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Jon Zacharias: How He Built a Digital Marketing Empire With GR0 and Changed the SEO Game

Jon Zacharias Digital Marketing Empire GR0 Changed the SEO Game 3
Nailah Barcelona

Man on a mission! Jon Zacharias determination to forge his own path is part of what led to him becoming one of the most forward-thinking and successful digital marketing leaders today.

The GR0 cofounder overcame personal strife, including a reset at a rehabilitation facility, before launching his startup in early 2020 and changing the SEO game in the process.

 

“I got sober in November of 2016 with the support of [residential drug rehab center] CRI-Help,” Zacharias told Us Weekly in a statement, noting he’s made mental and physical health a huge priority at his company.

 

GR0 was started with the help of Zacharias best friend Kevin Miller, whom he met in recovery. “We immediately became best friends, talking every single second. I feel like my entire life shifted as soon as I met him,” he said of the company’s CEO.

Related: Celeb CEOs: Stars Who Run Their Own Businesses

Zacharias’ journey to revolutionize the use of SEO, however, wasn’t always easy and it wasn’t his original career choice. The entrepreneur began his professional career in law after attending the California Western School of Law.

Jon Zacharias Digital Marketing Empire GR0 Changed the SEO Game
Nailah Barcelona

“When I was in law school, I was working for one of my dad’s friends at a wage-an-hour class action law firm,” he explained. “I realized that I was way more interested in getting the cases than litigating them.”

It was then that he decided to shift his focus to digital marketing, especially since people were just beginning to use SEO in the law and medical fields.

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As Zacharias educated himself in the value of SEO in the e-commerce space, he turned to Miller to create GR0. “I spent the next seven, eight years, from 2011 to 2019 — when we started the company — perfecting the science behind SEO. Once I had that perfected, I basically started applying tactics that had never been used in e-commerce,” he said. “It was really like the second wave of SEO.”

Miller, who was working as the head of growth at Opendoor at the time, brought his digital marketing expertise to the team ahead of its launch.

“I was showing him how to grow traffic through SEO and he loved it so much that he was, like, ‘Let’s just start a business and do this for as many direct-to-consumer brands as we can, because it’s such a powerful channel,’” Zacharias recalled. “Everyone trusts Google, and obviously if you can get high on Google for certain words, it’s incredibly valuable to the client.”

Although GR0 only launched last year, it has quickly taken over as an industry leader. In April, GR0 was awarded a Silver Stevie Award for being the “Fastest Growing Company of the Year” at the annual American Business Awards.

Jon Zacharias Digital Marketing Empire GR0 Changed the SEO Game 2
Nailah Barcelona

 

The company, which now has 30 employees, has grown due to successful partnerships with some of the biggest direct-to-consumer brands in the world, including viral florist Venus et Fleur, massage treatment company Theragun, fitness brand Hydrow, supplement giant Nugenix and float company Funboy.

The cofounders’ ability to create partnerships between e-commerce brands and big-name outlets is what has made GR0 so unique and successful.

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GR0’s goal is to help their clients rank No. 1 on Google, upping their visibility and product recognition. According to Zacharias, part of the brand expansion plan is giving companies the opportunities to work with celebrities, which puts them on the map in different circles.

“[We] basically do a whitelisting campaign. It’s a new type of campaign that we’re doing, and they are very, very powerful,” he explained.

To learn more about GR0 and its cofounder Zacharias, click here.

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