[box type="info" ]This post is satire and was written for fun. Jon Cooper is the real deal when it comes to link building and I recommend you check out his Link Building Course. [/box]
All is not what it seems in the SEO industry.
At only 18 years of age, Jon Cooper of Point Blank SEO has been hailed linkbuilding’s “wunderkind”. The Tarpon Springs, FL native is probably best known for his publishing of “Link Building Strategies – The Complete List“, an article that received widespread acclaim from some of the industry’s most noted thought leaders. Despite only recently graduating from high school, he’s been called a “rising star”. So well recognized is his star-status within the industry that aspiring SEO-celebrities clamoured to heed the advice he shared in an article about how to get known within the SEO industry.
In that post, Jon claims that his rise to stardom hinged on his ability to create great relationships and great content. But something didn’t seem to stack up. Indeed, the link building advocate is not exactly what everyone believes him to be. Despite the recent ire around “outing” I feel it is my responsibility to share this story with the SEO community, consequences be damned. To those of you who are fans of Jon who will no doubt give me the worst kind of backlash imaginable: sometimes progress means revealing a beloved community member for what they really are.
This is nothing personal, strictly business. I hope you can understand.
Cooper: Genius, or Fraud?
I first became suspicious of Jon when I was asked to guest blog on his company website. During my interactions with Jon, I noted that something rubbed me the wrong way, but I couldn’t put my finger on what. His rankings were incredible, his insights on link building were, to put it mildly, advanced. That said, I trusted my gut feeling and began to check up on the so-called SEO prodigy. I started to investigate his personal life, digging for clues. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but I was driven to look.
And then I found it. In Point Blank SEO’s backlink profile, this link:
What’s this!? A profile link to a software engineering forum? That seemed uncharacteristic. Profile links, from a link building guru? So I followed the rabbit hole. All the while, Jon continued his façade.
A Tangled Web of Lies
But that forum profile linked to other profiles, those profiles linked to other highly prominent top-level domains, and finally, after hours of searching, I landed on a Flickr account registered under a different name. Using tools to examine the exif data of the photos, I determined that “R_Wilknz” had snapped the pictures at GPS coordinates that would land him far, far away from Florida.
So I went back to the source. Analysis of Point Blank’s WHOis turned up nothing. Google queries of “Jon Cooper” yielded far too many results to be useful. My interest was piqued when a phone call to Tarpon Springs Highschool revealed that there was no “Jon Cooper” attending the institution.
Then, a breakthrough. Using tineye, I found that those same photos I found on Flickr were being used in the personal blog of someone much different than the Jon Cooper we know and love.
So ladies and gentlemen, here’s the ugly truth. Jon Cooper is NOT the 18 year old whitehat linkbuilding advocate from Florida we thought. In fact, he is 56 year old software engineer Ron Wilkins, a shy, overweight father of 3 from the suburbs of Kentucky.
The Real Jon Cooper
Upon discovering the truth, I anonymously contacted Ron Wilkins privately via the e-mail listed on his blog, looking for answers. After repeatedly denying he knew anything about Jon Cooper, I finally confronted him with the evidence. Ron agreed to a meeting and urged me not to go public with the information.
I met with Ron at a Kentucky Denny’s on May 25th, 2012. Over a “Superbird Sandwich”, a coffee and a large side of onion rings, Ron admitted that he was not, in fact, 18 years of age, had lied about his college acceptance on Twitter and was in fact an ageing software engineer moonlighting as the spry young teen.
“I needed a fresh start” said Wilkins, who explained he fell in love with SEO while developing a SaaS solution for real estate agents just prior to the recession. When he lost his job, Ron dedicated himself to learning the profession. Surprisingly, Jon relayed that he had actually released a number of posts under the company name of “Daddy Wilkins SEO”, but was frustrated when those in the SEO community refused to acknowledge his contributions, some going so far as to call him “old balls” and “outdated”.
” I was getting nowhere. SEO was an exciting field, but I needed an angle; a persona people would find compelling.” explained the soft-spoken Ron while smoothing out the wrinkles in his “I <3 Linux” t-shirt. “So I dug up some old high school photos, changed the company name and invented Jon Cooper. The rest, I guess, is history.”
