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

I’m the dream SEO content-writing guy for your website’s blog or business/brand. I write reader-centric + rank-worthy SEO articles & blogs. | SEO Content Writer | Website copywriter. 💱

If you don’t have a website for your business or hate organic growth…DON’T read this about section, there’s nothing for you. 

And if you have one, you’re my kind of people, and I love you.

So…you own a business/website, and after trying so many paid stuff, you finally realize that you need sustainable organic growth.

You have two options; 
1. Hire an SEO specialist from Fiverr for keyword research & strategy, and then hire someone from Upwork to write the content, and then find someone who can upload and manage all the website headaches. 

2. You hire Saiqic. And meet a Saiqo who knows all of this shit on a bigger-picture level. Got an SEO specialist and a website developer/manager in one place. You communicate everything to one person (that’s me; Saiqo). It’s smooth. You will get SEO (on-page, off-page, technical) + content strategy + writing + website management in one place. 

The problem with option #1? You waste a lot of time (you’ll be talking to 4 different people)  and money (yes, paying individuals is costly). And it really takes longer to get the results.

The problem with the 2nd one? I can’t think of any ATM. Can you? 
Worst thing that can happen is you won’t get the results we promise you in the first 2-3 months. And that’s when Saiqoz (Me & my little team) work for free UNTIL you get the promised results. 

And I don’t promise something I can’t deliver. 

So…
Win-win. 

Now, if you have any questions about the Saiqic process (or why the name’s Saiqic) or even why your website impressions/traffic is down since last month…talk to me. I love talking about this stuff.

Shafiq Saiq(o)

I refused to go for a 9-5 ‘stable’ job & chose freelancing in 2021. 
I now work almost every waking hr haha. 


Do I regret it? Sometimes. 

Will I go for a stable 9-5 if I get a chance? No.
Even when I think about it, it gives me a shudder. An ick.  

This freelance/writing/content is my identity. 
Mere gaon waly mujhe ‘laptop wala lrka’ kehty. 
And Saiqic is my dream. Im working on it. 

And these days, sch btaun tw mein kangla hun clients k mamly m. 

There’s so much new stuff I’m learning while building Saiqic. 
& TBH, money for now is not my worry. 

Jaib m dhela nai lkn mn kam k nashy mein hu, haha. 

Sometimes, I feel so uncertain about everything going on in our SEO content industry. AI, AGI, ASI…who knows, in 2030, there’d be ASI (artificial super intelligence) and no one would need websites, content SEO…tw kia hoga hmri Saiqic ka?

But my gut feelings…got good vibes about it. 
Khwab dekhne wali ankhen veeran nai rehti hyn. 

Bss itna e kehna tha..ptaa nai q. 

Remember me in your prayers. 
+ If you have any question rltd to SEO/content, feel free to drop me a DM.

#mrsaiqo
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you've tried GPTs; now try Saiqic

Saiqo running Saiqic. I grow businesses with SEO/AISEO + content & get results across Google & LLMs in 60-90 days using my Saiqic method. If not, I keep working for FREE until it does.

Don't invest in SEO if you're a service-based startup and 
- You don't know who you sell to yet
- You're still validating the offer
- Your sales process isn't proven
- You need revenue in <90 days
- Your website is just a placeholder

But if you've got the money & the patience
And know that your service is valuable…   

START NOW. 

(& hire saiqic, we'll help you figure out your TA, USP, etc). 

#mrsaiqo
---
You've tried GPTs; now try Saiqic.

What to publish on your blog if you want leads...?
(after writing more than 1000 blogs for 15+ industries, I can tell you a thing or twooo...)

DON’Ts
Don’t focus much on informational posts
Don’t randomly select topics 
Don’t guess your ideal prospects' pain points
Don’t rely on AI bots much

DO’s 
Cover commercial/transactional KWs (BOFu)
Focus on high-intent instead of high volume
Create helpful, valuable content 
Write clear CTAs

Internal link to dedicated service pages
Showcase your authority in the niche
Dissect the blog content into short-form content (txt posts + video shorts) 

Simple is that. 
@mrsaiqo
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You've tried GPTs; now try Saiqic

Some days, when I sit with myself, I miss the good old days of content writing. 

