Jake Ward

Started an SEO agency in 2019. Making $20M/yr for Contact.so clients. Also building: Mentions.so Byword.ai Kleo.so

I’m 28 with 4 businesses and no home.

Here’s how I got here:

Age 0-15:

Spent early life growing up in a hippie commune.

Raised by an incredible single mother who wore both hats. Gave everything to support me.

Overly shy and didn’t speak much.

Seen as a problem by a teacher who suggested there was something wrong with me.

Age 16:

First job stacking supermarket shelves.

Completed high school with bang-average grades.

Started sixth form college.

Age 17:

Quit sixth form college after 3 months due to illness.

Doctor said I was 24 hours away from dying.

Spent my 17th birthday in hospital, tubes everywhere.

Became an apprentice at a print marketing agency. Learnt my way around Adobe’s design suite.

Started doing bits of design work on the side.

Age 18-19:

Discovered search marketing to help get more clients for the print marketing agency.

Became obsessed with SEO. Spent my free time messing around with the websites I built.

Age 20:

Wanted to take marketing more seriously. Quit my job to start a marketing degree.

Quit after 2 weeks.

Started an apprenticeship at an SEO agency where I managed 25 clients and attended college part-time.

Quit after 9 months.

Realised traditional education sucks. I learnt 100x more (and quicker) through self-education.

Went all-in on learning and building whilst living at home with my mum and 2 young siblings.

£0 income.

Age 21:

Got my first 2 freelancing clients on Upwork. They referred me to other clients.

Built a 6-figure business by the end of the year.

Age 22-23:

Started a podcast side project and quickly reached 300,000 listeners per month. Sold it for 5 figures.

Bought and sold 5 websites.

Maxed out my freelancing capacity.

Age 24:

Founded Content Growth and built a team to help companies turn their blog into a 7-figure sales channel.

Started posting on LinkedIn.

Grew revenue by over 200% in 6 months.

Age 25:

Co-founded Byword and launched a platform to help marketers generate articles at scale for SEO.

Sold my belongings, moved out of London and started travelling the world.

Merged Content Growth with Contact Studios to take the SEO agency to the next level.

Helped my mum quit her 15-year corporate job.

Age 26:

Lived out of a suitcase and travelled around 16 countries.

Grown the userbase of my SaaS tools to over 130,000.

Helped multiple unicorn companies scale their SEO with our 25-person team at Contact.

Age 28:

Continuing to levelling up, exploring, following my curiosities, collaborating with great people, and helping family and friends along the way.

Founder

We help software companies get more qualified traffic, sales and revenue through conversion-focused SEO and content marketing. Turn your blog into a 6 figure sales channel.

"I don't know how to do SEO in 2026"

Start from level 1 in The New SEO Game:

SEO isn't just Google rankings anymore.

It's now "Search Everywhere Optimisation".

Reframe your “New SEO” project as a game, and you'll become addicted to levelling up.

Level 1: Traditional SEO

- Fix technical problems killing your rankings
- Research keywords and target quick wins
- Optimise on-page elements (titles, content)
- Earn quality backlinks through outreach and PR

Level 2: AI Search Optimisation

- Format content so AI can parse it easily
- Build pages that AI platforms want to cite
- Structure information for machine consumption
- Test how your brand appears in AI search results

Level 3: Paid Search Visibility

- Run Google Ads for high-intent keywords
- Target competitor terms with YouTube Search Ads
- Capture Bing traffic through Microsoft Ads
- Measure paid performance across every platform

Level 4: LLM Answer SEO

- Produce authoritative content LLMs trust
- Build a knowledge base for AI training data
- Position your brand as the definitive source
- Monitor brand mentions in LLMs with Mentions

Level 5: Brand Authority SEO

- Get unlinked brand mentions across the web
- Feature in industry roundups and expert lists
- Build brand recognition without traditional backlinks
- Track brand mention volume and sentiment

Level 6: Community SEO

- Provide value in relevant Reddit threads
- Share expertise on Quora in your space
- Engage in Slack communities and Discord servers
- Build reputation in industry forums and groups

Level 7: Parasite SEO

- Repurpose content on Medium and LinkedIn Pulse
- Publish beehiiv newsletters to rank in Google
- Guest post on high-authority platforms/websites
- Leverage existing domain authority for quick rankings

Level 8: Platform-Specific SEO

- Optimise for Amazon search if selling products
- Focus on YouTube SEO for video content
- Master TikTok's algorithm for short-form content
- Optimise App Store listings for apps/extensions

Level 9: Topic Domination

- Own conversations across ALL channels
- Create content ecosystems to reinforce each platform
- Become the go-to expert mentioned everywhere
- Monitor and maintain authority across all channels

Completed all levels?

SEO is constantly evolving in 2026.

Stay ahead or get left behind.

PS. Need help levelling up? We'll help build and execute your “New SEO” domination strategy.

Book a call: https://www.contact.so/

SaaS SEO in 2026: Join my (free) LIVE session on 4th March. Co-Founder and Head of Strategy & Innovation at Contact (and 3x SaaS companies).

