The awards are judged by an esteemed panel of industry leaders and experts, the judging is a rigorous two-stage process including pre-scoring to determine shortlists and a judging meeting where entries are discussed and evaluated in detail to decide the winning entries.
From a transparency perspective, we may video aspects of the judging session to show on the evening and give entrants an insight into why a winning entry was chosen.
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We Are Search Awards Ambassadors
Our Ambassadors are; Michael Bonfils, Roberto Croci, Motoko Hunt, Judith Lewis and Lukasz Zelezny. Find out more about our ambassadors below:
Michael Bonfils is the Founder and CEO of SEM International, an award-winning global agency with 32 network offices worldwide. Specializing in multilingual digital marketing, they support global advertising agencies and multinational corporations with their international Digital marketing needs from PPC, SEO, Social Media, eCommerce, Content and localization services.
Michael became involved in the search industry in 1997 and since then, has been a regular industry contributor and speaker at conferences worldwide. Over his career, he has worked in-house, at a search engine and has sold his first agency in 2004. Since then, he and his agency has worked with and consulted for over 100 global brands such as Intel, HP, Activision/Blizzard, Medtronic, Mastercard, Sony and many others.
Michael has volunteered his time as a board member for a number of digital marketing organizations and has been a judge on multiple awards worldwide since 2015. He is honored to be a Search Award Ambassador and is committed to increasing its value as a premium, highly recognized award amongst the search industry.
Roberto Croci joined Microsoft for Startups team with a wide range of knowledge, having previously worked as the Google Regional head for (EMEA) Emerging Markets (Middle East, Turkey, Israel, Russia, Africa) where he helped businesses by building & mentoring teams that could successfully penetrate new markets and ensure sustainable revenue growth.
As a natural born leader, he is passionate about business, people and their growth and has more than 15 years’ experience in various industries – ranging from digital marketing, ad-tech to sales.
He will be integral as the Regional Managing director at Microsoft for startups Middle East, in helping startups achieve their goals and build successful businesses by promoting their tech solutions through digital and social campaigns, opening up the right opportunities for growth, customizing a market plan to maximize joint marketing with Microsoft and providing a targeted industry co-marketing and account planning.
He has specialized in leadership development as a Harvard Business School graduate
and has a proven track-record of creating successful teams and growing businesses in unpredictable environments.
He is passionate about Entrepreneurship and is one of the Partners at Strowlers Ventures, a micro VC-fund which invests in international startups mainly founded by top-tier MBAs.
Motoko has been providing the online marketing services targeting Japan, Asia, and other markets to companies from around the world for since the mid ’90s. Her search marketing consulting services with her extensive knowledge of Asia and Japanese market have been highly valued and made a big impact on some of the world’s popular multi-national brands’ search marketing campaigns.
A number of her articles have been published on industry websites and printed media. She also writes about the Search Marketing and SEO on her blog and other websites. She is a frequent speaker at the search marketing conferences globally and gives seminars and training about International search marketing, In-House SEO, and Enterprise SEO. In 2014, she received the Best Consulting Awards from the US Search Awards.
Judith Lewis is the founder of the deCabbit Consultancy specialising in integrated digital marketing consultancy and execution. She is a specialist integrated online marketer with skills in SEO, PPC, and Social Media Marketing as well as other digital marketing techniques. She has been doing SEO since before it had a name and has worked both in-house and agency-side. She has judged both UK & European Search Awards, is a founding everywoman Modern Muse and is the coordinator for London Girl Geek Dinners.
Having both an in-house and agency background, her clients have included Google, Virgin, NSPCC, Zopa, Slendertone, the Guggenheim, SAP, Amadeus, Blue Cross, & ShareThis. She works from planning through to execution, integrating her digital expertise through research & analysis, design & build through to deployment. Judith writes for the SEO Chicks and Mostly About Chocolate as well as the Huffington Post. She speaks at various conferences around the world and is passionate about teaching and helping businesses large and small (as well as chocolate).
Lukasz Zelezny, UK Search Awards judge, Top10 UK Social Media influencer and former director of organic performance at uSwitch / Zoopla. Currently is working as an independent SEO Consultant helping in organic traffic acquisition, technical SEO and content marketing.
Lukasz started his career in 2005 and has since been responsible for the organic performance of a number of companies including HomeAway, Thomson Reuters, The Digital Property Group, Fleetway Travel, uSwitch, Zoopla.
