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.

"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 going into 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/

I analysed 66,796 sites to understand where their SEO traffic came from last month.

(You can too at chatgpt-vs-google .com)

Google still dominates at 40.31%.
ChatGPT is just 0.24%.

But here's what most people miss:

Traffic isn't the ONLY metric that matters anymore.

Zero-click searches are everywhere now.

ChatGPT processes 2.5 billion prompts every day, but barely any of them send direct traffic.

AI Overviews now appear in 60% of U.S. searches. And position 1 CTR dropped by -34.5% when AI Overviews appear.

People aren't clicking through like they used to.

They're getting answers directly from AI, and that creates a massive blind spot.

Your brand could be mentioned 10,000 times in ChatGPT responses.

Your product could be recommended in Claude conversations.

Your company could appear in Google AI Mode answers.

None of that shows up in your traffic data.

That's why I've been building Mentions for the past few months. I needed a way to track this visibility.

Because the future of SEO isn't just ranking on Google.

It's being visible wherever people ask questions.

Uscreen

SEO Manager

Future of SaaS

Future of SaaS was founded with a vision of providing the most comprehensive resources, content, and learning materials for SaaS leaders at every stage of growth. This is why we cover everything from finance and investment to marketing, strategy, customer success, DEI, and much more!

Member

Flow SEO

Senior SEO Consultant

Hallam

SEO and Video Marketing Strategist

Hallam is a multi award-winning, strategic digital marketing agency for brands that want to thrive in the digital world. Agile and fast-moving, we use our strategic creativity and technical edge to transform our clients’ businesses and help them thrive in a digital world.

Owned Media Team Leader

Owned Media Consultant

Adtrak

Adtrak provides professional internet marketing, web design, graphic design and web development services to local businesses and national companies.

Internet Marketing Consultant

Athena Speaks

Founder / Blogger

Laura Mould Freelance

I began my path into video and film when I enrolled on a BTEC National Diploma in Media Production (Film and TV) at Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies. Whilst there I worked on numerous projects both as part of my course requirements and externally. My credits are listed below:

SHORT FILM
•	Tears of a Clown – 2008
•	Trick – 2011
•	After The End – 2012
•	Ollie’s Magic Mending Box – Assistant Producer - 2013

DOC
•	My Notts: Rufford Abbey Country Park – 2009
•	Nottingham Light Night – 2011

PROMO/INFORMATIONAL
•	The Arthur Mee Centre - Producer - 2010
•	Mencap ‘Having Your Hearing Test’ – Producer/SoundOp - 2011
•	Pelham and Strutt - Camera Op - 2012
•	Capital One: ERC Department End of Year - 2014
•	Capital One: ERC Department Retrospective - 2015

LIVE
•	Game City – Camera Op - 2009 and 2010
•	Thrill Lab’s Live Experiment at Mayhem Film Festival - Camera Op - 2011.
•	Branch Out Festival – Camera Op - 2012
•	Main Stage, Splendour Festival – Camera Op - 2012
•	Nottingham Carribean Carnival - Camera Op - 2012
•	Confetti Showcase Awards – Stage Manager - 2013
•	Hallé Orchestra – Vision Mixer - 2013
•	Notts TV (Splendour Festival) - Content Controller - 2013

MUSIC
•	Notts Unsigned: Jake Bugg – Camera Op - 2010
•	The Death Notes Music Video – 2010

TV
•	Notts TV Pilot - Clapper Loader/Production Coordinator - 2014

I now operate as a Freelancer in my spare time, committed to producing professional, quality products for private and corporate clients alike.

Freelance Video Producer

Capital One

As a member of the Non-Claims team in the Complaints Resolution department, I am responsible for multiple work streams but predominantly SARs. I work to tight TATs and strict regulatory conditions to ensure customer data is processed efficiently, confidentially and in a timely manner. My core role also involves liaising with other departments such as Legal and Fraud to ensure that cases are worked and compiled correctly, monitoring problem cases and reporting issues to Managers, engagement activities including community work and organising team excursions. Aside from this, I have also been entrusted with the task of creating two short videos for the department, one for an end-of-year summary, the other was a retrospective to promote the departments change of name. Both videos were shown to the wider business and published on the Capital One's intranet.

Complaints Resolution Administrator

Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies

Dealing with enquiries, phone calls and assigned tasks efficiently and promptly. Promoting the company to visitors and prospective students.

Evening Receptionist

Currys

Dealt with customer inquiries and assisted them in finding their ideal product.

Sales Collegue

Hi there! I'm the SEO Manager at Uscreen.

Outside of work, I'm Mummy to Maya, an occasional gamer and lover of buying books I never get around to reading. I moved from the UK to Ireland in 2022. I'm passionate about travel, equality, social justice and ethics.

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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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