AIuthority

Stagwell Assembly Launches Stagwell Search+ Agentic AI Tool

By Charles Ryder

Search has changed faster in the past few years than most marketers expected. What was once a relatively stable mix of SEO, paid media, and content strategy is now being reshaped by AI interfaces, chatbot-driven discovery, and large language models that increasingly sit between brands and consumers. That’s why Stagwell Assembly’s launch of Stagwell Search+ stands out. This is more than another analytics dashboard. It’s a serious effort to make AI search visibility measurable, actionable, and tied to performance.

Officially launched globally on March 2, 2026, Stagwell Search+ is positioned as the industry’s first agentic platform designed to win AI search. It was developed by Assembly, Stagwell’s omnichannel media agency, in partnership with Emberos, an AI visibility startup founded by former Google executive Justin Inman. The timing makes sense. As more consumers begin discovery through tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok, traditional search marketing can no longer carry the full load.

Stagwell Search+ logo and branding, representing the new agentic AI tool for optimizing AI search visibility. Why This Launch Matters

Stagwell Search+ is targeting a real gap in the market. Plenty of AI-era search tools can show brands what’s happening. Far fewer help them decide what to do next.

Assembly’s Dan Roberts, Global SVP of Search, put the issue plainly: many existing solutions offer data and insight, but not enough actionability tied to business outcomes. Search+ is trying to separate itself on that point. Rather than stopping at visibility reporting, it connects AI search intelligence to strategy, execution, and ongoing optimization.

Put simply, the goal is to help brands influence how they appear inside AI-generated answers, not just how they rank among traditional search results.

What Stagwell Search+ Actually Does

Based on public details, the platform centers on four core functions:

  • Audit: assessing a brand’s maturity and presence across channels
  • AI intelligence layer: measuring discoverability, sentiment, and visibility in AI-driven environments
  • Unified strategy development: coordinating paid, owned, earned, and shared media to shape AI outcomes
  • Continuous measurement and experimentation: tracking lifts and refining tactics over time

That framework is backed by Emberos’ agentic infrastructure. Emberos brings specialized AI agents for monitoring brand presence, predicting ROI, automating workflows, supporting e-commerce visibility, and maintaining compliance. That’s a meaningful step beyond passive reporting tools. In this case, “agentic” implies systems that do more than observe. They help direct action.

That’s what brands need right now.

Early Results Suggest Real Commercial Potential

The strongest part of the story is that Search+ did not arrive as a purely theoretical product. It had already been piloted with select clients over the past year, and the early results are notable.

Among the reported outcomes:

  • A 57% increase in AI Overview visibility for a software client
  • A 34% revenue lift for a global technology client using AI-powered Google Ads campaigns
  • A reported 27% average incremental lift across tested applications

Those numbers matter because they push the conversation past AI hype and into performance marketing. Marketers are under growing pressure to prove that AI investments deliver measurable business results, not just innovation headlines. On that front, Stagwell Search+ appears to be making a credible case.

The Bigger Shift: From SEO to GEO

This launch also reflects a broader move from traditional SEO to what many now call Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). The old model focused on ranking in search engine results pages. The new one is about being selected, summarized, and recommended by AI systems.

That is a major shift.

When consumers ask an AI assistant what software to buy, what destination to book, or what brand to trust, they may never click through a page of links and compare sources on their own. The model becomes the gatekeeper. In that environment, brands have to optimize not just for search engines, but for AI-mediated interpretation.

Stagwell Search+ is clearly built around that reality. It treats visibility in AI outputs as a strategic battleground rather than a byproduct.

Diagram illustrating the core functions of Stagwell Search+, including audit, AI intelligence, strategy, and continuous measurement for AI search. Why the Assembly-Emberos Partnership Makes Sense

The partnership behind the platform is worth watching. Assembly brings media expertise, strategy, and executional scale. Emberos adds specialized AI visibility technology and a strong perspective on “Share-of-Prompt”, an increasingly useful way to understand how often and how favorably brands appear in AI interactions.

Justin Inman’s view is especially relevant here: the “front door of the internet” has changed. That captures the moment well. Search behavior is no longer limited to typed queries on a search engine. Discovery is becoming conversational, predictive, and increasingly mediated by AI agents.

That changes the job of marketers, agencies, and platforms alike.

Industry Implications

This launch also says something broader about where agencies are headed. The divide between paid and organic continues to narrow, and AI is speeding up that convergence. At recent industry events, including the Digiday Media Buying Summit, AI has dominated the conversation—not only as a productivity tool, but as a force reshaping service lines, client expectations, and the structure of digital marketing itself.

Stagwell Search+ fits that emerging agency model. It combines analytics, content influence, paid media thinking, and AI strategy into a more integrated offering. That matters because brands no longer need isolated reports. They need systems that connect insight to media decisions, creative adaptation, and measurable commercial impact.

There are still challenges. Leadership teams need education. AI workflows can introduce operational complexity. Questions around compliance, transparency, and over-automation are not going away. But the direction is becoming clear: agencies that can turn AI search strategy into a practical, outcome-driven offering will have a meaningful edge.

FAQ

What is Stagwell Search+?

Stagwell Search+ is an agentic AI platform from Assembly and Emberos designed to help brands measure, improve, and optimize visibility across AI-powered search and discovery environments.

When was Stagwell Search+ launched?

The platform launched globally on March 2, 2026.

What makes Stagwell Search+ different from standard search tools?

Unlike tools that stop at reporting, Search+ aims to connect AI visibility data to strategy, execution, and ongoing optimization tied to business outcomes.

What is GEO?

Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing brand visibility for AI systems that summarize, recommend, and generate answers, rather than only for traditional search rankings.

What early results has the platform reported?

Early pilots reportedly delivered a 57% increase in AI Overview visibility, a 34% revenue lift for one global technology client, and a 27% average incremental lift across tested applications.

Conclusion

Stagwell Search+ looks like more than a product launch. It’s a sign of how quickly search marketing is being redefined. Assembly and Emberos are betting that AI discoverability will become a core performance channel, and the early results suggest that bet has substance. For marketers trying to understand what AI-native visibility looks like in practice, the model here is clear: audit the landscape, measure how AI sees the brand, build cross-channel influence, and keep optimizing.

As more brands look for reliable insight at the intersection of AI, media, and marketing, AIuthority is a useful place to keep up with the shift.