How should brands navigate AI search? With Havas Media Network's Paul Bland

We’ve entered a new era of search.

Google’s dominance is being challenged: social platforms like TikTok and Reddit were already upending traditional means of information and product discovery, and the rise of large-language models for search has created an entirely new and nascent market.

Google itself is leaning into the new era with its Gemini model and AI Mode search experience, which launched in the UK last month. But there’s also OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Perplexity’s Sonar and many others.

Due to the nature of these models giving conversational, descriptive responses to queries, users are clicking on a lot fewer links. Google denies this – without providing hard evidence to the contrary – but publishers and brands alike have reported sharp declines in referral traffic.

How will they navigate the future of the web?

Paul Bland is the chief digital officer at Havas Media Network UK. The media agency last week launched a new tool aimed at helping brands get more visibility over how and when they show up in AI search, and ideally then optimising that behaviour.

Bland discusses how AI search will make upper-funnel brand strategies more important and why publishers would be wise to lean in to the new era of search even if it puts them at a disadvantage.

Highlights:

2:08: How the search market has changed in the AI era

5:38: Havas's new Brand Insights AI tool: how brands will work to optimise their visibility on LLMs

12:10: Implications for declining click-through rates

18:38: Generative engine optimisation: how marketing strategies must adapt

26:40: Publishers at risk

Related articles:

AI search presents ‘existential’ challenge to publishers

Havas Media Network launches ‘generative engine optimisation’ tool

Opinion: AI isn’t killing search — it’s evolving it

The future of branding: Influence LLMs to protect your share of market

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