The UK Search Awards have been celebrating the search industry since 2010.
Ethical, transparent and respected, the awards are judged by esteemed industry experts who follow a robust two-step judging process that includes pre-scoring to establish a shortlist and judge discussion to determine winners and, in some cases, silver awards.
None of our award judges can take part in the competition, and any conflicts of interest must be declared.
The UK Search Awards have been accredited ‘Outstanding’ by the Independent Awards Standards Council – Awards Trust Mark.
To apply to become a judge, fill out the form at the bottom of this page.
Rosanna Hansford | Head of Paid Media | Motorpoint
Rosanna Hansford has over 9 years of experience in digital marketing and is currently the Head of Paid Media for Motorpoint, the UK’s largest car supermarket. She has previously held roles across several Group M/WPP agencies working across some of the biggest brands’ media strategies including Arcadia group, cinch, Hillarys, Fragrance Direct, Talk Talk, Oxfam, B&Q and Screwfix amongst others. She is a seasoned professional in paid media, having started out in the ad tech industry as a programmatic channel specialist and developed her tactical and strategic skillset across all paid channels throughout her career. She is an advocate for using data and effective measurement at the heart of marketing decision making and has used this approach to drive long term business impact for the clients and businesses she has worked with in the industry.
Monty Mathur | Independent SEO consultant
Monty Mathur is an independent SEO consultant specialising in e-commerce and local SEO. He started working in SEO in 2021 and went freelance in late 2022, working with businesses and digital marketing agencies across a range of industries. Much of his experience is in e-commerce and local SEO, with his work spanning SEO strategy, technical SEO, content planning and implementation. He also works as a white-label SEO consultant for agencies, helping them deliver SEO projects for their clients. Monty is an active member of the SEO community and has contributed to industry publications including SEO in 2025 and Summer of SEO.
Michael Hawtin | CO-Founder + COO | COTN
Tomáš Martínek | Online Marketing Consultant | Cheil Czech republic
Tomáš is a digital marketing professional with over 17 years of experience in the SEO and PPC fields, focusing on the CEE market. In recent years, he has been working with Cheil, one of the world's leading advertising agencies, where he manages performance and brand campaigns for clients across Europe, specifically in the CEE region, catering to both small and large e-shops as well as overseeing brand campaigns. Additionally, he possesses a strong passion for data-driven marketing and photography.
Chris Ioannou | SEO Consultant
Chris Ioannou is a UK and European Search Awards judge, Agency Awards judge and SEO expert with over a decade of experience building and implementing SEO strategies for large enterprise clients and SMEs. He started his career in-house as a digital marketer before moving agency-side to focus on SEO, having been responsible for the organic performance of a number of companies including Aviva, Qantas, MoneySumermarket.com, Harrods, Motors.co.uk, Tesco Bank, Omega Pharma and TUI to name a few. His areas of specialism encompass both advanced technical SEO as well as end-to-end content creation and production. In his spare time, Chris enjoys spending time with his family and following the financial markets as a hobbyist speculator.
Shannon McGuirk | Senior PR Leader and Mentor | Peach
With over 12 years’ experience driving brand awareness and organic growth, Shannon has worked at leading agencies including Aira Digital, Bottle PR and Re:signal, helping ambitious brands turn visibility into measurable results through award-winning digital PR and content marketing. In 2026, she launched her own digital PR consultancy; Peach. A senior PR leader and mentor, she's led high-performing teams of 30+ and managed multi-million-pound P&Ls, blending creative excellence with commercial impact. Shannon has partnered with global brands such as Booking.com, PrettyLittleThing, AXA PPP Healthcare and N Brown Group, delivering campaigns that strengthen reputation, reach and revenue. As a regular conference speaker, she's spoken at MozCon, BrightonSEO, TuringFest and MCRHive. She is passionate about sharing knowledge and championing women and the next generation in marketing.
Max Woelfe | SEO Team Lead | On
Max Woelfle is an organic growth and SEO leader with over a decade of experience spanning search, content, performance marketing, and, more recently, early work in AI-driven discovery. He currently leads Organic Growth at On, where he scales global SEO and content systems while actively exploring how brands show up not only in Google, but also inside large language models. Max has worked with international teams across e-commerce, sports, and technology, and regularly speaks and writes about the evolving rules of online visibility. Alongside his in-house role, he is building WhoAmIOn.AI, a SaaS tool investigating how brands are perceived and represented in the base models of LLMs.
Aiman Ben Haqi | Freelance SEO Consultant | Abenhaqi
Aiman is a results-driven freelance SEO consultant helping companies increase visibility, generate qualified leads and sales, and drive sustainable revenue growth across industries including fintech, healthcare, ecommerce, and education. He leads end-to-end SEO strategy and execution, aligning search initiatives with commercial goals to deliver measurable impact. With deep expertise across platforms such as Magento 2.0, WordPress, and more, Aiman blends technical SEO with data-led, demand-focused strategies that attract high-intent decision-makers. Hands-on by nature, he actively optimises campaigns, tracks performance, and maximises ROI turning search visibility into real pipeline growth, not just traffic. Outside of SEO dashboards and SERPs, Aiman is just as focused on balance. He’s an avid piano player and cycling enthusiast, bringing the same discipline, creativity, and endurance from the keys and the road into every SEO campaign he runs.