Some might call him a genius still; in a fashion not unlike “Catch Me If You Can” Ron adopted a new identity he believed would resonate with SEO’s. It worked. In spades. From Rand Fishkin and Jon Doherty to Mike King and Wil Reynolds, everyone was hailing the “kid” as the bright hope of SEO’s future. Meanwhile, Ron continued to post under the pseudonym while studying his own 17 year old son’s online interactions to “stay believable”.
Does Ron feel bad about deceiving the SEO community? ”I guess so. I never meant to hurt anyone, I just wanted a seat at the table. I knew it couldn’t last forever, but it was a hell of a ride.”
At the time of this writing, Point Blank SEO’s website was still fully indexed by Google.
(If you haven’t figured it out by now, this post is a joke. Please stop bothering Jon.)
Featured image source: http://brucesmideastsoundbites.blogspot.com/2011/08/three-strikes-youre-outunless-youre.html
Mind = blown. If this is true, jolly well played. I’ve heard of SEOs using fake personas, but wow. Just wow.
Yes, it was well played- But it is sad that we as an SEO crowd are so skeptical of “the old guys” which is why he created it in the first place. I guess it also shows how effective pseudonyms can be.
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I’m not sure why you’ve taken up a negative slant on this – it’s not quite the James Chartrand story but there’s certainly nothing wrong with adopting a pseudonym online.
Jon (or Ron) still has legit skills and for that he has my respect.
What’s with this line: “At the time of this writing, Point Blank SEO’s website was still fully indexed by Google.” ??
I’m sincerely hoping Google doesn’t deem Ron’s deceptive age-manipulation as grounds for de-indexing his website.
The bright side is at either age (student/senor citizen) he gets a discount at the movies…so there’s that at least…
That’s true, Josh. Though he’d need to be 56 to see the naughtier ones.
What is this? “How to catch a link builder”? Wheres Chris Hansen
PS: This is just weird
It IS pretty weird that a 56 year old man would pretend to be 18. Unbelievable, really. Some might go so far as to say impossible. And yet, Ron seems to have pulled it off.
maybe. I mean,who the hell cares. The information and resources shared by this guy is awesome. I would accept his posts and his knowledge, as they are. Maybe a bit shocked to learn the truth, nonetheless, he is a good content producer.
Good digging, but what you’ve exposed is the cult of youth. Hopefully Ron will continue posting as Jon – then we can see how his fans react.
I agree – I think Ron should definitely keep up the persona. Jon Cooper is just so loveable!
Hilarious! I guess people have never read satire before – well done
My favorite line was (and clear indication that this was a joke)… “…was frustrated when those in the SEO community refused to acknowledge his contributions, some going so far as to call him “old balls” and “outdated”. ”
hahah!
I don’t know what you’re talking about! There’s nothing more serious than “Old Balls”, Ari
Thank God for you. I was reading through comment after comment of people taking this seriously and was starting to think I was stupid for viewing this as hilarious satire.
I love that you resisted the urge to go balls-out crazy with your humour, it makes the piece that much more delicious. Hopefully people get it.
Good work.
This is purely satire and really entertaining. The timing is awesome since SEO outing is trending in the community.
Truly imaginative!
I personally don’t care what he did.. he has provided some great information and resources.. loved his post..
It’s so nice to see people rallying in support of Ron Wilkins.
The real question is that “Should we really care?!
A person’s age is not a factor which determines his success, his teachings, etc.
I agree, he has kinda cheated people by hiding his real identity, but his work, his writing compensates for the same I think.
Truly, Ron Wilkins is just as knowledgeable an SEO as Jon Cooper. I hope he’s still able to feed his three completely real, non-fictional children after the dust settles on this.
I knew it. Thanks Joel we all owe you for unmasking this charlatan.
Just doing my journalistic duty.
He never once Tweeted or blogged YOLO like all the kids do.
sharp!
Whoever he is, his articles are really useful to to the community…
It’s true. I like to think of Ron as an international man of mystery.
Ron’s new moniker: Catfish SEO.
Genius, absolute genius. Well played, sir.
Ron, if you’re reading this, I still believe.
I KNEW IT !!!!
Nice job detective.
Also, can you figure out why are there so many people with nonexistent sense of humor. It creeps me out.
