Bill Hunt is a true pioneer in the industry, with more than 25 years of experience working on the websites of some of the largest multinationals. Having built two large digital/search agencies, one of which was acquired by Ogilvy, Bill has now moved into consulting focused on repositioning search to leverage marketing for shareholder growth.
His approach is not myopic surface-level SEO, but as an enterprise specialist who looks at what users actually want from their online experience. He connects the dots between search visibility, user experience, and business value for real results.
Bill is currently writing a series for Search Engine Journal about connecting search visibility to business value, and I spoke to him for IMHO to find out why he thinks SEO is currently not working.
“SEOs are creatures of habit. To succeed now, we need to unlearn and relearn how discovery actually works.”
The Real Problems Aren’t What You Think
I started out by asking Bill why SEO isn’t working, and his key message was not that SEO is broken, but there is paralysis, distraction from AI hype, and a neglect of fundamentals:
“I think there are three key problems right now. One is paralysis. We see that clients put search on pause, especially organic search, because they just don’t know what to do.
The second is the distraction with all the hype around the AI thing.
I mean, there’s a different acronym every day. So, which do we do? Are we chasing answers? Are we doing LLM index files or whatever craziness comes out?
And then the third is that there’s such a distraction from all this that a lot of the fundamentals aren’t being covered. And I think that’s where the problem is.”
Bill emphasized that the impact varies significantly by business type. Information-based businesses have been significantly affected because AI now directly answers queries that previously drove traffic to their sites. However, many other businesses might not be negatively impacted if they understand what’s actually changed.
Three Fundamental Shifts To Pay Attention To
Bill went on to talk about how three core changes have reshaped search, and understanding them is crucial for adaptation:
- Intent understanding has evolved: Everything is about what did they search for? What are they hoping to see?
- Friction must be removed: Platforms reward the path of least resistance.
- Monetization is leading the way: It’s not just about helpful, but also about profitable.
Bill used an example from his work with Absolut Vodka.
“When I was working with Absolut Vodka, we had a drink site that was really just an awareness driver, and every month we sat down and we looked at Google’s search results and said, ‘If we were Google, what would we be changing around drinks or recipes or things like that?’
And so, by looking at the results, we could see, little by little, [that] somebody [was] looking for yellow cocktails. What should Google present?”
Rather than just optimizing for rankings, his team studied Google’s interface changes and adapted their visual content accordingly.
“We started focusing on the drink, bringing it front and center, amplifying the colors, the ingredients, and more and more people clicked.
We were generating millions and millions of visits because every step that Google was making to create a different user experience, we were trying to accommodate it.”
Bill believes that the idea of intent is still crucial. Considering how users just want to get to an answer, we must think about how they discover information and how we then present information to them.
“I think that’s really it in a nutshell. All of this change has paralyzed us and distracted us, and we need to recenter and refocus.
And that’s really a key part of what this series [at SEJ] is about: How do we refocus? How do we rethink this, both from a strategic point of view, from a shareholder value standpoint, and from a simple workflow standpoint?”
AI Tools Reward Consensus, Not Originality
In a recent LinkedIn post, Bill stated that AI tools don’t reward originality; they reward consensus.
As generative AI becomes embedded into how users explore and consume information, Bill warned against assuming that originality is enough to get discovered.
“AI systems synthesize consensus. If you’re saying something radically different, you won’t show up unless you connect it to what people already know.”
So, I asked Bill if you are creating this original content, how do you teach the systems to see you?
Bill’s advice is that to succeed in AI search environments, businesses need to:
- Link new ideas to familiar terms.
- Reflect user language and legacy concepts.
- Be explicit in bridging the gap between old and new methods.
Otherwise, you risk being invisible to LLMs and answer engines that rely on summarizing well-established viewpoints.
“If you’re stating that you’re radically different, you’re not going to be shown because you’re radically different. So, you have to connect, and this is what I put in that article. You need to connect back to the consensus idea.
If you’re saying you’ve got a new way to cut bread, you have to talk about the old way to cut bread and connect it to a more efficient or easier way to do it.”
Is Your Product Even Discoverable?
The most practical insight from our conversation surrounded how people can discover your brand or your product.
Historically, keyword research has been focused on connecting to searches that have existing search volume. But, if somebody doesn’t know a product exists to solve a problem, how would they search for it?
“I used to tell companies, if somebody doesn’t know a product exists to solve a problem, how would they search for it?
They would use the problem or symptoms of the problem. If they know a product exists but don’t know you exist, how would they search for it?”
Bill recommended that you run searches for problems related to your product and see if you show up. Search as if you know the solution exists, but not your brand.
And if you don’t surface, ask yourself why not?
“Take the symptoms people have, go into any tool you want, Google, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, and search and see if you come up.
If you don’t come up, the very next question you should ask is, ‘Why isn’t this product or this company in your result set?’ That’s probably the single most illuminating thing a senior executive can do…
When it tells you that you don’t have the answer, your very next step is, ‘How do we then create the answer, and then how do we get it into these?’”
This kind of query-path analysis is more revealing than traditional keyword research because it aligns with how people actually search, especially in AI environments that interpret broader queries.
Moving Forward: Back To Basics
Despite all the AI disruption, Bill recommends a return to fundamental principles. Companies need to ensure they’re indexable, crawlable, and seen as authorities in their space. The same core elements that have always mattered for search visibility.
“Who got cited? Who was number one? And Larry and Sergey said, ‘Well, if they’re cited most frequently as a source for a question, shouldn’t they be?’”
The key difference is that these fundamentals now operate in an AI-enhanced environment where understanding user intent and creating relevant, engaging content matter more than ever.
And if you want to find answers, ask the tools; they can tell you everything you need to know.
“I would tell everybody to go do that query and do the follow-up saying why aren’t we there? And you’d be surprised how efficient these tools are at telling you what you need to do to close that gap.”
Rather than panicking about AI destroying SEO, organizations should focus on understanding what’s actually changed and adapting their strategies accordingly.
The fundamentals remain solid; they just need to be applied in new ways.
You can watch the full interview with Bill Hunt below:
Don’t miss the new series that Bill is currently writing for SEJ about how you can connect the dots between search visibility, user experience, and business value that will not only help CMOs but also help search marketers get buy-in from CMOs.
Thank you to Bill Hunt for offering his insights and being my guest on IMHO.
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Featured Image: Shelley Walsh/Search Engine Journal