Each year Lukasz is speaking at many SEO and social media conferences. He was a speaker at ClickZ Shanghai China, ClickZ Jakarta Indonesia, SiMGA Malta, SES London as well as Marketing Festival in Brno, Brighton SEO in Brighton and UnGagged in London. Every year he is actively participating in 10 to 20 events as an SEO/Social Media keynote speaker. Additionally, he organizes workshops and meetups where he is sharing tips around SEO, Social Media and Analytics.
Judges
Lukas Adamec | DACH Performance Marketing Manager | Zendesk
Lukas Adamec has been working within Paid Digital for 11+ years, during which he transitioned from an employee to a freelancer & CEO of Abadam Marketing. In the last 5 years Lukas has focused on Consultancy - working with established agencies to deliver client growth. His focus is particularly on international paid opportunities, from Google to Yandex, from Naver to Baidu, from Yahoo JP to Seznam. Lukas is a firm believer in knowledge sharing and enjoys discussing experiences with established online marketers as well as providing training to new colleagues. During his time off, Lukas recharges his energy by being disconnected from online influences and instead spends his time on wildlife photography.
Alex Alexakis | Founder | PixelChefs.com | @PixelChefs
Alex is the Founder of PixelChefs.com, an award-winning SEO-focused web design firm in business since 2009. He specializes in the latest digital design infused with SEO strategy, Alex and his team work with companies such as CabinetSelect.com, Westgate Resorts, DrinkAGame.com, and many others across the globe. In the past, Alex worked in user interface design (UI) and served as Digital Marketing Manager for one of the world’s largest hospitality companies. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Ringling College and is a frequent speaker at search conferences and contributor to digital marketing publications. Until recently, Alex participated in and was the Founder of the largest SEO Meetup group in Florida. When Alex is not working, he is either chasing his kids around, thinking about work, or both. Find Alex on Twitter @Pixelchefs.
Dawn Anderson | Founder | Bertey
Dawn Anderson lectures on search and digital marketing strategy at Manchester Metropolitan University, is an international conference speaker (UK, US, AUS, IT), a trainer, and runs a digital marketing and international SEO consultancy agency, Bertey based in Manchester, UK. Dawn has spoken at some of the leading UK and global search marketing conferences, including Pubcon (Las Vegas and Florida), SASCON (Manchester, UK), European Search Conference (Liverpool, UK), Search Leeds (Leeds, UK), Brighton SEO (Brighton, UK), SMX London (London, UK), SMX East (San Jose, US), Ungagged London (London, UK), Ungagged Las Vegas (Las Vegas, US), MozCon (Seattle, US) and State of Search (Dallas, US). Dawn has also spoken at conference across Europe and as far afield as Australia. Dawn has been in digital marketing and SEO for 12+ years and works with leading brands providing digital marketing and SEO strategy and consultancy across a number of sectors. She is a Northern Digital, UK, EU and US Search Awards Judge. Dawn also contributes to leading search marketing industry publications such as Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, The SEMPost, State of Digital and Smart Insights. Dawn also supervises Masters dissertation students undertaking their MSc in digital marketing strategy at Manchester Metropolitan University and also lectures and undertakes workshops on search and marketing analytics teaching International Fashion Promotion students at Manchester Fashion Institute
Jim Banks | CEO | Spades Media | @UKSPADESMEDIA
Jim is one of the original paid media experts, buying his first paid traffic back in 1999. Since then he has worked with over 1000 companies around the world and spent in excess of £250 million on traffic, generating in excess of £1 billion in ecommerce sales and more than 2 million leads for inbound marketing companies. Jim is a well-travelled and sought after keynote speaker.
Michael Bonfils | GLOBAL MANAGING DIRECTOR | INTL MEDIA MANAGEMENT CORP (SEM INTERNATIONAL)
Michael Bonfils is the CEO and Founder of Int’t Media Management with the trade name of SEM International specializing in International SEO/SEM, multilingual content marketing and display solutions. With over 30 network offices around the world, Michael has been critical to the global digital marketing successes of many of the world’s largest corporations. Michael often speaks and writes on the latest trends in global search marketing and has contributed his time to many major national publications and events. In addition to being the founder of his global advertising agency, he is currently a board member of a number of organizations in technology and advertising as well as a former judge for the US Search Awards.
Michael Emiliani | Paid Marketing Manager | Amazon PPC
Mike is a seasoned digital marketing expert with a decade of experience in PPC and digital media. His passion lies in developing and growing businesses through comprehensive, integrated digital media campaigns. His ability to draw on knowledge and experiences from a wide range of challenges from his time in-house, agency-side and as a consultant has given him a unique depth and breadth to solving complex problems in PPC and broadly digital marketing. Mike has shared insights as a contributing writer and speaker at events. His extensive knowledge has also earned her the distinction of being a featured subject matter expert at Endicott College in Massachusetts, a contributor to industry blogs and recipient of the 2018 Interactive Marketing Award.