I can’t stop thinking about this Tweet.

ChatGPT now handles over 2.5 billion queries per day and Google is eventually defaulting to "AI Mode."

This is the future of SEO.

6 tips you need to rank in AI platforms:

1. Win brand mentions

- Get your brand mentioned on high-authority websites
- Contribute to industry publications
- Be featured in news outlets
- Engage in forums and community discussions
- Encourage authentic UGC and word-of-mouth mentions

2. Build brand equity

- Monitor online reviews and brand sentiment
- Respond to feedback and address complaints
- Build a consistent, trustworthy public image
- Use tools like Mentions.so to track visibility, sentiment, and competitors

3. Be the source

- Publish authoritative, reference-style content
- Use neutral, factual, data-backed tone
- Avoid excessive personal takes or fluff
- Regularly update key content for accuracy
- Include credible citations and external data sources

4. Embrace passage-level SEO

- Structure content into short, focused paragraphs
- Use clear subheadings for logical segmentation
- Include concise, standalone answers
- Avoid burying insights in long text block
- Add structured data (e.g. schema markup)
- Make each paragraph extractable and cite-ready

5. Cover the conversation

- Use tools like Semrush for question research
- Monitor forums/socials for emerging questions
- Identify and answer sub-questions users ask
- Add relevant FAQs and support content
- Internally link related topic clusters

6. Optimise for crawlability

- Ensure AI crawlers are allowed in robots.txt
- Verify CDN settings aren't blocking crawlers
- Submit up-to-date XML sitemaps in GSC
- Optimise for fast page speed and clean HTML
- Review server logs for GPTBot, BingBot, etc. behaviour

But first, start with an audit:

- Your current visibility across all LLMs
- Prompt and content gaps vs your competitors
- Technical issues preventing AI from citing your site

Use a tool like Mentions.so to find this information.

Don’t regret not starting AI SEO sooner.

I literally live and breathe this SEO framework.

5 years ago, I watched a SaaS company burn through 6 months of content budget. 60 blog posts on topics like "what is email marketing" and "benefits of newsletters."

Their traffic skyrocketed, but their revenue flatlined.

Their entire content game was backwards.

So that's when I built my "SEO Content Pyramid" to flip it completely and start at the top.

Here's how it works:

1. Convert (Top of Pyramid)

High-intent content for people ready to buy.

A. Competitor Comparisons
↳ "beehiiv vs Kit"
↳ "Kit alternatives"

B. Product Reviews
↳ "beehiiv reviews" (brand)
↳ "Kit review" (competitor)

C. Buyer Guides
↳ "Best newsletter platforms in 2026"
↳ "Best newsletter tools for beginners"

D. Product Pages
↳ "Email newsletter software"
↳ "Newsletter platform pricing"

2. Discover (Middle of Pyramid)

Solution content for people exploring options.

A. Solve Pain Points
↳ "How to start a newsletter"
↳ "Newsletter best practises"

B. Case Studies
↳ "Email marketing case studies"
↳ "How [Brand] grew to 100k subscribers"

C. Data Studies
↳ "Open rate benchmarks 2026"
↳ "Email marketing statistics"

D. Templates and Tools
↳ "Newsletter templates"
↳ "Email subject line generator"

3. Awareness (Bottom of Pyramid)

Educational content for people learning and exploring.

A. Definitions
↳ "What is open rate"
↳ "Email deliverability explained"

B. Educational Guides
↳ "How to increase email open rate"
↳ "How to write engaging emails"

C. Industry Trends and News
↳ "Gmail manage subscriptions feature"
↳ "Email marketing trends 2026"

D. Ideas
↳ "Newsletter content ideas"
↳ "Email campaign ideas for holidays"

Start at the top with Convert content. Only move to Discover once you've covered every competitor comparison, product review, and buyer guide. Then tackle Awareness last.

This framework will 10x your SEO results.

A single "Competitor Alternatives" blog post made $1M+ in revenue for my SaaS client over 3 years.

They are ALWAYS the highest converting articles.

Alternative articles help users discover a better alternative (i.e. your product) to what they're currently using or considering buying.

For example:

You might target the following keywords if you're a team communication platform.

- Microsoft Teams Alternatives
- Discord Alternatives
- Slack Alternatives

= 16.5K/mo Google searches

These searchers are the most ready-to-buy AND they’re highly cited by LLMs once ranking in Google.

Here’s how to write your own:

PS. I’m hosting my very first SaaS SEO in 2026 LIVE session on March 4th. Register for free: https://lnkd.in/eherWr2a

Sergiu Bungărdean

I run a marketing business called Demand Hive and work as a marketing consultant.

At Demand Hive, we unf*ck your messaging in 3 weeks by helping you clearly explain what you do and rewriting your homepage so you can win more projects.

Through Hey Sergiu, I work directly with founders on consulting, advisory, and custom marketing projects. This includes quick input on specific problems, ongoing support, or hands-on help on clearly defined initiatives.

