Jake Ward

Rank #1 in ChatGPT and AI Search: My next LIVE SEO session on 8th April. Co-Founder at Contact (and 3x SaaS companies).

I've spent 10 years in SEO and 8 years working with SaaS companies, from high-growth startups like beehiiv to billion-dollar platforms like Kajabi. Launched multiple SEO products like Byword.ai (2 weeks before ChatGPT) to scale SEO programmatically, and Mentions.so to win AI visibility. Ran high-profile experiments like the world's largest AI SEO case study, SEO speedruns, and the infamous SEO heist.

I'm leading product and SEO innovation at Contact.so across 25+ active clients and a 20-person SEO and content team. And building and growing Kleo.so to help entrepreneurs scale their personal brand and turn LinkedIn into a lead generation machine (like I have).

Most of my work today focuses on one question:

"How can SaaS companies win marketing (and SEO) in this AI era?"

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/

SEO has been dying since 1997.

Some notable "deaths" include:

- Web 3.0
- Google Ads
- Social media
- TikTok search
- Voice assistants
- Featured snippets
- Zero-click searches
- Every Google update
- AI Overviews in Google
- GEO/AEO as the new SEO
- ChatGPT replacing Google

And now... AI agents?

Here’s the reality:

- SEO will always evolve
- People will always use search
- Search habits take time to change
- Google handles 14B+ daily searches
- Sends 190x more traffic than ChatGPT
- SEO is a $100B+ industry (growing ~12% YoY)

Even the newest "SEO killer" (GEO/AEO) is literally built on SEO fundamentals.

Richard Hoy said this in 1997:

"I’m beginning to believe that search engines are a dead-end technology and fretting over where your site comes up is a big waste of time."

Don’t be him in 2026.

SEO is very much alive.

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.

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).

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 built 13,000+ pages with AI in 3 hours and grew my SEO traffic by +466% 60 days later.

- No template spam
- No city-name swaps
- No thin AI content

Instead, I built a system where content isn’t written page by page...

It’s built like software.

13,000+ useful pages generated in under 3 hours.

Weekly organic clicks went from 971 to 5,500 (~50% of pages aren't even indexed yet).

And the curve is still going up.

Read my LinkedIn article below:

60 days ago, the pages driving most of our SEO traffic didn't exist. Today: 13,000+ programmatic pages live Weekly organic clicks went from 971 to 5,5

Open article: Programmatic SEO in 2026: How I built 13,000+ pages in 3 hours and grew SEO traffic +466% in 60 days by Jake Ward • 9 min read

Programmatic SEO in 2026: How I built 13,000+ pages in 3 hours and grew SEO traffic +466% in 60 days

I just built SEO strategies for beehiiv and Kleo.

A ~$300M newsletter platform and my own 7-figure SaaS we launched 43 days ago.

(Sadly I didn't make this pic with Tyler Denk)

Completely different products, audiences, and business stages. But I'm using the same playbook.

SaaS SEO in 2026 isn't what it was 2-3 years ago.

The old playbook:

- Target high volume keywords
- Build comparison pages
- Rank in Google and get clicks

But in 2026:

1. Search is as fragmented as ever across Google, LLMs, socials, and other platforms.

2. Even if you rank, SERPs are busy with AI Overviews and ads making position 1 less valuable.

3. Zero-click searches mean AI is answering queries before any clicks to your website.

4. AI has commoditised average content and the quality bar is much higher.

I'm breaking down how I built the strategies for beehiiv and Kleo in a live session tomorrow at 12PM EST.

You'll see:

- What 20% of SEO to focus on in 2026
- How to rank across Google AND AI platforms
- The exact playbook for turning SEO into revenue

Register for free: https://lnkd.in/eherWr2a

PS. The next 20 SaaS companies that register and comment below get a free AI visibility report from my team (normally only for our clients like beehiiv).

I've been doing SEO for 10 years and AI search is making me rethink everything I know, here are 10 changes I’m seeing:

PS. Join my (free) SaaS SEO in 2026 live session on Wednesday, March 4th @ 12pm EST.

