data is US-specific, so it should not be treated as proof of ANZ behaviour, but it shows why referral volume alone can miss the value of AI-assisted discovery.

Agencies Are Reorganising Around The Same Shift

Havas is not alone in reorganising search around AI-led discovery. Croud also moved to strengthen its organic search leadership this week, appointing Ed Turner as Director of Organic as it integrates search around how consumers discover, evaluate and validate brands across AI and other channels.

Croud's Consumer Index found that 74% of AI users turn to large language models before choosing a specific product, while 35% check four or more sources before buying. That suggests the competitive problem is not simply getting an AI mention. Brands need consistent evidence across the sources people and machines use to validate a recommendation.

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The CMO Problem Is Measurement And Ownership

For Havas, Chakravarty's expanded role remains useful secondary context. He will lead new business and marketing across Havas Media, Havas Play, CSA and Prose on Pixels in Australia and New Zealand, giving the network a broader commercial remit alongside the new specialist capability.

The harder client question sits with measurement. CMOs now need a view of citation frequency, recommendation share, brand representation accuracy and the sources shaping AI answers, alongside the existing traffic and ranking dashboard. More importantly, those measures need to connect to consideration, conversion and revenue rather than becoming another isolated visibility score.

The power shift is toward teams that can connect search, content, PR, media, customer experience and data around one discovery problem. Traditional SEO reporting does not disappear, but it becomes one layer in a wider measurement system. Havas's new practice is an early signal that the agency search brief is moving in that direction.