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/

If you're an SEO who's ever wanted to work with me, now's your chance.

I'm looking for exceptional SEO strategists who are excited about the future of search.

This isn't just another SEO role.

You'll be working on "new SEO" strategies for some of the most impressive companies out there.

You'll be getting companies visible in a search world that's changing faster than anyone's figured out.

You'll be experimenting with tactics most SEO teams won't touch for another 2 years.

If you're the kind of person who gets genuinely excited about this stuff, I want to hear from you.

Reply below if that's you (or someone you know).

And fill in this quick form: https://lnkd.in/eBgSGK2V

I'll DM the 10 most impressive SEOs this week.

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.

Successful SEO looks like:

- 120 new blog posts
- 60 high DR backlinks
- 500 AI-created pages
- 1,000% growth in traffic

But remember, it also looks like:

- Removing 3 cannibalising pages
- Improving a cluster’s internal linking
- Tweaking 5 titles for better targeting
- Fixing internal links to canonical pages
- Writing a featured snippet in 10 minutes
- No-indexing low-quality pages in Google
- Redirecting a 404 page with 30 backlinks
- Creating indexable URLs for 15 sales pages
- Adding a new section to an existing blog post

Don’t forget to consistently do the little things.

They can be just as impactful.

Leading Edge Copywriting

Content or Copy Writing - Specialising in B2B Sales Enablement
This means we can help you get more prospects - convert them to customers by invigorating your Sales Team. We do this by updating or creating your sales products such as One Sheets, Battle Cards ,Sales Decks etc so that your team becomes more efficient.

Founder and CEO

Leading Edge Web Services

Web Design and Building
Lead Generation
SEO
Sales Consulting

Managing Director

Leading Edge Essentials

Making a Difference in Peoples Lives
Marketing and Promotions
Renovating and Construction
Helping people modify their living surrounds so that it improves their quality of life
Learning new skills

Shire of Roebourne

Caretaker of the Historic Township of Cossack.
I really enjoyed my time  there, even though it was the hottest time of the year.I was responsible for everything that happened in the small tourist township on a daily basis, from opening and closing the museum, to taking accommodation and function bookings, to the general cleanliness and tidying and upkeep of the townsite.

Caretaker

Leading Edge

Retailers of Music, Hifi systems, Car Stereos, Televisions, Video Cameras, Communication systems, and associated Equipment
I was also very involved with the local Tourism Industry for many years, and was vice president for several years.
I was very involved with the local Chamber of Commerce for numerous years, and was also vice president of that for several years.
I was extremely involved with the local hockey community, and was President of the Busselton Hockey Stadium Club, and also the Men’s Hockey Club for many years.

I create copy that helps YOU Sell or Promote YOUR Product or Service

Would you like to have an updated arsenal of COPYWRITING products without spending a lot of time and money?
If the answer is yes, then let me get YOU or your sales team on steroids.
Organise a 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 15 𝗺𝗶𝗻 1:1 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹 to get you started!

As a freelance copywriting agency, I can produce great content for whatever you need. I specialise in a range of writing styles:

- LinkedIn Profiles 
- Web Content
- Ghost Writing
- Content Creation
- SEO and UX/UI
- Blog and Article Pages
- About Section, Banners, etc.

B2B Sales Enablement Copywriting includes:
- Sales Decks
- Call Scripts 
- One Sheets 
- Case Studies
- Follow up Email Templates
- Cold Prospecting Email Templates
- Researching and writing Battle Cards
- Or even a Customer Persona (if you don’t have one)

If you already have some of these products, we could also just check them out and refresh them for you. 

-----------

𝗔 𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗠𝗬𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙

I am a life-long learner with over 40 years of business and management experience. I consistently invest in myself to keep up with the latest ideas, techniques and training methods. I have a particular passion for B2B Sales Enablement content and all the projects that make up that area of business promotion. I love words. 

Over the years I have been writing, and/or co-writing my own copy and adverts for paper, radio, television, emails and now on the web. I aim to share my knowledge and help you gain more prospects, and convert them to customers so you make more sales.

My areas of expertise include a wide range of industries and the subsequent projects that you require so that you can both promote your business and attract more customers.

I am also an excellent copy editor, so if you simply need some assistance to finish off some content, or get an opinion then I can help get you on track. 

My community contribution has been from grass roots to management with sporting and community organisations in an endeavour to achieve great outcomes for everyone.

Over the last 16+ years I have assisted with the Busselton Ironman and Cape to Cape events in various roles. 

Just another page in the ongoing elaborate "Tapestry of Life"

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Jake Ward

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The Battle

Jake Ward

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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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