Add it to your calendar: https://lnkd.in/eherWr2a

SEO vs AI SEO/AEO/GEO...

I’m an entrepreneur, business growth coach, and executive leader with experience founding and scaling three businesses, (Successful exit of one to date), including serving as Chief Clinical Officer and Head of Marketing for a private equity–backed, multi-state healthcare platform operating across seven states.

I’ve been a key member of M&A integration and de novo launch teams, contributing to multi-brand growth initiatives that align clinical, marketing, and operational strategies for scalable success. My expertise spans direct-to-consumer (D2C), B2B, and talent acquisition marketing, helping organizations enhance visibility, attract exceptional talent, and achieve measurable growth through digital and AI-driven strategy.

As a business growth coach, I work with healthcare, medical device, education, and service-based companies to create scalable systems, strengthen leadership, and expand market presence. My approach blends strategic innovation with operational execution, ensuring that every initiative drives both brand and business performance.

I’m also passionate about education and leadership development. I (and my exceptional team), built a national educational platform for clinicians and now mentor others in developing and launching their own courses—helping professionals grow their impact and income through education-based business models.

Whether supporting emerging leaders, scaling organizations, or coaching founders, my focus is on delivering growth that’s both measurable and meaningful.

I believe if you Grow Your People---They Will Grow Your Business!

Jennifer Allen

Leadership doesn’t have to be flashy. It’s not about the big moments, the loud cheering, or the hype speeches.

Powerful leadership lives in the quiet moments… when people feel seen and heard.

It’s in these moments that real change happens — when careers are set on positive trajectories, when confidence grows, when lives are changed for the better.

Leaders, your voice matters.What you say matters.Who you encourage and coach matters — even if it’s not on a stage for the world to see.

Keep inspiring people, one conversation at a time.

Chief Clinical Officer & Head of Marketing | Business Growth, Online Visibility & Talent Attraction | Leadership Development & Clinical Education

Thanks Fabrice Rockich, DPT, OCS, CSCS, FAFS for all you do for Therapy Partners Group 

Mentoring new grads is one of your superpowers!

PT & PTA schools - if you need some clinicians to help prepare your grads for interviews in the real world - DM me!

Fabrice Rockich, DPT, OCS, CSCS, FAFS  spent the day with the PTA graduates at Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts doing mock interviews to prepare the new grads for interviews in the real 🌎.

Good luck to all these new graduates headed out to find their first jobs!

#tpg #pta #ptajobs

Thank you Larry Lawson  PT, DPT, CSCS for speaking with the clinicians in our New Grad Success Program! Burnout is real and knowing how to keep ourselves balanced -- as a whole is important. Taking care of ourselves as clinicians is important... so we can be there for everyone that needs us.

PTs - are you interested in our New Grad Success Program? Check out this program and others here: https://lnkd.in/gjEwr6Gu

Becoming a Clinician is incredibly rewarding.

It’s also harder — emotionally and mentally — than most new grads expect.

Sometimes burnout begins before confidence has a chance to catch up.

Larry Lawson, PT, DPT spoke with our new grads in the new grad success program about recognizing the early warning signs — and the importance of learning how to take care of yourself just as intentionally as you care for your patients.

Because great clinicians don’t just build clinical skills.
They build sustainability & work/life balance. 
#NewGradPT #PhysicalTherapy #ClinicianWellbeing

Leadership isn’t just about strategy, vision, or hitting the next big goal.

The strongest leaders build psychological safety — the kind of environment where people feel safe to speak up, ask questions, challenge ideas, and admit when they don’t know something.

Growth doesn’t come from silence.

Teams do their best work when they know they won’t be embarrassed for asking a question, punished for making a mistake, or ignored for sharing an idea...or for challenging the "because we've always done it this way" 

Real leadership sounds like:

“I’m glad you brought that up.”
“Tell me more about what you’re seeing.” 

It's not always easy to be challenged .. sometimes it's honestly a little painful. But that vulnerability and openness creates the environment for true innovation... and growth.

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The Battle

Jake Ward

Jennifer Allen

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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

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Performance ScoreJake Ward's LinkedIn Performance