About John Puno

In November of 2009, I was a tech support representative for Microsoft Xbox 360 at one of the largest call centers in Clark, Pampanga, Philippines. Every day was a grind, and I couldn’t keep up with the bills. One day, my brother told me that he legitimately earned online through a particular job posting platform where they hire freelancers. So I quit my nine-to-five job to join him.

At that time, we were broke as hell. We don’t even have our own computers. We’re just using an old, slow computer that we borrowed from our cousin. During this period, the article spinning jobs were everywhere. Freelancers can’t keep up with the job postings as they are in demand.

I was so excited when I landed my first client. I did the spinning work for their SEO campaigns although I don’t even have an idea where they’re using the spun articles. I kept on providing the same quality, and I did everything that I could for every single client that I’ve worked with.

I was so happy reaping max star ratings that made my profile look good, thus paved the way to more projects and earnings. Finally, I was able to buy a new, decent computer.

I thought the pay was good and the work sustainable that article spinning became a comfort zone for me until I stumbled upon a job listing that required search engine optimization knowledge and skills. The project was massive as well as the pay. This ignited a spark of interest in SEO.

I started reading articles about search engine optimization in hopes that one day, I will land my first SEO gig and start my career from there. I can’t thank the SEO community enough for being so generous in providing free resources like articles, e-books, and videos. I finally understood how SEO works. However, my knowledge at this point is not enough and therefore useless.

In November of 2010, one of my clients offered me a deal I can’t refuse. They hired me full time to get trained and eventually oversee all of their SEO campaigns while doing article spinning.

This deal changed my life!

Of course, this was the period when anyone in the industry can make a killing through spam. Back then, my training was focused on implementing black hat techniques because the ROI is quick and work is easy as it is mostly automated – robots do the content generation, link building, and virtually any SEO-related work.

I then became interested in affiliate SEO because of the high commissions and passive income streams, so I built a few affiliate websites.

At first, they were a success. I made a decent amount of money but not until Google launched its Panda core algorithm update on February 23, 2011, everything came crashing down fast and hard. I went to the point where I have to let go of them.

Doing black hat SEO didn’t end there. I repeated the same mistakes and got walloped again on April 24, 2012, when Penguin was rolled out. This time, I decided to play along with Google’s rules.

I’ve learned the hard way.

After countless failures, I managed to improve, get up, and be back in the game. This was all possible through understanding Google’s algorithm changes, especially keeping up with its core quality algorithms – the Panda and the Penguin patches. Reviewing client sites that got Google penalized had also helped me understand further what search engines like and hate.

Fast forward, I despised what Google hates. I am now helping businesses understand how to improve their online presence without breaking Google’s guidelines. I have also helped clients beat their competitors or recover from Google penalties through in-depth site audits. Local businesses have also been contacting me to help boost their leads through local SEO and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.

During my free time, I continue to learn and improve my digital marketing skills, play online games with my brothers and friends, travel the countryside here in the Philippines, take guitar lessons, and learn new skills like Photoshop and computer programming.

Need help with your websites too? You can reach me through my contact page or Twitter.

Thank you for reading my story, and hope I have inspired you in any way.

John Puno, SEO Consultant Philippines