Thx.
#FreeRonWilkins! The ideal hashtag for the web’s new pariah? By the way, workin’ on that “Sense of humor” investigation.
I personally dnt care if Jon cooper is real or 18 years old or wht so ever, His posts are amazing and for sure they have added some value tothe seo community.
Again, it’s so encouraging to see people rallying behind this man. Father, SEO, link builder – and professional con artist. Is there anything he can’t do? Keep it up Ron, you’re a revolution.
Love the article, but why’d you Photoshop his own face into that image? His face looks freakishly skewed. Should have just gone with a random dude.
Jon and Molly Hunter (http://twitter.com/molly_hunter) would make beautiful, imaginary, link building babies.
The only thing you seem to have outed is the gullibility of the SEO community at large, though I suppose that’s a given.
^ Yes. This.
It may be a given, but rarely have we seen it in such fine display.
I am just in utter satirical shock right now. I don’t know what I’m going to do the rest of the morning…
This news breaks my heart. I thought of Jon as my little brother at times…
On the other hand, Joel… I thought we all agreed that outing is soooo last month. How could you do this? Imagine all the lost revenue Point Blank SEO will have due to this.
BTW, effing hilarious. This post wins the internets today.
Fantastic investigative journalism Joel, we cannot let this injustice stand! Ron should have to answer for his crimes against SEO and his demeaning and deceitful practices.
This calls for SEO High Court where sentences are based on link profiles.
I won’t settle for anything less than full deindexation. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me by being a 56 year old man from Kentucky? Well, goodbye web presence.
ummm seriously…this community blows me away…it is ok to lie to you. Seriously it shows a fundamental problem with this industry and why it can’t take it’s rightful in the Marketing world. Show me one innovation in Jon’s articles… I don’t begrudge the man a living…but seriously beyond being 18 his claim to fame is really that he managed to take old techniques “parrot” them and be seen as an industry leader.
Whereas people who have been doing this for almost as long as Jon Cooper had claimed to be alive get little ot no recognition. It’s why we get no respect for doing likely the most complicated marketing ever. We reduce it to where someone can basically get by with little or no experience…SEO or business in general. ya all who are not offended by this masquerade are why SEO is a joke in the marketing world!
Had to stop at this comment and leave my 2 cents (also, hopefully by now, you realize the post was a satire).
Terry, if it were so easy for a kid like me with n”o experience” to gain actual traction in this industry, then why aren’t you doing it? If it’s so easy & just includes rehashing old stuff, what’s stopping you?
And the funny thing about experience in link building is this: stuff changes all the time. You know that. What you learned in SEO 10 years ago will not help you today. All I’m saying is that experience is not as much of a priority in this industry just because stuff becomes archaic only a year or two after it’s deemed as the new fad.
And at the same time, most of link building is very repetitive, so yeah, I could gain that little edge over others by doing the process night & day for new clients, but most of what you do is the same stuff. It doesn’t change, unless the algos change, and in that case, we adapt, which goes back to my first point about the old stuff now meaning nothing.
So don’t be so quick to criticize just because it’s easy to do.
Experience yields perspective. And understanding of how to roll with the changes constantly happening – how to predict as well as how to adapt. And most importantly, how to be professional. New blood, new tactics, new thinking are all necessary and valuable. But to assume those that have been doing this since it’s inception are no longer providing value … well, see above in re being a professional.
The ‘real’ picture looks like it was retouched in Photo Shop:-)
I can assure you, the photo wasn’t not doctored. That’s right, it isn’t not fake!!! I was shocked too!
Well, I frankly don’t care if he lied or not. Truth is that his articles were quite useful for a big part of this community and it would be a pity if he quitted. From my shoes, he could be Matusalem himself, 3000 years old or something.
3,000 years old would give you an awful lot of time to brush up on your link building skills..
It’s shocking how many wars have started over a simple link request. If only Archduke Ferdinand hadn’t insisted on the nofollow attribute…
Wow Joel haha. Just .,, wow!
I was shocked too, Calin. Who can we trust if not the cherub-like face of an 18 year old Floridian?
I am little shocked and didn’t really know how to react on this!
I mean the kind of work he do is amazing and he surly have a great sense of what he is doing (professionally)
but, (don’t get me wrong) i do care of how he represent himself and in that case he was in a way cheating the community… which is not good!