Victory is a Founder and Freelance Marketing Consultant at Contenticore with six years of global experience working with over 20 brands across the US, Asia, Africa, and Europe. She currently serves as the Marketing Coordinator, Europe at GMAC, where she supports marketing initiatives and sales strategy. She is also the Co-founder of Clazenix, an organisation built on a mission to empower young professionals globally with digital marketing skills. She holds a Master's in International Business Management (Distinction) at Coventry University. Her focus is on applying practical expertise to help brands strengthen their content strategy and enhance visibility.
Steve Kuncewicz | Partner - Head of Creative, Digital & Marketing | Glaisyers ETL
Steve is a Partner and Head of Creative, Digital and Marketing at Glaisyers ETL in Manchester. He specialises in intellectual property, media social media and privacy law and is listed as a "recommended lawyer" in the Legal 500, and was a oo-founder pf the Bulletproof Agency Network. He is a regular media spokesperson, and has given interviews to the local and national press through BBC Breakfast, Sky News, ITV, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live and LBC London. Steve is also the Manchester Publicity Association’s Honorary Solicitor.
Laura I. Abreu | Lead Generation, Ads and SEO Manager | laurastrategy.com
Laura I. Abreu is a Lead Generation, Ads and SEO Manager with more than 12 years of experience across Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in Hong Kong and Australia. Based in Barcelona, Laura is a member of the Australian Marketing Institute, Women in Tech SEO, and PPC Chat (US). She is a speaker at international conferences, including International Search Summit, Search London, and Tourism Innovation Summit, and a mentor at the Freelance Coalition for Developing Countries, supporting professionals in emerging markets.
Jaime Hill | Ecommerce Director | ex Oak Furnitureland, Hurtigruten & Monsoon Accessorize
Jaime has over two decades of experience as a Marketing & Ecommerce professional with a successful track record leading teams and developing strategy to transform organisations’ digital capability and channels to market. She has had success in roles at brands including Avis, Barclays, Dairy Crest and Oak Furnitureland, and across a wide range of B2B and B2C vertical markets. Most recently, Jaime was Interim Head of Ecommerce & Trading at Monsoon. A graduate of the Institute of Digital Marketing and qualified Executive Business Coach, Jaime's professional passion is for making life easier for the customer at every touch point.
Rejoice Ojiaku | SEO Manager | Nelson Bostock UNLIMITED
Rejoice has worked within digital marketing (SEO) for 4+ years. After finishing her master’s degree in marketing at The University of Manchester, she started her journey as a Junior SEO Executive and is now an SEO Manager as well as the Co-Founder & Content Lead for B-DigitalUK. She specialises in Content SEO and she has spoken at BrightonSEO, Whitespark Local Search Summit as well as participated in webinars for FounderVine, Majestic, Noisy Little Monkey etc. Additionally, she is also an Award-Winning Diversity & Inclusion Advocate as she is passionate about Diversity & Inclusion within the workplace to ensure the perspective and struggles of Black people are heard.
Natalia Lopez | Paid Search Manager | Virgin Media O2
Natalia is a Paid Search Manager at Virgin Media O2 with nearly 10 years of experience in performance marketing. Her career spans both agency and in-house roles across multiple sectors, including travel and telecommunications. She specialises in PPC strategy and commercial growth, with a particular interest in automation, AI and the evolving search landscape.
Alex Natthaphon Kanjarnavoranun | Consultant in SEO, Digital marketing, and Digital transformation | Foundmatic UK
Alex Natthaphon is a highly experienced SEO expert, digital marketing specialist, and management role in marketing. TechNation UK has endorsed him as the highest-tier Exceptional Leader of UK Global Talent Visa in the Digital Technology category. He has achieved multiple successful career paths in different industries, including Finance, E-commerce, Travel, Education, Automotive, and more. Alex was VP of Digital Campaign Planning & Execution Manager at SCB bank, focusing on digital banking automation and transformation. He is a founder of ABACTODAY, an ed-tech and e-learning platform for students. He was head of SEO and digital marketing at multiple Unicorn startups in Southeast Asia. He has led and provided digital marketing consultants internationally; for instance in Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, US, and UK. Not only online marketing, but he was also AVP Head of Omni-channel Marketing which focused on digital transformation at one of the biggest department stores in Thailand and UK.
Omi Sido | Head of SEO | Canon Europe
Omi Sido is an SEO and Web Development professional with 6 years of experience in both web and traditional advertising, promotions, events, and campaigns. He has worked on integrated campaigns for major clients such as Vectone Mobile, Delight Mobile and The Global Real Estate Institute and Daily Mail. Currently, Omi Sido is Senior Technical SEO at Canon Europe.
Toni Navarro is the founder of Toni Navarro Marketing, and the co-founder of Rock and Click agency. He’s a certified digital marketing consultant, trainer & online entrepreneur, specialised in SEO & PPC, and in his more than 15 years of experience in the sector, he's had the pleasure to work and train some amazing brands. He also offers mentoring advice for charities and small businesses in Spain and the UK, and he hosts a podcast and shares a newsletter called Search and Grow, as well as he writes about his passions for Digital Marketing, SEO and business in different blogs.