Luis Navarrete Gomez | Head of Digital Marketing, Sr. Director | Liberty Latin America
Luis is Head of Digital Marketing, Sr. Director at Liberty Latin America, one of the biggest Telecom groups in the Latam region and leads digital marketing activity for the group and its subsidiaries. In his time in the company, Luis has shaped the digital marketing experiences in an organization that reaches both B2B and B2C customers in more than 40 markets. He is a regular writer and speaker about Digital Marketing and business leadership and plays an active role in the search community. He is a fellow member of the Marketing Society, a member of the advisory board of The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, and participates actively at conferences and specialized publications. He is also a member of the judging panels of industry-leading awards, such as the DMA Awards, the UK and US Search Awards, The Drum, and The Biddable Media awards. Luis has a technical background in computer science and has more than 18 years of experience in Digital Marketing with cross-functional expertise in technology and business management and leadership.
Bill Hartzer | SEO Consultant
Bill Hartzer is an independent SEO Consultant. He relies on his 20 years of direct SEO experience to provide technical SEO audits of websites, as well as technical link audits and link cleanups of websites. Mr. Hartzer is known worldwide for his research on the topic of search engine optimization and the New gTLD domain names, as well as Dot Brand domain names. He provides research and marketing of white papers and case studies related to the New gTLDs, as well as consulting related to domain migrations.
Scott Hendison | PRESIDENT | SEARCH COMMANDER INC | @shendison
Scott Hendison is the founder of Search Commander, Inc., an internet consultancy with multiple services and brands. He began selling software online in 1999, attended his first Pubcon in 2004, and is a founding board member of SEMpdx, hosting monthly events and an annual conference in Portland Oregon since 2007.
Ana Hernandez | Chief Product Officer. | LoveToKnow Media
Ana Hernández has been working in the digital publishing industry for over a decade. The first few years, she jumped between the ancient realm of monastery libraries where she researched medieval manuscripts for her PhD, and the modern world of SEO and web content. After finishing her dissertation, she became the Senior Content Manager at SeeTheWorld, leading its content, SEO, social media, and growth projects. Ana currently oversees the strategy and operations of WordFinder, one of the products at LoveToKnow Media. Before being promoted to this role, she was the SEO and Content Marketing Specialist on the same team she now leads.
Motoko Hunt | President | AJPR
Since establishing AJPR in 1998, Motoko Hunt has been providing online marketing services to various companies around the world. Her extensive knowledge of Asia and Japanese markets proves to be highly valuable as her consulting services have made a significant impact on global marketing campaigns for some of the world’s most popular multinational brands. Besides being published in industry websites and printed media, Motoko is a frequent speaker at global search marketing conferences, giving seminars and training about topics on International Search Marketing.
Olesia Korobka | SEO entrepreneur | Fajela
Olesia Korobka is SEO entrepreneur from Ukraine. She runs a few businesses most related to SEO and a small localization service. When not doing SEO, Olesia usually studies hows and whys of SEO, testing and researching. And now also helping other SEOs from Ukraine to adapt during the ongoing war.
Judith Lewis | Founder | DeCabbit Consultancy | @decabbit
Judith is a renowned international speaker, writer, trainer, blogger and digital media consultant specialising in applying strategic understanding of digital technologies to help businesses innovate and optimise their effectiveness within the new, networked communications environment. She is a regular speaker around the world on SEO, content strategy, link building, paid media, and digital strategy, and has been recognised by her peers as one of the most influential people in the UK digital industry. Judith judges the industry leading Search Awards around the world, and has every year since their inception. She has worked with market-leading global businesses including Google, NatWest/RBS, National Gallery, Fidelity, GalaCoral, NBC Universal, Readers Digest, Bayer, Family Search, Amadeus, AMD, AmEx , Virgin.com, Virgin Startup & more. She has over 23 years of experience, predating Google in her entry into the market, and now runs her own consultancy. She has worked both in-house and agency-side. Judith also blogs about chocolate, has contributed to the book “Pimp My Site” and the Econsultancy guide to Paid Search and rewrote the large foundational Econsultancy Best Practice Guide to SEO.
Aoife McIlraith | Owner | Aoife McIlraith Consulting
Aoife McIlraith is an award-winning international search consultant. She has worked in marketing for over 22 years, specializing in international SEO and multilingual digital strategies for global brands. Her most recent role was VP product marketing with Semrush. A regular speaker at international conferences she is also on multiple judging panels for country and global awards. Aoife was recognized among the “Top 20 Women making the biggest impact in Marketing Tech” by B2B Marketing Magazine in 2019. She holds a post grad in programming and works with Enterprise Ireland as a mentor to early stage tech start ups.
