AI-generated content is infinite these days — but it's not how you stand out and build trust with customers. According to Wil, the long-term brand winners will be the ones shared by word of mouth (and word of social media).
Wil showed the audience how he builds presentations with AI by uploading 12 years of LinkedIn posts, podcast transcripts, old slide decks, and more. In other words, he uses AI to synthesize his human experiences and perspective — not to produce all of the ideas and insights for him.
Wil acknowledged the practice of brands who use mass AI-generated content at scale and its long-term impact. There seems to be a consensus among marketers that this type of strategy isn't good marketing, and yet it reaps short-term rewards. He argues that while AI slop might win quarters, it erodes trust with customers.
According to Wil, most marketing teams have no metric to track trust gained or lost. He argues that customers won't buy from brands they don't like or trust. While tactics that improve AI visibility can game the system, they erode brand credibility. He gave the example of one negative review of Seer that showed up in 38% of AI-generated brand answers because AI didn't understand it was an outlier.
Wil highlights how Seer has shifted to tracking trust signals that can compound over time. These include metrics like direct traffic and referral traffic from trusted publications/sites, measuring branded search terms, tracking competitors mentioned alongside Seer in AI responses, and monitoring mentions in Reddit conversations.
Wil has spoken at SMX Munich (Search Marketing Expo) in 2024, 2025, and 2026. He sees value in attending Europe's largest search marketing conference for professionals because the event gives marketers the opportunity to learn from each other and keep up with shifts in the industry. Events like SMX Munich help Wil to continue building relationships and growing his reputation as a trusted expert in search and digital marketing.