Victoria Yap | Head of SEO & Content Production
Victoria Yap is a Head of SEO & Content Production with deep expertise in leading search strategies for regulated financial and legal sectors across multilingual markets. She has driven significant organic growth across the US, UK, and APAC regions, including initiatives tailored for Chinese and Japanese audiences. Her work enhances brand visibility in complex Your Money Your Life (YMYL) environments, striking a balance between performance goals, regulatory integrity, and strategic business outcomes. She also brings video content strategy and production expertise, connecting creative storytelling with data-driven performance to deliver measurable commercial impact.
Lorenzo Solís | Senior Growth Marketing & SEO Manager | Eventbrite | LinkedIn | Lorenzo Solis
Lorenzo Solís is a digital growth leader with 15+ years of experience driving acquisition, engagement, and revenue growth for global brands. At Eventbrite, the world’s largest event marketplace, he leads the global growth marketing strategy. Before Eventbrite, Lorenzo led high-impact growth initiatives at Just Eat, Bwin, and EF Education First, scaling multi-channel strategies across Europe and the Americas in highly competitive industries. He also teaches digital marketing at business schools, focusing on data-driven growth and long-term business impact.
Paddy Moogan | Founder | Founder Focus
Paddy advises, coaches, and mentors agency founders and senior teams. He was previously co-founder of his own agency for ten years, before stepping away in 2024. He now helps other agencies navigate the weird and wonderful world of agency life.
Luivir Rangel | SEO & Content Consultant | HASSL
Luivir’s career focused on automating and scaling SEO and marketing operations for corporate environments. With a background in Communication and Advertising, her career spans roles such as Global Publisher for Mercedes-Benz, Content Strategist for climate tech startups, and strategic partner within private equity and venture capital–oriented agencies.
Ned Poulter | Digital marketing consultant & Non-executive Director | Polestar Digital
Ned Poulter is a digital marketing consultant, strategist and non-executive director, helping growth-minded businesses turn digital complexity into commercial results. He has led and advised teams within multi-billion-pound global organisations, and - through Pole Star Digital - has personally driven £69M+ in revenue and £93M+ in qualified pipeline for clients. His work has been recognised through multiple global industry awards. Ned brings a pragmatic, evidence-led, outcomes-focused approach from his day-to-day work to judging excellence in digital marketing, with a clear emphasis on real-world impact over optics.
Eleni Tarantou | SEO Specialist | Skroutz
Eleni is an SEO Specialist at Skroutz, Greece’s leading online marketplace, where she tackles the complex challenges of optimizing a large-scale e-commerce platform. With over seven years of experience spanning niche blogs, multilingual e-commerce sites, and both agency and in-house environments, she brings a holistic perspective to SEO strategy. Passionate about technical SEO, Eleni enjoys sharing her insights through industry publications and international conferences.
Davina Lines | Managing Director | Ecommerce Club & Mixing Digital
Davina Lines is Managing Director of Mixing Digital and the Ecommerce Club. She brings a wealth of knowledge and a big black book of digital contacts to ensure Mixing Digital’s event management services are of the highest standard. Davina co-founded Netimperative in 1999 and became Managing Director in 2002, stewarding the brand into new product launches and creating one of the most successful events programmes in the digital marketing industry. In the mid 90s Davina cut her digital teeth on New Media Age (now Econsultancy), forming part of the founding team and was responsible for the commercial development of the magazine and its early events from launch in May 1995 to 1999. In recent years Davina launched an ecommerce peer-to-peer community, the Ecommerce Club, which runs regular events in London and Manchester on topics relevant to the retail community.
Laura Calvache | SEO Consultant
Laura Calvache, freelance SEO consultant with a proven track record of helping businesses scale their online visibility through a direct and personalized approach. Specialized in local SEO and e-commerce. Lately, I’ve been taking part more in industry debates, roundtables, and events. I steer clear of the mass agency model, getting fully involved in every project as if it were my own. I have worked in highly competitive sectors, from finance to healthcare and legal services, combining technical and strategic SEO to get the best results.
Lottie Hippisley is Brand Marketing Manager at Ocado Retail, where she brings a wealth of experience from her role leading print media and brand partnerships. Having led marketing at search marketing agency Honchō, her career spans both startups and global brands, including the Moonpig Group's Buyagift and Red Letter Days, where she honed a unique blend of creative flair and commercial acumen in the acquisition team.
Crystal Carter | Head of AI Search and SEO Communications | Wix
Crystal Carter the Head of SEO Communications at Wix. She is an SEO & Digital Marketing professional with over 15 years experience working with SEO and Marketing clients around the world like Disney, McDonalds, Tomy and more. As an SEO, she identifies and implements tactics that help businesses optimise digital activity, drive sales, engagement and growth online. She has contributed to events, webinars, and publications from Google Search Central, Brighton SEO, Moz, Whitespark Local Search Summit, Semrush, SMX, Search Engine Land, Lumar, Women in Tech SEO and more.
