Jake Ward

1,922 ranking factors for the 4th largest search engine in the world were leaked 3 days ago.

Yandex was built as a Google clone by ex-Googlers.

Google and Yandex results are ~70% similar.

Although there will be many differences between the search engines, it provides insight into how ranking factors are measured.

Here are 32 interesting ranking factors:

P.S. I'll link all sources in the comments below.

#searchengineoptimization #seo #digitalmarketing

SEO has been dying since the early 2000s.

Some notable 'deaths' include:

- Web 3.0
- Google Ads
- Social media
- Voice assistants
- Featured snippets
- Zero-click searches
- Every Google update

And now ChatGPT and AI.

Here's the reality:

- 15% of searches are brand new
- Searches grow by ~10% every year
- There are 3.7B Google searches daily
- SEO is a $100B+ industry (and growing)
- Search engines and SEO will always evolve
- Search habits will take a long time to change

Block out the noise.

Continue learning, consistently repeating the fundamentals, and adapting to new technologies.

SEO is only 'dead' for those that don't.

7 content formatting tips (ft. Jasmin Alić):

Go from the bottom of page 1 to the top of Google with 15 minutes of work by optimising for featured snippets.

They don't get enough love.

I win roughly 90% of snippets and go from getting 5% of clicks to over 23%.

Here's my snippet-winning process:

Too many people overcomplicate SEO tools.

Here's my simple 15-tool stack:

Strategy:

1. Ahrefs: All-in-one (competitors, keywords, etc)
2. Keyword Insights: Keyword clustering
3. SparkToro: Audience research

Content:

4. Byword: Programmatic AI content
5. Grammarly: Writing assistant
6. Frase: Content optimisation

Technical:

7. Screaming Frog: Website crawling and auditing
8. Google Search Console: SEO analytics and data
9. Detailed SEO Extension: Quick on-page analysis

Backlinks:

10. Connectively: Journalist requests
11. Hunter: Email address finder
12. Pitchbox: Link outreach

Underrated:

13. AlsoAsked: 'People Also Ask' keywords
14. Seed Keywords: 'Seed' keyword surveys
15. HTTP Status Checker: URL status checker

What would you add?

Steal my 15 blog title templates:

They've generated millions in organic traffic and revenue over the last 3 years.

See the best-performing title for each of the following types of content (with examples):

 1. Product list
 2. Versus
 3. Alternatives
 4. How-to
 5. Ultimate guide
 6. Review
 7. Ways
 8. Case study
 9. Statistics
10. Template
11. Examples
12. What-is
13. Tips
14. Difference
15. Types

P.S. There's a free bonus on the final slide that you don't want to miss (I should be selling them).

"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/

Stop creating new blog content.

Do this instead:

1. Go to Search Console
2. Filter for the last 28 days
3. Export your query data
4. Filter queries in positions 4-20
5. Prioritise queries to increase ranking

Then find ways to better optimise for those queries within your existing content.

For example:

- Write new sections
- Add to existing sections
- Optimise existing headings
- Write the featured snippet (if present)

Take the rest of the year to focus on getting more out of your current assets.

Your 2023 will start better for it.

P.S. I'll link my 25-step content optimisation checklist in the comments below (I posted it recently).

How I find scalable content ideas in 5 minutes:

Please STOP publishing new blog posts.

I see too many websites with 100s of blog posts that get 0 traffic, publishing entirely new content every month.

If you already have existing content, do this instead:

- Go to Search Console
- Filter for the last 28 days
- Export your keyword data
- Filter keywords in positions 3-20
- Prioritise keywords to increase ranking

Then find ways to better optimise for those keywords within your existing content.

For example:

- Write new sections
- Add to existing sections
- Improve existing headings
- Optimise for snippets/AI Overviews

You will get quicker traffic increases by optimising your existing content rather than creating new content.

Focus here for Q1 this year and watch what happens.

Fact check: 0 to 750K/mo SEO traffic with AI.

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.

I've been saying this for 17 months. The data keeps proving the same thing.

Ahrefs released a study analysing 600,000 pages.

The data shows Google doesn't penalise AI content. The correlation between AI usage and rankings was 0.011. Basically zero.

This might sound familiar.

Back in April 2024, we ran a similar analysis at Byword across 5,000 sites right after Google's update that "targeted AI content."

Same result. AI content wasn't the problem.

But here's what everyone missed then (and what most are still missing now):

The sites that got hit weren't using AI wrong. They were doing content wrong.

Our data showed sites covering random topics saw a -26.4% traffic drop. While focused sites using AI actually grew 6.2%.

It was never about the tool. It was about the strategy.

The Ahrefs study confirms it again. They found 81.9% of top-ranking pages use a mix of AI and human content.

Pure AI content rarely hits position one, but neither does pure human content dominate.

The pattern is clear: Google cares about quality and relevance. Not your writing process.

If you've been avoiding AI because you're scared of penalties, you've been optimising for the wrong thing.

As Ahrefs put it: "Google probably doesn't care how you made the content. It simply cares whether searchers find it helpful."

Focus your content. Serve your niche. Use whatever tools help you do that better.