I think Jon should continue to write from his fame name but should be at least sorry for pretending what he is not… (i guess)
http://screencast.com/t/ZQkHoacB1
This is more serious than we thought! Not only is Jon Cooper NOT who he claims, but now he can manipulate the physics of light and space as WELL!? Great discovery, Dan.
I see where you’re going with this, Dan… there was a SECOND light source (on the grassy knoll?) in the Wilkins pic, designed to purposely cast doubt on its authenticity, thereby solidifying the faux identity! Thanks for revealing the extreme depths to which “Jon Cooper” will go in order to maintain this charade. A dastardly affront on our otherwise unblemished industry.
I’m so very disappointed to read this news. Jon really seemed like an up-and-comer in our industry and now it is revealed he is nothing more than another set of old balls.
With Jon’s site soon to be leaving the index, it’s the perfect time for me to make my own Link Building Strategies post.
Link building strategy 1: Choose a prominent figure in the SEO industry and poke fun at them. I have it on good authority that it just might work.
http://hatsblog.com/2011/10/20/behind-the-scenes-new-team-members/
Hey Joel,
Please ..Don’t waste our time…again…Your strategy 1 : will get you only traffic spikes…. not permanent links…
..
I hope your strategy 2 doesn’t include “Stand up comedy”
Does not compute.
Moral of the story – Old, experienced SEO’s are crap and no-one listens to them.
If there’s one thing we ought to take away from this, it’s probably that.
There’s nothing wrong with inventing a persona online for a certain site…
Disagree with me, will you? Well, I just stripped out your blog commenting link! HA! HA! BEHOLD MY POWER!
Funniest comment of the post, hands down.
LOL cool man
nice job Joel, I just pitty the succers in the comments that actually believed you
I’m sorry, but it’s so easy to spot that photo is a fake.
I mean, it’s obvious that photo is actually a photo of the love child of Matt Cutts and Barry Schwartz (no offence meant guys).
That’s one sex tape I never want to see.
Correct, the photo is FAKE. Some very junior Photoshop © work there.
Note the shadow cast on the wall behind the ear lobes.
Evenly cast indicates front mounted flash, typical of pocket digital camera or phone.
Note the shadow cast by the nose, distinctly to the right side of the face indicates a flash or light source to the left of the subjects face.
Then just look at the shot it doesn’t sit right with your gut feeling does it?
Conclusion: This photo is faked, does this mean that Jon Cooper is a photoshop wanna be as well? Or this whole outing story is a beat up and Jon Cooper really is who this article says he isn’t?
PS. Want to see the original shot used before the doctoring? Well here it is folks! Courtesy of Google Image URL search (you know that little camera icon in the search box – click it – paste and volia!)
http://hatsdotcomblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/ben.jpg
If the fact that my author byline says the post is satire, the poor photo shop, my own admission in the comments that this was a parody post, the fact that I’m from Canada and I’d never travel to Kentucky just to interview a 56 year old software engineer and the fact that I used the words “Old Balls” in the post weren’t enough of an indication that this was indeed fake, you just blew the lid right off this cold case! (All sarcasm aside, the kind person who did the photoshopping for me did it quite hastily and without the intention of a very convincing fake. The picture was SUPPOSED to be the place people slapped their heads and went “Ooohhhh! I’ve been duped!” and then laughed. It’s very clear you know your photoshop though – that was a pretty systematic breakdown! Maybe next time I need a more clever fake, you’ll lend a hand?)
Hi Joel,
lol.
Got me.
And I think you got a lot of others here too
Cheers Greg
– I hope you don’t think I was being rude there, I genuinely was impressed with your breakdown. This was a very fun post to write, and I love the conversations it’s sparking. You were super thorough!
Cooper: Genius, or Fraud?
Awesome line. probably a bit of both. In the end of the day it doesnt matter how you look or what company you idea, what matters are the ideas you stand for. You see this attitude in some of the more prominent SEO guys where they put up horrible photos of themselves and use 8bit imgs for jokes, but write AMAZING content.
Content is king!
I wouldn’t know the first thing about writing great content, so you’re on your own there.