Daniel Pereira | Executive Director | MindSEO
Daniel Pereira is the Executive Director of MindSEO with over 20 years of experience in digital strategy and SEO. A prominent leader in the Portuguese marketing industry, he serves on the Strategic Council of the Portuguese Marketing Association and has been a Google Academies Trainer since 2012. Throughout his career, Daniel has led digital intelligence and organic growth initiatives for major global and national organizations, including Google, Vodafone, BMW, WD-40 and various entities within the WPP network. With an MSc in New Media and Web Practices, he is a dedicated startup mentor and specialist in Organic Growth and Inbound Marketing, consistently driving data-driven excellence and innovation across the digital ecosystem.
Daniel Saunders | Head of Performance Marketing | Evergreen Finance London
I've worked in Digital for 18 years. Within Digital marketing I work closely with the directors and heads of service to identify new business opportunities and Strategies. Having an in-depth understanding of different markets and competitors in the area to maintain a competitive advantage which is used to work alongside key stakeholders in managing the translation of the business strategy into clear plans. Proactively researching markets, competitors within different regions and establishing ways to develop a competitive advantage within our strategies. Within Stanley Black and Decker, I am a catalyst for change, I plan and execute UK market E-commerce and digital marketing activities to increase sales, grow online channels, and grow new and existing online customers managing substantial 6 figures budgets over many different groups. As an international keynote speaker in the Digital sphere, I inspire and lead a large team of specialists, drive the delivery of brilliant digital products and services, mentoring at levels from executives to C suite. I utilize analytics and insight tools to evaluate end-to-end customer experience across multiple customer touch points. Working with trade marketing teams to analyse product categories and make appropriate product mix recommendations and effectively contributes to SEO, PPC, UX and CRO. I have built, nurtured and lead a diverse, multidisciplinary team to deliver digital transformation across the Stanley Black and Decker group. Defining the required digital capabilities across our people, their processes, and the technology we use. With Stanley Black and Decker being a multinational corporation, I make myself a visible leader by holding regular lectures and Q and A sessions with entry executives all the way up to C suite teams.
Iona Townsley | Creative Director | Heroine
Iona Townsley is the Founder of Heroine, a creative digital PR consultancy specialising in search-led campaigns. With eight years in digital PR, she has delivered award-winning campaigns for household-name brands including House of Fraser, Parkdean Resorts, Club Med, PrettyLittleThing, Dojo and Paymentsense. Iona regularly speaks at industry events, contributes to publications such as MOZ, and runs The Grapevine, a content newsletter to spark inspiration. As a judge, she brings the perspective of someone working on SEO-driven campaigns day-to-day, evaluating entries on both creativity and real search impact.
Anu Adegbola | Founder & CMO | PPC Live
Anu Adegbola is a digital marketing professional specialising in paid media, with a focus on PPC and paid search. She is the Paid Media Editor at Search Engine Land, where she reports on paid search, paid social, and retail media, providing insight and analysis on key industry developments. She is the Founder and CMO of PPC Live, a UK-based paid media community delivering in-person and online events for PPC professionals. Anu also hosts PPC Live The Podcast, where she discusses industry trends and practical insights with fellow paid media experts. She is a regular speaker at leading international digital marketing conferences (SMX (US/UK/Europe), BrightonSEO, Friends of Search, HeroConf, and more) and is recognised for her contributions to industry education and community building.
Owain Lloyd-Williams | Independent Consultant
Owain Lloyd-Williams has been in the SEO and digital marketing space for around 12 years, and has vast experience overseeing organic digital strategies for leading global brands in an agency, in-house and consulting capacity. As an independent consultant, he’s either found leading stakeholder management and SEO strategy for large enterprise companies or deep down the rabbit holes of international SEO, content and technical SEO. He also has a niche specialism in China SEO.
Marcelo De Carvalho | International SEO Manager | Motorola Solutions
I like SEO. I’ve been enjoying the ride and consistently delivering strong business impact through organic search, from a specialized agency to a Fortune 500 company. With 12+ years of experience, originally from a traditional offline Communications and PR background, I gradually transitioned into Digital Marketing, pivoting to SEO not too long ago, in 2020. Turning tangible SEO results into a career accelerator, I moved into senior and management roles at a rapid pace. Working both agency-side and in-house has exposed me to a wide range of scenarios. I’ve tackled projects of varying scale across multiple industries and markets, managing specific complexities that gave me a solid foundation of knowledge and experience. Looking forward to strategies that combine smart thinking with tangible impact and excited to celebrate the very best work our industry has to offer.
Limor Barenholtz | Director of SEO and AI Search | Similar Web | LinkedIn
Limor is the SEO & AI Search Director at Similarweb, and has been practicing SEO for 25+ years. Limor specializes in all aspects of SEO, and loves the challenges presented by both traditional SEO and AI SEO. Clean code makes her smile, and creating scalable SEO & AI Search strategies makes her happy. As the former Head of SEO at McCann Tel Aviv, Limor has vast experience in both local & international SEO for major brands & publishers, as well as in planning & integration with multi-channel campaigns. Limor is a speaker at BrightonSEO, co-author of the "In-house SEO Book", and a judge at The Drum Awards & Global Search Awards. When she's not doing SEO, Limor loves playing Poker and Indoor handball, listening to music, and being with her 9-year-old twins, Naomi & Maayan.