The data's been showing this for 2 years.

I literally live and breathe this SEO framework.

5 years ago, I watched a SaaS company burn through 6 months of content budget. 60 blog posts on topics like "what is email marketing" and "benefits of newsletters."

Their traffic skyrocketed, but their revenue flatlined.

Their entire content game was backwards.

So that's when I built my "SEO Content Pyramid" to flip it completely and start at the top.

Here's how it works:

1. Convert (Top of Pyramid)

High-intent content for people ready to buy.

A. Competitor Comparisons
↳ "beehiiv vs Kit"
↳ "Kit alternatives"

B. Product Reviews
↳ "beehiiv reviews" (brand)
↳ "Kit review" (competitor)

C. Buyer Guides
↳ "Best newsletter platforms in 2025"
↳ "Best newsletter tools for beginners"

D. Product Pages
↳ "Email newsletter software"
↳ "Newsletter platform pricing"

2. Discover (Middle of Pyramid)

Solution content for people exploring options.

A. Solve Pain Points
↳ "How to start a newsletter"
↳ "Newsletter best practises"

B. Case Studies
↳ "Email marketing case studies"
↳ "How [Brand] grew to 100k subscribers"

C. Data Studies
↳ "Open rate benchmarks 2025"
↳ "Email marketing statistics"

D. Templates and Tools
↳ "Newsletter templates"
↳ "Email subject line generator"

3. Awareness (Bottom of Pyramid)

Educational content for people learning and exploring.

A. Definitions
↳ "What is open rate"
↳ "Email deliverability explained"

B. Educational Guides
↳ "How to increase email open rate"
↳ "How to write engaging emails"

C. Industry Trends and News
↳ "Gmail manage subscriptions feature"
↳ "Email marketing trends 2025"

D. Ideas
↳ "Newsletter content ideas"
↳ "Email campaign ideas for holidays"

Start at the top with Convert content. Only move to Discover once you've covered every competitor comparison, product review, and buyer guide. Then tackle Awareness last.

This framework will 10x your SEO results.

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

After 3 years with AI, 100s of LinkedIn posts, and 70+ Kleo user calls… I’ve finally cracked my workflow.

Most people open ChatGPT and type:

“Write me a LinkedIn post on [topic].”

That’s why the output feels generic and nothing like you.

The problem isn’t AI.
The problem is your workflow.

Here's what my workflow looks like:

1. Inputs

AI needs context to write in your style, about your topics, with your knowledge.

- Past posts to match your style
- Info on who you are and what you do
- Call transcripts, SOPs, blog posts... for knowledge
- Proven post templates for winning formats
- Idea swipes from Reddit, X, LinkedIn, blogs...

2. Chat

AI rarely one-shots posts ready to publish. Instead, you chat with it and use your inputs to "build" the post.

Think of it like Cursor for LinkedIn posts:

You don’t expect Cursor to write perfect code in one go.

You iterate with it; ask for snippets, refactors, or alternative approaches. Each step compounds until you’ve got clean, working code.

Do the same with post writing:

- "What's trending on Reddit, X, LinkedIn..."
- "Give me post ideas from my knowledge base"
- "Give me a template for [topic]"
- "Write me 5 hook variations"
- "Write my post using this hook"
- "Rewrite this part"

3. Publish

By now 90% of the post is done, the rest is polish.

- Preview how it'll look on LinkedIn
- Tweak the formatting for content UX
- Add your visual
- Schedule and post

Your expertise goes in.
AI organises and sharpens it.
The output feels 100% yours (only faster).

This is the exact workflow we’ve built into Kleo 2.0.

I’ve also streamlined the entire process. Get it here for FREE: https://lnkd.in/eNjSWvjQ

I'm 28 with 4 businesses and (still) 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.

Built Kleo, a free Chrome extension for LinkedIn.

Merged Content Growth with Contact (and Rob) 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.

Grew 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:

Travelled and lived in 9 more countries.

Relaunched Kleo with Lara and the new team.

Started an innovation team at Contact and launched Mentions for AI SEO, our TASM Audit, and more.

Age 28 (now):

Kleo just hit 7-figures ARR. Contact generates $20M/year for clients. Byword just got a revamp. Mentions 2.0 is coming soon.

4 businesses with one mission: help people win online.

The journey continues...

In 2022, I had 0 followers and no idea how to write.

I was never a fan of social media, but knew LinkedIn could change my business forever (and it did).

So I went down the rabbit hole:

1. Spent $1,000s on courses and coaching
2. Consumed (often conflicting) advice
3. Tried every writing tool out there

I met Lara along the way, and we started working towards our first 10,000 followers.

But what actually worked?

- Scrolling through socials
- Reading industry news
- Staying on top of industry trends
- Screenshotting posts for ideas
- Saving content for "knowledge"

Not just on LinkedIn, but Twitter, Reddit, and blogs too.

That became my swipe file: inspiration for topics, hooks, formats, angles, the content...

This was the biggest unlock that helped me hit 100M+ impressions and grow to 200K followers.

But I've realised:

The problem wasn't finding inspiration, it was turning inspiration into execution.

