Wil Reynolds on the SEO trap: chasing loopholes instead of building a brand.

Seer Interactive founder Wil Reynolds sat down with Edward Sturm and said the quiet part loud: most SEOs are “loopholeists,” not marketers, and it's why so many get wrecked by algorithm changes.

The wrong game

Reynolds' critique is that the industry over-indexes on tools and technical tricks and under-indexes on humans, why people buy, what they actually search, whether real users recommend a brand. One stat he leans on: roughly half of AI searches now include a brand name. If nobody knows your brand, you're invisible in the place search is heading.

The right game

His prescription isn't a hack; it's reputation. Watch real people. Connect paid and organic data to see what actually converts. Build a brand people mention on their own. He even points to small levers like footer text, the AIs weight repeated site elements heavily when describing who you are. This is the game we play for clients: build a brand and a reputation the AIs and the humans both trust, not a stack of tricks. It's why our SEO and content work starts with who you are, not which loophole is open this month.

Loopholes close. Brands compound. That's marketing made with love.