David Amayo-Morrison | Head of SEO | Tesco
David Amayo-Morrison is Head of SEO at Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer. With a unique blend of SEO and digital transformation experience, he has been a frontrunner in leading the charge for some of the UK’s biggest brands, notably the powerhouse retailer Currys, previously known as Dixons Carphone, or Carphone Warehouse and PC World. Beyond the domestic market, David is a heavyweight on the global stage, having worked with and collaborated with brands like Disney, New Balance, Canon, Bose, and more. As a productive digital expert, he engages heavily in the development of new technology such as AI and RPA, determined to keep on the right side of change as we transition to the new world.
Tiago Perdigão | Founder & Strategic Marketing Advisor | AI Alfred
Tiago Perdigão is an international marketing leader and Chartered Marketer since 1998, with more than 25 years’ experience across Europe and the Middle East. At AI Alfred, he advises organisations on marketing strategy, brand positioning and the practical application of generative AI to research, creative development and content workflows. Previously, Tiago led adidas Brand Activation and Regional Marketing from Dubai across more than 30 markets, managing $20M+ budgets and teams of over 20. His experience spans brand strategy, integrated campaigns, digital engagement, sponsorships and major consumer experiences, with work recognised through 25 international marketing awards. He also founded and led Fractal Mind, developing gamification and technology-enabled engagement programmes for clients across retail, telecommunications, automotive and financial services. His work connects customer insight and creative ideas with participation, loyalty and commercial performance. As a judge, Tiago brings a cross-market perspective and a focus on strategic clarity, creative quality and measurable results—looking at how effectively campaigns connect audience understanding with execution and business impact.
Jonathan Moore | SEO and Analytics Consultant | Jonathan Moore Consultancy
Ian Macfarlane | SEO & GEO (parental cover) | H&M
Ian is a veteran of the SEO industry with over 23 years of experience. Currently leading the SEO and GEO programme at H&M, Ian has experience across all areas of search, ranging from technical, ecommerce and editorial content, product data and feeds, measurement, local, external authority, holistic search and evolving AI search experiences. Ian is passionate about the future of the search industry, and has experience across many industry sectors including ecommerce, automotive, travel, healthcare, amongst others.
Amir Khan | Lecturer in Digital Marketing | Salford Business School
Dr. Amir Khan is a distinguished academic and digital marketing professional with over 14 years of experience in teaching, research, and consultancy. Currently a Lecturer in Digital Marketing at the University of Salford, he brings together academic insight and industry expertise to inspire future marketing leaders. He has provided consultancy to a range of corporate clients in brand management, digital marketing, and strategic management. His research explores consumer behaviour, ESG, digital strategy, and marketing innovation, with numerous publications in international peer-reviewed journals. He holds a PhD in Business Economics and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
Matt Kohli | SEO Consultant | Fortitude Marketing
Matt Kohli is the Director of Fortitude Marketing. He holds a First Class BSc (Hons) in Digital Marketing from the University of Derby and is CMI and CIM accredited. Matt began his career in Technical SEO, working with award-winning agencies and in-house brands. Now, he leads a talented team at Fortitude Marketing, delivering results across SEO, PPC, CRO, and Branding. He has been featured on industry podcasts and regularly attends UK SEO events.
Ryan Ogilvie | Head of SEO (Contractor) | Ryan Ogilvie
Ryan Ogilvie is an experienced SEO and growth marketing leader with nearly 20 years’ experience delivering organic growth across B2C and B2B brands in sectors including e-commerce, automotive, insurance, finance, travel, and technology. He has led large in-house and agency teams, developed long-term digital strategies, and driven measurable commercial impact for both established and high-growth businesses. Ryan currently works as a contractor with UK-based leasing company Nationwide Vehicle Contracts, advising on SEO-led growth, content strategy, and conversion optimisation, and brings experience supporting brands across a range of sectors.
Patryk Wawok | Technical SEO and Content Specialist
Patryk is a Technical SEO and Content Specialist with over 6 years of experience and proven knowledge of technical SEO and content optimization. Patryk managed technical SEO and content projects for multiple Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 brands while working for world-renowned agencies. Patryk also trained in-house teams of Fortune 500 brands to improve their SEO practices in multiple workshops and performed as a speaker at SEO conferences such as the International Search Summit. Currently, Patryk is working as an independent SEO consultant working with mostly B2B e-commerce brands on their Technical SEO and content strategies. Personally, Patryk performs as an improv comedian and maniacally learns new cooking recipes every day.
Syphaiwong Bay | Founder | Assonance.Agency
Syphaïwong Bay is a content strategist, founder, and creative professional with a passion for visual culture and digital humanities. Early in life, she explored journalism and art before discovering her true calling during her university studies in visual culture, which set the stage for her multifaceted career. She is the founder of ASSONANCE.Agency, a content marketing agency that helps companies develop evergreen, high-quality content strategies, and the founder of Euphonie Studio, a micro-publishing company. Syphaïwong has received recognition for her work, including the SEMY Award Young Personality of the Year at SMX Paris (2019) and the Golden Blog Award for Best French Graphic Culture Blog (2011). She is also a frequent speaker at international SEO and content strategy events, sharing insights on topics such as keyword research, generative content, and automated marketing.
