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 27 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 27:

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.

POV: Building a startup with your friends in London.

I met Lara Acosta on LinkedIn 3 years ago:

- Under 10,000 followers each
- Glorified freelancers grinding it out solo
- No team, no investment... we just had time

But a lot has changed since then:

- 500K+ combined followers
- Multiple 7-figure businesses
- DMs with people we want to talk with
- Inbound opportunities we have to turn down
- Speaking gigs, partnerships, collabs flowing in

All because of posting daily LinkedIn content.

This platform is undefeated for those who want to build a profitable online business in 2026 organically.

And yes, LinkedIn has changed massively since we started 3 years ago.

The algorithm's different. The audience's expectations are different. The competition's different.

But we just spent the last 3 months figuring out what actually works today.

The new playbook for 2026:

- How to get more reach and views
- How to grow your authority organically
- How to get inbound leads from content

All still just through content. And we're going live showing you exactly what we found...

So if you want to know what's actually working on LinkedIn right now, Lara and I are running a free webinar next week (22nd Jan).

It's called "Content to Clients" and we'll walk through the exact strategies we're using in 2026.

We're only letting 1,000 people in, so RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/eUMHYExB

Fortum

- Leading the Nordic CRO team working with both B2C and B2B.
- A/B testing to optimize E-Com purchase flows as well as product development.
- Researching and providing insights based on both quantitative and qualitative data.

CRO Specialist

Göta Energi AB

- Stakeholder in the companys digital marketing performance
- Analyzing ecommerce sales figures
- Presenting sales figures to senior management and developing future strategies/campaigns
- Maintaining and updating the websites ecommerce profile in conjunction with other statekholders
- Creating the enviroment in which ecommerce sprints are planned and maintained

Digital Sales Specialist

Be Better Online

- Data analysis (UA/GA4) and advising clients
- Analytics implementation and troubleshooting (GTM)
- Pixels (FB, Bing, LinkedIn)
- Report building (Looker Studio, Ninjacat)

Measurement Specialist

- SEM (Google Ads, Facebook/Instagram, LinkedIn)
- Tracking/Data Analysis (Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics)
- SEO (Auditing, keyword research, optimizing copy)

Digital Growth Specialist

Connected CMS Scandinavia AB

Projektledare Google Ads & SEO

Raket Webbyrå

-	Analyzing consumer patterns on customer websites via Google Analytics.
-	Keyword research, site-auditing and following social media trends via SEMrush.
-	Creating exciting marketing campaigns for clients through Google Ads.
-	Meeting clients, understanding their SEM/SEO needs and providing solutions.
-	Holding presentations, internally and externally with clients regarding digital marketing and SEO.

SEO/SEM Analyst Intern

Wallmander & Co

My tasks at Wallmander can be categorized into the following:
- Keyword research and position tracking, social media tracking and site auditing using SEMrush.
- Ad-building and performance analysis using Google Ads and Google Analytics.
- Other general SEO related tasks such as using the Yoast SEO plugin for Wordpress.

GlobalData Plc

Source researching, data-analysis, forecasting and report writing were my main tasks at MarketLine.

Research Analyst

I work within the scope of ecommerce performance, data analysis and conversion rate optimization. 

I have previously worked with digital marketing agencies for several years and have a diverse academic and professional background. I am passionate about data analysis and making decisions based on numbers rather than hunches.

taplio

The Battle

Jake Ward

Hamza Iqbal

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreJake Ward's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Jake Ward

Hamza Iqbal

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

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJake Ward's LinkedIn Performance