Dudi Nakdimon | SEO Lead | Payoneer
Dudi Nakdimon is an SEO Consultant with 10+ years of expertise on online marketing and digital experience. In the past 6 years he was the Head of SEO at Ladbrokes Coral. As part of his job at LCG, Dudi was responsible for building an in-house team of SEO - SEO managers, content writers and technical specialists, while collaborating with SEO agencies. His experience working for a large corporation with various departments has taught Dudi that the best to achieve SEO results is by educating colleagues throughout organizations on the importance of SEO, working close mainly with Product, Dev, Creative, Legal and Compliance departments. “SEO is more than just work. It’s my hobby and a passion!” – Dudi Nakdimon
Xavier Naudeau | Consultant
Xavier is a digital data-driven consultant who thrives on understanding consumers' behaviour to optimize their Search Journey through Digital. After ten years of combined experience between SEO, Web Analytics and Data, he now works within Business Intelligence at Philip Morris International to provide critical insights on consumer performance for smoke-free future campaigns.
Deborah Norton | Founder | BRAVO! Interactive Media
Deborah Norton, Internet Strategy Consultant and founder of BRAVO! Interactive Media - creating, optimizing and marketing website since 1997. Formerly Deborah headed up business development for a then tech start up, Catalyst globally acquired by the WPP Group. From print advertising, television marketing to the Internet, Deborah is passionate about media. Presently consulting with her company BRAVO! Interactive Media, a collaborative boutique internet marketing agency established in 2008. Deborah focuses on working with businesses, non-profits & B-corporations on creation and implantation of large-scale complex Internet projects, Internet strategy services, SEO, PPC, web development, content creation & online marketing services. Additionally Deborah is a digital business advisor & instructor at the University of Hartford, Entrepreneurial Center & Barney School of business where she both teaches and advises on digital marketing.
Miguel Orense | Startup and marketing advisor | Fractional CMO & Growth
Passionate about driving innovation and digital transformation to "traditional" companies. Miguel is a digital pioneer in Spain with an entrepreneurial mindset. 20+ years’ experience in digital marketing, founding and leading companies or dedicated teams. Proven flexibility acquired in several sectors and clients, working with huge corporations, big brands, top advertisers or startups. Experienced in leadership, advising, search, analytics, growth, content and performance strategies.
Anna Oshkalo | Senior Team Lead Marketing and Business Development | Emma - The Sleep Company
Anna is a digital marketer with over ten years of experience. Having lived in the Netherlands and Sweden, Anna is currently based in Portugal and works with Marketing and Business Development at one of the fastest growing D2C startups in Europe Emma - The Sleep Company. Prior to that, Anna worked as a Global Performance Marketing Lead at Ericsson, where she was focused on global SEO and PPC performance, developing martech stack and coaching dozens of colleagues in marketing teams around the globe, as well as several startups in highly competitive verticals such as telecom, gambling and retail.
Andor Palau | International SEO Consultant | ANDORPALAU.COM
Andor is an independent international SEO consultant based in Berlin, Germany, and has started his online career back in 2009. Having worked both in-house, as well as on the agency side, he is currently advising online shops, classifiers, marketplaces, and other companies regarding international organic growth strategies as well as technical SEO issues as an independent SEO consultant. He is former Head of SEO at Peak Ace, where he was responsible for SEO and managed a 20+ people team of SEO consultants and editors. Before joining the agency side, Andor was In-house SEO for a top-3 comparison portal in highly competitive verticals such as insurance, power, and telco. Andor’s core expertise is strategic SEO as well as technical SEO, covering topics such as crawlability, indexing management, migrations, and site structure optimization. He is a lecturer at the afs Akademie in Germany, which has made it its mission to offer quality education and training in the field of SEO
Kristine Schachinger | Leading Technical SEO
Kristine Schachinger is a leading technical SEO with over two decades experience working with digital media. Kristine began her career as a front-end developer and website designer. She has helped a wide range of clients from small and medium sized businesses to Reba McEntire, AOL, Superpages.com, and USA.gov. As her digital media experience expanded Kristine incorporated accessibility, marketing, and user experience into her work which naturally drew her to learn and practice search engine optimization in order to help her clients gain greater website visibility. She is now a well known and respected in her field as a regular speaker at industry conferences in the US and around the world. She is also a Subject Matter Expert with columns in Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, the SEM Post, Search Engine Watch, and State of Digital. Kristine is the CEO and founder of Nevada based Sites Without Walls. Her current SEO work includes (but is not limited to): · News Publishers and eCommerce sites · Site Recovery Plans · Monthly SEO support · Site Health Audits · SEO Algorithm / Penalty Audits · Conversion optimization · Site usability and testing · Accessibility (WCAG) · and other manner of Technical SEO She has worked with many SMBs and enterprise clients such as Vice News, Vice Media, Salon.com, Top Ten Reviews, Patch Media, Discover, and Zappos.com.