David Carrasco | SEO Consultant | Freelance | LinkedIn |
SEO Consultant with a Growth focus. He has over fifteen years of experience in SEO, developing strategies for a wide range of projects. In recent years, he served as CEO of a Spanish PR tool — a company he founded and later sold — which taught him valuable lessons in team and business management. He currently works as a freelance SEO consultant, trainer, and content creator.
Bartłomiej Wojnowski | SEO Manager | Orange Polska SA
Bartłomiej Wojnowski is a seasoned SEO and content marketing professional with more than a decade's experience, currently serving as a juror for the European Search Awards. His career started in media and PR agencies before advancing through publishing houses and e-commerce firms, developing content across sectors such as finance, FMCG, construction, real estate, and telecommunications. From hands-on content creation, he progressed to orchestrating content processes and teams—alongside external agencies—weaving in link-building strategies, and directing large-scale enterprise SEO projects for major corporations. Outside his professional commitments, Bartłomiej is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Warsaw on the future of SEO specialists amid AI and automation, and has spent several years delivering university lectures on SEO and content marketing.
Julia-Carolin zeng | SEO Consultant | Charlie on the Move
Julia started her career in SEO 8 years ago in the online gambling industry working for an affiliate company. She has since worked in different industries and is a freelance SEO consultant since 2019. She specialises in international SEO and works mostly with B2B SaaS companies in Europe and the US. Her educational background is in linguistics and cultural anthropology, and she can communicate in French, Spanish and Italian, in addition to her mother tongue German. Julia is usually based in London, but she loves travelling and the digital nomad lifestyle.
Berian Reed | SEO consultant
With over two decades of experience spanning technology consulting, agency, and client-side SEO roles, Berian is a seasoned SEO consultant and digital marketing growth advisor who specialises in building world-class in-house SEO teams for some of the world's most exciting brands and largest marketplaces. Armed with a BSc in Computer Science from The University of Manchester, his career journey took him from Technology Consulting at Deloitte to agency-side experience before moving client-side to lead SEO and performance marketing at Auto Trader UK during their digital transformation and IPO, ultimately transitioning into freelance SEO consulting in 2015.
Geoff Kennedy | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant | LinkedIn | X Profile |
Geoff Kennedy is a digital marketing & SEO Consultant with over 15 years of experience working with clients around the globe. Throughout his career, Geoff has played a pivotal role in driving organic traffic and enhancing online visibility for numerous organisations, ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations. His expertise spans across multiple industries, including e-commerce, technology, finance, and travel. Geoff currently operates as an independent consultant, specialising in SEO audits and providing strategic marketing support.
Stuart Turner | Managing Director | The Flow State | LinkedIn
Stuart P. Turner is a qualified philosopher, natural contrarian and 20 year veteran/survivor of the search industry. He is currently building two B2B startups, hosts digital industry show The Flow State Podcast and brings his straight talking Yorkshireman abroad perspective to the judging table here at the awards.
Clara Soteras | Media, SEO & Audience Growth Consultant. Founder PingCraft Collective. | Consultant & PingCraft Collective | LinkedIn | X Profile
Clara Soteras is an SEO, GEO and Digital Strategy Consultant working with news organizations, content creators, brands and digital platforms across Spain, Europe, LATAM and the US. She specializes in the intersection of search, content, audiences and artificial intelligence, helping organizations adapt their digital strategies to the rapidly evolving search landscape and understand how AI-powered experiences and Large Language Models (LLMs) are transforming content discovery, consumption and visibility. Her work also includes research, studies and strategic analysis on AI, search and digital audiences, exploring their impact across industries. Clara regularly trains journalists, editorial teams and digital professionals worldwide and speaks at international conferences on SEO, GEO, journalism, AI and media innovation. She is an Adjunct Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, teaches SEO and digital strategy for news media at several business schools, and is currently pursuing a PhD focused on AI, search and digital media. She also serves on the Advisory Board of WAN-IFRA’s Future Audiences initiative. Clara is the founder of PingCraft Collective, a global community connecting professionals across media, marketing, technology, product and audience development to exchange knowledge and explore new opportunities for growth and innovation. She is the author of SEO Playbook for News Publishers, a practical guide to improving news visibility through editorial and technical SEO strategies. Previously, she served as Head of Innovation and Digital Strategy at AMIC, Director of SEO and Product at El Nacional, and SEO Lead at betevé, Barcelona’s local public television channel.
Dateme Tamuno | Digital Account Manager | Traffic Radius
Dateme is a digital marketing professional with over 12 years of experience across client and agency environments, specialising in SEO, paid search, paid social, and integrated digital strategy. Recently relocated to Melbourne, Australia, he is currently a Digital Account Manager at Traffic Radius, where he helps businesses drive growth through data-driven marketing, customer insight, and performance optimisation.