When I needed to stare at the blank screen bcz a sentence is cooking in my head & I need time to birth it. 

When I needed to search for synonyms so that I could bring ‘versatility’ to my tone. 

When I used to get worried about grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choice…

When my clients used to send me rough, very scattered outlines, but those outlines would have my client’s objective somewhere. In their own voice. The adrenal rush of researching stuff...cracking the search intent...building a reader persona...strategizing the best content structure & format...this all used to be the part of art. Word by word.  Line by line. Para by para. & sometimes the finished draft would take 3 days... 

And like this…this flux of thought would go on & on…

Those were the days when if I’d be done writing something…it used to feel like a ‘creation.’ 
 
The days when, after the whole day of typing, and I don’t know touch typing, I used to feel a bit of pain in my fingers. A sweet pain of writing words.

And when I miss those days…
I sit with myself and write the old way. 
Writing still feels good. It still is an art. 
And I’m not going to trade it off with anything. 

#mrsaiqo
----
You've tried GPTs; now try Saiqic

Traditional SEO has died. And they say, apparently, no one reads your website these days. 

So, should you abandon SEO content/site? 
And invest that money/time somewhere else?

These are my own thoughts when working on Saiqic. 

Growing businesses via SEO content/websites is my bread & butter. 
& That’s the ‘manjan’ I sell, haha. 

But I can’t be biased and say; 
‘Hey, nothing has changed/died, you just pay me.’

Bcz the truth is, the industry is changing/evolving. 
& it’s fast, brutal, uncertain & full of hype. 

So, if you think you DO have a better alternative than investing time/money in your SEO(or GEO whatever u call)/content/site, then go ahead. Tell me, too. Cuz I can’t see any viable alternative for now for long-term organic growth. 

So I’m putting my time + resources into building Saiqic that way. 
Trying to implement all & any new things I learn. 

& if this year I fail to build Saiqic (& grow my business)...
I’ll probably leave this industry & grow vegetables & build a dairy farm haha. 

#mrsaiqo
----
You've tried GPTs; now try Saiqic

Your SEO content failed after some growth. 
Here's what you can do NOW to recover. 

1. Stop chasing high SV KW & build a compact strategy 
2. Find content gaps in your niche & fill them with value 

3. Define your end-goals with content 
4. Recheck your site for technical issues

5. If you're overusing AI for content, stop it. 
6. Study your existing data like a manic 

Most of the time, SEO content fails cuz the strategy was not sane enough. 
Get it right & you’ll be good to go. 

#mrsaiqo
---
You've tried GPTs; now try Saiqic

BOFu content on your blog is the FASTEST way to generate leads

(We’re implementing this on Saiqic, too)

Even if your site is brand new & you’re done with the homepage + service pages, and now you're thinking about what to publish on your blog to get leads. Go for BOFu content. 

I love to cover these 5 categories in BOFu.
1. problem -solution content 
2. Service intent blogs 
3. Comparison & alternatives
4. Case studies + proof content  
4. Pricing, ROI, etc. 

This is what I call a prospect-first content strategy. 
And I’ve tried it so many times & it worked wonders every single time. 

But there’s much to think & consider when you’re devising a prospect-first content strategy. 

& I’ve covered every damn thing in this 2k+ words blog post
https://lnkd.in/dys5h6gU

Give it a read if you want to. 
& share it if you like. 

#mrsaiqo
---
You've tried GPTs; now try Saiqic

I hate to admit this…but when a client asks how much traffic/leads they’ll get in a certain time span…
I usually don’t have any answer. 

I can’t promise traffic/leads. 
Not bcz I don’t know my thing. 
But bcz there’s no exact parameter to measure both. 

So what do I usually answer when a client asks this question?

I become transparent & admit there are no pet-guaranteed numbers… but based on the goals & industry, & how I’m going to approach the content strategy, here are the ‘expected results’. We’ll get this much around this time period.

But no fixed ranking positionpromise. No exact number of leads.
We're sure move the needle within 90 days.
Improvements start coming in the first month. 
But can’t predict how much. 

Because that's how it works. 
You gotta trust. 
#mrsaiqo
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You've tried GPTs; now try Saiqic

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The Battle

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