Voices of Search // A Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Content Marketing Podcast Biggest shock about how LLMs rank content
Feb 4, 2026
Will Critchlow, CEO of SearchPilot and enterprise SEO A/B testing pioneer, explains why LLMs have upended how content is ranked. He shares his surprise at how well LLMs perform. He discusses whether LLM answers will be opinionated or tailored for product research and why testing-first, data-driven approaches now matter.
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Prove SEO With Testing, Not Speculation
- Rely on testing and data to prove SEO value rather than guessing ranking factors in black-box AI systems.
- Use A/B testing and geo testing to measure real impact for executive buy-in.
LLMs Working Is The Biggest Surprise
- Will Critchlow is surprised that LLMs produce anything resembling intelligence given their messy foundations.
- He credits scale (massive data and compute) for making neural nets suddenly work.
AI Answers Will Mirror Search For Purchases
- Will predicts AI-driven answers will resemble search results more for product queries.
- He expects more links and pathways to expanded information rather than single decisive recommendations.