And this is where every writing tool has failed me.

- Generic templates
- Simply recycling my old content
- Limited databases with basic outputs

None of them could take my ideas and turn them into expert-led content that sounds like me.

So I rebuilt Kleo with Lara to solve our own problem.

The first version worked. You could see viral content instantly, but copying others isn’t a worthwhile strategy.

Building your own voice that can scale itself is.

I’m building Kleo to take ANY inspiration:

- Twitter thread
- Podcast insight
- Client conversation
- Random shower thought

And turn it into posts that feel like you.

If you’re struggling to stay consistent, you’re not facing a creativity problem.

You’re facing a systems problem.

Kleo 2.0 is that system.

To help get you started, Lara and I have put together 101 Templates (for free): https://lnkd.in/eeUyfjtD

GPT-5 has made SEO indispensable.

Here’s how:

1. GPT-5 isn’t built to memorise the world’s knowledge.

OpenAI deliberately designed it to be a reasoning engine, a brain on top of tools. Instead of hoarding facts, it retrieves them in real time.

2. Grounding is everything.

Nick Turley from OpenAI put it best:

“The right product is LLMs connected to ground truth, and that’s why we brought search to ChatGPT and I think that makes a huge difference.”

Without grounding, GPT-5 is virtually useless.

3. That is where SEO comes in.

If your content isn’t discoverable, optimised, and credible, GPT-5 (along with every other LLM) can’t use it.

SEO is the oxygen. GPT-5 is the brain.

The brain (reasoning engine) can think, but without oxygen (SEO content), it can’t survive.

Grounding is the lungs, pulling in air (information) in real time.

But the quality of that information depends on SEO.

GPT-5 has made traditional SEO the foundation of AI search. And I think this will always be the case.

What do you think?

Google: Handles 90% of all searches, 16.4B queries per day, owns YouTube, has 14% stake in Anthropic, powers Claude with TPU chips, owns Gemini, tracks the world via Maps, builds self-driving cars at Waymo, owns Android, powers 3B devices, sends 831x more visitors to sites than all LLMs combined.

ChatGPT: New browser basically powered by Google.

Google is the internet.

I got locked in building. And locked out of posting.

Haven't posted on LinkedIn in 3 weeks.

Not because I had nothing to say. But because I was too busy building a LinkedIn tool to actually post on LinkedIn.

I realise how daft that sounds.

I'm creating Kleo to help people write better content here, and I've been completely silent.

Every morning I'd think "I should post something today."

Then I'd get pulled into bugs, testing features, talking to our 1st batch of users.

By evening, posting was the last thing on my mind.

Here's what changed for me during those 3 weeks:

Literally nothing.

Your audience isn't going anywhere. Take the break. They'll be there when you're ready to return.

I could've written 15 mediocre posts in that time. Instead, I built something that actually helps people create better content.

Sometimes shipping beats posting.

And we've opened more Kleo beta spots after shipping our latest big update yesterday.

If you want in, drop a comment and I'll DM you the link.

My 2026 LinkedIn strategy:

(Based on how the algorithm works today)

LinkedIn has been shifting from social graph to interest graph since 2024, likely completing in 2026.

The algorithm is now powered by an AI model that reads your profile, reads your posts, and decides which topic clusters you belong in.

So here's my data-driven approach for 2026:

PS. I've shown you the what, now me and Lara Acosta will show you the why and how...

We're running a live webinar this Thursday (22nd) to show you what's actually working on LinkedIn today.

We're only letting 1,000 people in, so RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/eY9dtg8Q

Google's leaked documents confirmed it.

They use a secret metric called siteAuthority to determine who to trust.

The sites dominating search in 2025 and beyond aren't chasing keywords. They're owning entire topics.

7-step framework for building topical authority:

1. Define your core topic domain

Pick a niche you can actually dominate. "Email marketing" is too broad. "Email marketing for SaaS companies" works. Most people fail here by going too wide.

2. Uncover your entire topic universe

Map every subtopic and user question. Use Reddit, Quora, People Also Ask, competitor analysis. You need 1,000s of keywords, not 20.

3. Group keywords into content clusters

Use SERP-based clustering. If two keywords show 70%+ overlap in top-ranking URLs, they belong on the same page. Pattern-based tools miss this completely.

Tool tip: I cluster keywords with Keyword Insights.

4. Plan your topic hubs

Create pillar pages for broad topics. Build cluster pages for specific subtopics. Internally link them both ways. This signals comprehensive coverage to Google.

5. Execute content gap analysis

Find every cluster where competitors rank but you don't. Prioritise by search volume and difficulty. These are your highest-ROI opportunities.

6. Create content with information gain

Add unique value. Original research, firsthand experience, expert analysis. AI 'consensus' content doesn't tend to build authority.

7. Weave strategic internal links

Hub-and-spoke model. Every cluster links to its pillar. Every pillar links to all clusters. No page should be orphaned (left on its own).

Sites that master this see 57% faster traffic growth than those that don't (Graphite, 2024).

The question isn't whether to build topical authority.

It's whether you'll build it before your competitors do.