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...

Sergiu Bungărdean

I run a marketing business called Demand Hive and work as a marketing consultant.

At Demand Hive, we unf*ck your messaging in 3 weeks by helping you clearly explain what you do and rewriting your homepage so you can win more projects.

Through Hey Sergiu, I work directly with founders on consulting, advisory, and custom marketing projects. This includes quick input on specific problems, ongoing support, or hands-on help on clearly defined initiatives.

I’ve done this for 100+ founders across design agencies, IT companies, software houses, consultancies, solopreneurs, and more.

Founder & LinkedIn Personal Brand Manager

We help solopreneurs, founders, coaches, CEOs & executives build their personal brand on LinkedIn in order to increase visibility, generate inbound leads and improve credibility.

Most sales advice is bullsh*t.

Scripts, fake urgency, pushing, etc.

Forget about all of that.

Sales is a matter of:

– Understanding people
– Diagnosing their problem
– Showing them the path forward

You need to understand them instead of pitching.

You need to listen more than you talk.

You need to guide the conversation.

I’ve done 300+ sales calls.

Most founders told me the same thing:

“No one really understood our problem.”

That’s the real sales advantage.

Understanding people better than everyone else.

Book 1–5 sales calls per week with a system we install in 30 days. Revenue-share model with no retainers. DM me or book a call below. Sales consultancy for B2B service founders.

I run my business on a simple sales system.

It’s how I book 4–8 sales calls per week.

Here’s why it works so well:

1) I know what triggers the need for my service

Everything I do is based on these triggers:

– The content I publish
– The conversations I start
– The way I run sales calls

Because of this, people feel understood.

And when people feel understood, they take action.

2) I designed my offer as a bridge from A to B

I know they have a headache they want to get rid of.

My solution?

Take this pill and it goes away.

I made everything simple.

3) I frame my messaging around their reality

Their reality is what matters to them.

I show that I understand their situation, not just my offer.

My focus is on helping them move forward.

When they see that, they become open to talking.

4) I run a repeatable sales process

Every week I know the inputs needed to:

– Start conversations
– Run sales calls
– Close new clients
– Learn and improve

That’s how I stay in motion and keep progressing.

And that’s the whole system.

This approach has:

– Generated $1M+ in revenue for clients
– Helped me book 300+ sales calls

Feel free to steal it and try it yourself.

Or if you want this installed in your business in 30 days on a revenue-share model with no retainers, you can book a call from my profile.

A sales system gives you more than clients.

It gives you stability, peace of mind, control.

– You stop riding constant ups and downs
– You avoid the emotional rollercoaster
– You feel less pressure

Sales calls, clients, and revenue are great.

But being able to:

– Focus on the work you actually enjoy
– Say no to projects you don’t want
– Enjoy running your business

That’s even better.

Gain control over how new clients come in.

Then you can do whatever you want.

Like working from a coffee shop on a random weekday.

The biggest sales problem I see every week?

Founders who don’t believe in themselves.

“What if it won’t work for me?”

This shows up more often than people think.

They hesitate.
They delay booking calls.
They keep working on things.
They wait until everything is “perfect”.

Why? Because they don’t trust themselves.

Sales require one thing first:

Confidence.

You need to lead.
You need to ask questions.
You need to guide the conversation.
You need to believe you can help them.

This is why many founders struggle with sales.

They lack belief, so they keep avoiding it.

The solution is simple:

Book more sales calls.

Confidence doesn’t come first.

It’s built through the process.

My business used to depend on referrals.

I did well, but there was a big problem:

I couldn't control its growth.

– Every sales call was critical
– Leads were coming randomly
– I was dependent on 1–2 clients
– I felt pressure because of my pipeline

I hated this. I wanted stability and peace of mind.

I got this with a simple sales system:

1) I defined a situational ICP
2) I positioned my offer as a bridge
3) I reframed my messaging around clients
4) I focused on a repeatable sales process

It's how I book 1–5 sales calls per week consistently.

This is how I also helped other B2B service founders:

– Sign a $12K client in 2 weeks
– Sign their biggest recurring client
– Generate nearly $60K in 3 months
– Add 50+ qualified leads to their pipeline
– Hit an all-time high in revenue in 5 months

Knowing how to do these 2 things is priceless:

1) Booking sales calls with prospects
2) Closing the clients you want to work with

If you want the same sales system in your business...

Book a call from my profile or send me a DM.

I use a revenue-share model with no retainers.

3–4 available spots for next week.

A sales call can do two things:

Get you paid or grow your business.

If it closes → you get revenue.
If it doesn’t → you get insights.

But only if you know how to run it properly.

Founders believe a sales call is a pitch.

It's not. It's a diagnostic conversation.

If structured correctly, you walk away knowing:

– How your ICP thinks
– What triggered them to look for help
– Where your messaging misses
– What objections actually matter
– How your offer needs to evolve

That insight compounds into:

Better content + messaging + future calls.

These compounds into:

More clients + higher revenue.

That’s why I focus on booking 1–5 sales calls every week.

If you close → you get money in the bank.
If you don't → you grow your business faster.

Both moves you forward.

LinkedIn’s feed is sh*tty and mostly useless.

Here’s how to build your own custom feed for free:

1) Go to the search bar
2) Hit Enter
3) Click “Posts”
4) Click “From member”
5) Add a person
6) Click “Show results”
7) Bookmark the page

Now you have a custom feed of prospects/peers.

You can:

– Interact with their posts
– Leave thoughtful comments
– Start conversations naturally
– Build relationships over time

If you want to engage on LinkedIn, this is the best way to do it.

No more scrolling for an hour for nothing.

15–30 minutes is all you need.

You’re welcome.

One day I realized something uncomfortable.

My business was dead inside.

I had no control over its growth.

I started thinking:

What if a client leaves?
What if next month is bad?
What if referrals slow down?

Suddenly, every sales call felt critical.

I felt the pressure of every new conversation.

That’s when I told myself something needed to change.

I started taking sales seriously.

It was one of the best business decisions I ever made.

Looking back...

That moment changed how I run my business forever.

taplio

The Battle

Jake Ward

Sergiu Bungărdean

Followers

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Performance ScoreJake Ward's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSergiu Bungărdean's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Jake Ward

Sergiu Bungărdean

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

Performance ScoreSergiu Bungărdean's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreJake Ward's LinkedIn Performance