Amy Banks named head of SEO and GEO at Havas Media Network

LONDON: Search is being rewritten, and Amy Banks has just been handed the pen. After seven years climbing the ranks at Havas Media Network, Banks has been promoted to head of SEO and GEO, taking charge at precisely the moment generative engine optimisation is muscling its way onto every brand’s agenda.

Banks joined Havas in 2019 as an SEO performance content manager and has steadily worked her way up, most recently serving as director of SEO, where she led a team blending technical and content expertise to drive traffic, conversions and visibility across a wide client roster. Her new remit puts her at the centre of one of the industry’s most consequential shifts: the convergence of classic search optimisation with the emerging discipline of building visibility across AI powered platforms.

Before Havas, Banks cut her teeth at Wunderman, Altair Media London and MediaCom, working across SEO planning, content strategy and client management for names including GSK, Dassault Systèmes, Purina, Tempur and Petplan. Earlier still, she spent a year on the NHS front line as a mental health worker in London, an experience worlds apart from search algorithms but one that speaks to the range she now brings to the boardroom.

“It’s a pivotal moment for search,” Banks said of the appointment. She pointed to Havas’ bench of specialists across every brand visibility channel as the reason the agency is well placed to fuse SEO and GEO into single, growth focused strategies for clients.

Seven years, five roles and one clear trajectory upward, Banks’ rise is a reminder that staying loyal to one agency need not mean standing still. With search entering its most transformative phase yet, Havas has put its future in safe and proven hands.