Lazarina Stoy is the Founder of MLforSEO – a training platform for marketers, interested in developing and improving their skills in AI and ML-enabled automations, and a Organic Growth and SEO Consultant, Trainer, and Speaker. She is known for her ability to simplify complex technical concepts, making them accessible and exciting for both beginners and professionals. In her independent consultancy and training practice, Lazarina specializes in organic growth marketing, SEO, machine learning and data science. She has worked with countless B2B, SaaS, and big tech teams to improve their organic positioning, with her skills taking her to work with companies like AWS, Skyscanner, and Extreme Networks, leveraging machine learning to enhance SEO strategies, implement process automation, and drive organic growth. Lazarina Stoy is also the Founder of Women in Marketing – Bulgaria, where she organises in-person and online events, and facilitates learning and career growth opportunities for a community for Bulgarian women in marketing.
Philip Bacon | Marketing Director, Strategist, and Consultant | Marketing Managed
I'm a marketing strategist with over 20 years of experience spanning in-house roles, agency collaborations, and consultancy. My career has taken me across diverse sectors, including education, food, technology, engineering, and manufacturing, where I’ve been involved in almost every aspect and channel in marketing, whether that has been hands-on or managing multiple agency and freelance relationships. Before founding Bacon Marketing in 2020, now Marketing Managed, I've worked in senior marketing roles for various companies, both in-house and agency-side. These roles allowed me to hone my skills in campaign execution, lead generation, and strategic planning. Over the years, I’ve led high-stakes marketing initiatives, including complex multi-product and brand launches, digital marketing transformations, and multi-channel campaigns that have consistently delivered results.
Laura Iancu | Independent SEO & AI Search Consultant | SearchPedia
Laura Iancu is an independent SEO and AI Search Consultant with 7+ years’ experience shaping search strategies that put humans first. Founder of SearchPedia, she’s known for her quirky, big-idea thinking and her sharp, user-focused approach to SEO. A member of Women in Tech SEO and a recognised industry voice, Laura brings creativity and clarity for modern search, helping both emerging brands find their footing and established brands adapt and thrive in a changing landscape.
Ed Fletcher | Principal Solutions Architect | AtkinsRéalis
Ed has worked both internally and as a contractor, and gained a wealth of experience across a wide range of technical and business areas. From his time at the IBM software development lab at Hursley, Ed's passion is customer experience - whether in physical retail, web or mobile. He has spoken at conferences on topics as varied as delivering bespoke digital experiences via virtual appliances, effective organisation design for digital delivery, and how to prove the ROI of digital optimisation. Working at Vodafone Group, Ed setup and ran an internal digital optimisation agency to support 22 international markets with performance, analytics and SEO. He also delivered omni-channel content management solutions and as a Scaled Agile Program Consultant, coached leadership and technical teams as they move to Scaled Agile delivery. Ed’s most recent work was to define and setup a new Digital Analytics program for Penguin Books.
Dan Morehead | Lead SEO | Channel 4
Dan has been in the SEO industry for over a decade and is now leading SEO at Channel 4 as the legacy public service broadcaster transitions into the streaming age. Previously at the BBC, he specialises in digital transformation and technical SEO for enterprise websites. Former SEO speaking engagements have included BrightonSEO and Friends of Search in Amsterdam.
Sara Vordermeier | Content & Search Strategist | Uberall
Sara Vordermeier is a Hamburg-based content & SEO strategist with 8 years of experience, including 4+ years in B2B SaaS (adtech and martech). She currently works at Uberall, where she develops strategies that communicate how multi-location businesses can drive growth through incremental location marketing improvements in the age of AI search. Sara has spoken at BrightonSEO and focuses on cutting through industry noise to prioritise clarity over complexity for business owners and other search marketers, so that they achieve their goals.
Gemma Fontané | Co-Founder | Orvit digital consultancy
Gemma Fontané is a trilingual SEO consultant, co-founder of Orvit digital consultancy and founder of the international ecommerces denadal.cat & tiodenadal.online. With her company, she leads strategies for B2B and Ecommerce companies to help them generate business. Gemma has knowledge and experience in international SEO as well as content and technical SEO. In the last year, as a public speaker, Gemma has spoken at conferences in different countries such as Friends of Search in Amsterdam, Search Y Paris 2022 in Paris or the International Search Summit in Barcelona and has collaborated with different industry blogs and seminars.
Dev Patel | Product Manager | Google Ads
Dev Patel is a Product Manager at Google Ads, where he leads AI innovation within the core Measurement organization, shaping population-scale systems that influence how advertisers measure, attribute, and optimize performance across Google’s ads ecosystem. His work sits at the frontier of AI/ML, privacy-centric measurement, modeled conversions, experimentation, signal quality, and the next generation of performance advertising infrastructure. Earlier in his career, Dev moved across Google Play, venture-backed startups, and founder-led ventures, building web platforms, digital marketplaces, and consumer products at moments when the path forward was still being invented. That mix of engineering depth, product judgment, and zero-to-one experience gives him a rare perspective on what is genuinely innovative versus what is simply well-packaged. He has also served as a judge, mentor, and speaker at Harvard, MIT, and Stanford hackathons.