I’ve done this for 100+ founders across design agencies, IT companies, software houses, consultancies, solopreneurs, and more.

Founder & LinkedIn Personal Brand Manager

We help solopreneurs, founders, coaches, CEOs & executives build their personal brand on LinkedIn in order to increase visibility, generate inbound leads and improve credibility.

Last week I decided to test a bit of cold outreach.

I booked a call with a prospect in 22 minutes.

At the same time, I see founders struggling with sales for months.

The thing is, most people obsess over how to sell.

But sales was never about that.

Sales is about helping someone solve a problem and getting paid for it.

This applies everywhere: LinkedIn, content, emails, DMs, etc.

If you make me think you can help me, I’m already leaning in.

At that point, the sale becomes the result, not the activity.

If you want to level up your “sales game,” do less selling.

P.S. I’m working on something new and looking to partner with 2 founders on a revenue-share basis to help them book more sales calls and grow their service business. DM if you’re interested.

Helping B2B service founders book 1–5 sales calls per week

The email I've used to book a sales call in 22 minutes

Do you want a consistent lead flow?

Then do these two basic things:

1) Talk publicly about what you do.
2) Offer to help the people who show interest.

That’s the foundation of marketing and sales.

Most founders get this wrong because they rely too much on AI.

ChatGPT can help you think faster and create faster, but it struggles to connect these two into a real system.

Build the system first.

Then use AI to make it easier and faster to run.

Most people write on LinkedIn to get clients.

Nothing wrong with that, but for most, it doesn’t work.

– They get a few leads from time to time
– New revenue depends mostly on referrals

This is the most common “playbook” I see. And one of the main reasons is this:

They’re doing things like it’s still 2022.

Back then, the recipe was simple:

1) Be good at what you do and have results
2) Talk about what you know and help others

Basically, a mix of delivery + marketing. But we’re not in 2022 anymore.

ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI tools changed things.

The marketing that was enough back then is now the bare minimum. So it doesn’t work the way it used to.

If your entire strategy is posting and waiting for inbound leads, you might keep waiting.

The only way to gain control over how new clients come in is by talking to people, helping them, and getting paid for it.

Call it a strategy, a system, a process, it doesn’t really matter.

What matters is being able to book 1–5 sales calls per week, depending on the pace you want.

I’ve talked lately with a lot of founders who admitted that new revenue depends mostly on referrals or inconsistent inbound.

The problem isn't they get leads from referrals.

In fact, that's something extraordinary.

Because it means the delivery part of the business is good.

You deliver → clients are happy → word of mouth → new leads.

The problem is that you don’t control this process.

Basically your business growth and revenue depend 100% on someone else.

I don't like that.

If you want to book a sales call next week, you should know exactly how to make that happen.

When you do, you gain control over how new clients come in.

And then it’s just a matter of setting the pace you want.

There was a time when I was afraid of doing sales.

That's because I was looking at sales the wrong way:

– Being pushy
– Risking my reputation
– Looking desperate

That’s how I saw sales because that’s how I saw others doing it.

They were pushy and sometimes desperate.

But I realized I don't have to be like that.

And if I don’t, I actually stand out.

Today, I treat sales the same way a doctor treats a patient.

– I ask how they feel
– I diagnose the problem
– I recommend a solution

I don't feel I have to sell anymore.

I help people get better. That's it.

P.S. Think about content in 2026. Most of it is bad and written with AI, but that doesn’t mean we should stop creating. It just means bad content is bad. Good content will still be good. Same with sales.

My revenue used to depend on referrals.

Now, I have 100% control over it.

Do I want to book 1/3/5 sales calls next week?

Great. I know exactly how to do that.

This is how I stopped running in circles:

– I don’t doubt the content I write anymore.
– I don’t wonder if it’s the right thing to do.
– I don’t rely on luck or hope.

I let the conversations I have with people dictate:

– What I write about each week.
– What I should focus on.
– How I control the entire process.

Being able to book 1–5 sales calls per week is my “secret sauce.”

I am 100% confident my business will grow week by week.

I either sign clients or increase my revenue.

Or I know exactly what my next move should be.

Instead of wasting time, I progress week by week.

Highly recommend building the same kind of control.

The foundation of sales is understanding what people truly want, why they're stuck, and showing them a path forward. Everything else is bullsh*t.

I’ve been selling B2B services since 2010.

One mistake kept me stuck for years:

Thinking I had to convince people to buy.

Bullsh*t.

Sales is about helping people get better.

You can’t do that if you focus on yourself.

Focus on them.
Understand their goals.
Understand why they’re stuck.

When they feel understood, your solution feels obvious.

That’s when they buy and stay happy.

taplio

The Battle

Jake Ward

Sergiu Bungărdean

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreJake Ward's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSergiu Bungărdean's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Jake Ward

Sergiu Bungărdean

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jake Ward's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSergiu Bungărdean's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJake Ward's LinkedIn Performance