---
id: "action-audit-search"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ What Marketing Leaders Should Do Now"]
tags: ["risk-assessment", "analytics"]
related: ["claim-traffic-drop", "framework-marketing-response"]
action: "Audit share of traffic and conversions dependent on traditional search engines to assess AI disruption risk."
outcome: "Clear quantification of near-term risk exposure to the collapse of traditional web browsing."
sources: ["geo"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-geo"
originDay: 3
articleStem: "hbr-ext-13-ai-upending-marketing"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-is-upending-marketing-on-two-fronts"
sourceTitle: "AI Is Upending Marketing on Two Fronts"
---
# Audit Search Exposure

**Action:** Calculate the exact share of traffic and conversions that rely on traditional search engines and click-throughs. High dependence on information-seeking traffic indicates high near-term risk from conversational-AI disruption.

**Outcome:** Clear quantification of near-term risk exposure to the erosion of traditional web browsing.

This is **Step 1** of [[framework-marketing-response]], and its urgency is driven by [[claim-traffic-drop]] (with high-retail-activity users abandoning search fastest).