I’m really glad it turns out this guy isn’t an 18 year old kid who’s forgotten more about link building than I’ve learned, at nearly twice that age. Makes me feel mush better about myself, thanks Joel, I can now sleep at night.
This guy deserved to be outed, I mean, pretending to be a kid and showing us all up, he had it coming.
*cough, cough*
Yeah, I’m surprised more people didn’t catch on. An 18 year old? Intelligently contributing to the SEO community? Please.
Thanks for getting to the bottom of this. Every act needs a great front man!
Hahaahahaaa…. Hahaahahahaaha… I don’t know what is funnier.
1. That I got to the bottom of the post before the comment, before realizing this was satire and the whole time cursing you for “outing” Jon, for something, I don’t actually think is wrong. IE. a persona.
or
2. That half the people commenting ACTUALLY DIDN’T catch the satire.
or
3. That this whole article could in fact be a reverse psychologically smokescreen to cover up the fact that Jon is not in fact Jon (nor Ron), but Mr. Hahm, who isn’t from Kentucky, but IS from Florida and who goes to Pleasant Valley Baptist Church on Klosterman Avenue in Palm Harbor, a city just south of Tarpon Springs. Lives on Blue Jay Circle, etc… Was born in 1930 and is married to a woman (Carol) for over 30 years.
Imagine the SEO community discovering his is really 88 years old?!
Hi Paul! (I mean Jon)…
Just saying….
-DK
I found it funny as well
This post is a joke, right?
Mike King doesnt need any more press or mentions. He’s already shown his true colors.
I think you’re misinformed.
Not sure what’s funnier – the article or the people who actually believed this! Look at the picture, people… un-be-lieveable. This doesn’t say much for the IQ of the SEO community!
This is one of those cases where the majority clamor to be attributed to known names in an effort to appear more relevant. People don’t retweet your content because they learned something, they retweet it because they want to LOOK like they’re on the cutting edge, etc.
This reminds me of the Mike King situation at iAcquire where he’s going around calling himself their “Director of Inbound Marketing” but isn’t directing much at all from 4,000 miles away doing speaking gigs. He holds a title only, for good PR.
The minority that are worth their salt, they tend to stay quiet. This is an industry motivated by money, and there’s value to be had in celebrity, but I’d say there’s even more value to be had in spending your time serving your clients vs. just making a big scene online all the time.
I’m wary of the “internet celebrities” because if they have time to tweet every 30 seconds about how great they are at SEO, how much time do they have left to be actually doing SEO? Are they good at gaining rankings for their clients, or are they just good at generating buzz for themselves?
Jon – You’d have been better served just not jumping in here, as what looked like a personal jab at you, and a pretty poorly executed joke, is now you getting on here saying that experience doesn’t matter.
I’ve been marketing websites for twelve years now, and PLENTY of things that applied 10 years ago still applies today, you just can’t get away with as much as you used to be able to.
What matters is not what our peers think of us – but what we do for our clients. If you have a great reputation, that is meaningless if you can’t truly deliver.
Not all reputations, good and bad, are deserved.
What are you, some sort of Photoshop expert?
Jon Cooper is the real deal. He did not attend Tarpon Springs High School but East Lake High School in Tarpon Springs Fl. I’ve personally known Jon for 4 years as he and I graduated together. He now attends UF. He is as real as the nose on your face. Not to mention one of the most sincere people I have ever met. Simply facebook him add him and see for yourself. Jon is by no means some old man hiding behind a fake name. For whoever “researched” him, where were you looking? In my opinion anyone who wrote about Jon being anything but the 18y.o. prodigy that he is has no credibility in my book. He’s not hard to find and very real. This Ron character has devised a clever way to claim the work of Jon Cooper. I challenge all of you who believe this Ron fellow to Facebook Jon Cooper and get to know him. Also Mr Cooper has posted on this very blog toward the bottom. Check him out. I sat next to the kid in math class for 2 years and have followed his progress since. Jon buddy. Keep up the good work, I know these people aren’t getting to you but I had to step in and speak up because these people on here are rediculous! Jon Cooper is legit and couldn’t be a nicer kid, he deserves all the credit in the world for his hard work.
For all your super sleuthing, Jordan, somehow you missed the giant red font stating that this is obviously a parody article.