Sathya Shankara | Global Web Performance Manger | Ericsson
Sathya Shankara is based in India and has 13+ years of SEO experience. He worked for different global brands including Ecommerce, Healthcare, Software and Telcom. Currently he is working as global SEO Manager for Ericsson, focusing on implementation of SEO best practices & organic traffic growth.
Doc Sheldon | Co-Founder/CEO | Web Narwhal | @DocSheldon
Doc has been working in digital marketing for over 20 years, running his own SEO and content agencies. Two years ago, he and 2 long-time colleagues partnered to form Web Narwhal, specializing in web design and development, SEO and PPC, managed hosting, and various peripheral services. Having benefited from the many SEO colleagues who readily share their knowledge with those seeking to learn more, Doc enjoys paying it forward, passing along what he’s learned to others. Doc is also an author, with five books out, his most recent being the first in a fiction series. Having lived in 11 different countries, he enjoys immersing himself in other cultures, and draws on his experiences in his writing.
Aleyda Solis | INTERNATIONAL SEO CONSULTANT | ORAINTI
Aleyda Solis is an International SEO Consultant and founder of Orainti -a specialized, boutique SEO consultancy-, blogger, speaker, author, who also offers actionable SEO tips in her weekly YouTube video series "Crawling Mondays", the #SEOFOMO newsletter, with a summary of the latest news in SEO, and the Free SEO Learning Roadmap, LearningSEO.io. Aleyda has been awarded as the European Search Personality of the Year in 2018, and is also co-founder of Remoters.net, a remote work hub offering a free remote job board, how-to's, interviews, tools, colivings, events for remote based professionals and teams.
Lisa Williams | Associate Director of Digital Engagement | Oregon Health & Science University
Lisa Williams is a 25-year veteran of digital marketing and the author of "When Everybody Clicks: Sustainable Digital Marketing". She has been featured in Kiplinger Magazine, Glamour Magazine, Boston Globe and The Oregonian. Lisa is on the SEMpdx (Search Engine Marketing Professionals of Portland Oregon) Advisory Board. She founded and leads a Portland Oregon LeanIn Circle and volunteers at Emerging Leaders to mentor diverse, aspiring professionals to serve in technology and health care. She speaks at regional, national and international conferences on the topics of digital strategy, marketing integration, team development and leadership. She is excited to be judging this year's US Search Awards. She is the Senior Director, Growth & Loyalty for Peace Health.
Murat Yatağan | GROWTH ADVISOR | INDEPENDENT
Murat Yatağan is a seasoned product marketing and growth strategy leader. Currently, Murat is an advisor that provides strategic counseling to businesses on building and maintaining growth. He has led optimization, product management, analytics, and growth strategy at companies such as Brainly, Global Savings Group, Google, and Microsoft. He was the Vice President of Growth at Brainly, focused on building and scaling high-performing growth teams and helping to bring Brainly more unique users globally. He helped the company grow from 80M to 400M MUU in less than 4 years. Previously, he was a Director for Global Savings Group, helping to make their 80+ platforms more visible on Google SERP. Prior to that, he led webspam policy enforcement for a few EMEA markets at Google.
Lukasz Zelezny | SEO Consultant | @
Lukasz Zelezny, UK Search Awards judge, Top10 UK Social Media influencer and former director of organic performance at uSwitch / Zoopla. Currently is working as an independent SEO Consultant helping in organic traffic acquisition, technical SEO and content marketing. Lukasz started his career in 2005 and has since been responsible for the organic performance of a number of companies including HomeAway, Thomson Reuters, The Digital Property Group, Fleetway Travel, uSwitch, Zoopla. Each year Lukasz is speaking at many SEO and social media conferences. He was a speaker at ClickZ Shanghai China, ClickZ Jakarta Indonesia, SiMGA Malta, SES London as well as Marketing Festival in Brno, Brighton SEO in Brighton and UnGagged in London. Every year he is actively participating in 10 to 20 events as an SEO/Social Media keynote speaker. Additionally, he organizes workshops and meetups where he is sharing tips around SEO, Social Media and Analytics. To get in touch with Lukasz simply search “Lukasz Zelezny” or visit https://Zelezny.uk