Carolina Torres | Global Performance Marketing Consultant | UNBOXPPC
Carolina Torres, Founder of UNBOXPPC, with 21+ years’ experience driving pipeline, revenue growth and efficiency for B2B, SaaS and tech-led businesses. Specialist in Paid Search (Google Ads & Microsoft Ads) with strong supporting expertise in Paid Social (LinkedIn, Meta). Proven at scaling global demand generation, optimising complex accounts, implementing automation, and partnering closely with Sales, RevOps and Leadership teams and experienced across EMEA, APAC and US markets, managing global budgets up to £1.5M+ per month.
Judith Lewis | Founder | Decabbit Consultancy
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
Sara Povoas | Senior SEO Analyst | Hostelworld Group
With nearly two decades in marketing and 10+ years in SEO, Sara Póvoas has built her career helping brands grow through organic search. Her background spans agency and in-house environments, working with international brands across competitive industries. Sara brings a hands-on, pragmatic approach to SEO, balancing technical foundations with content and strategy. She enjoys turning insights into action, simplifying complexity, mentoring teams, and staying curious in an industry that never stands still.
Carolina Vicente | Brand & marketing Director (Interim) | Trainline
Carolina Vicente is a senior marketing and product leader with two decades of experience driving growth for global brands, scale-ups, and Fortune 500 companies. She is Chief Commercial Officer at Tigo, a fast-growing wellness brand, and Founder of GrowthStac, a consultancy helping companies accelerate growth through brand, marketing, product, and data strategy. Previously, Carolina held leadership roles at Google, HelloFresh, and ASOS, where she led market expansions and built high-performing teams across multiple geographies. Passionate about combining creativity with data, Carolina supports brands in applying AI to unlock efficiencies, deepen customer insights, and deliver measurable impact. She is dedicated to shaping marketing strategies that drive acquisition, inspire loyalty and fuel long-term growth.
Andy Clear | International SEO and AI Search Consultant
Andy Clear is an international SEO and AI search consultant with 15+ years of experience across agency and in-house environments, working with brands in finance, automotive, FMCG, eCommerce and travel. His career has given him a broad view of how organic growth, technical SEO and web experience come together at scale. Andy has led teams for over a decade, with a focus on building and developing talent across multidisciplinary search and growth functions. He has delivered SEO and growth initiatives in complex organisations that secured top positions in some of the UK's most competitive commercial search markets. Recognised at both the UK and Global Search Awards, Andy is now focused on how AI search, answer engines and the new discovery environments are reshaping organic visibility.
Clare Dyckhoff | Freelance Writer, Content & SEO Strategist
Clare has worked in Digital for over a decade in roles specialising in SEO Content and heading up the SEO team at a leading Ed-Tech company. She now works for herself as a Organic Growth Specialist and Writer (B2B, B2C) on clients spanning global marketplaces, professional services, B2B, and Fashion. Having worked at an award-winning media agency and a number of startups, she has worked on optimised content campaigns across most industries and loves how words are at the heart of connecting with people. She has judged on numerous panels, given guest lectures and talks on SEO and PR and is thrilled to be returning to the EU Search Awards judging panel this year.
Juan Vargas | Global SEO Director | CARWOW
With more than 15 years of experience leading SEO teams both agency and client side and a solid academic foundation, Juan has delivered demonstrable commercial success across a wide range of industries. Currently, he’s global SEO director at FARFETCH a luxury fashion marketplace, and has previously led the organic performance teams at Compare the Market and MoneySupermarket in the personal finance and insurance vertical in the UK. Agency side, Juan oversaw several clients including Mercedes Benz, Fiat, Masserati, BT, Barclays, the Merlin entertainment group, intuit, and the largest global consumer electronics retailer. He’s been listed by the Drum as one of the top 50 individuals in search in the UK, and has won accolades at the UK, European, Global search awards, as well as the DMAs.
Michael Emiliani | Head of Brand Strategy & Business Growth | Freight Right Global Logistics
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.
Erica Ylimaki | Head of Marketing | MedicubeX
Erica is a multilingual digital and growth marketer as well as a linguist with a specialized background in SaaS SEO, formerly of Trustmary. Now driving growth in the health-tech sector as Head of Marketing at MedicubeX, she is a recognized industry voice who recently spoke at SMX Advanced Berlin 2025. Erica combines her love for languages with a rigorous, data-first approach to digital marketing.
Sharon Peredo Sahid | Digital Experience Optimization Consultant
A marketer, strategist, and SEO enthusiast with expertise in website optimization. Sharon has worked across diverse markets and niches, enhancing customer experiences, acquisition funnels, and conversion rates. Passionate about helping brands elevate their visibility, positioning, and USPs across search engines and LLMs, she’s also deeply curious about AI-driven strategies and experimentation frameworks.
David Sayce | SEO Consultant
David Sayce is a highly accomplished digital marketing and SEO consultant with over two decades of experience in the industry, starting back in 1996. He is the founder of Paper Gecko, a UK-based digital marketing consultancy that specialises in strategy, transformation and technical SEO, helping businesses across the globe to increase their online presence and attract more customers, as well as building and improving their digital teams. Key industry focus is within Professional Services firms such as Financial Services, legal and Accountancy. David also has extensive experience working with clients such as npower (energy), Barratt Developments (construction), Hagemeyer (international B2B & MRO), Windsor Newton/Colart (Art Supplies Retailer). David's expertise in SEO and digital marketing has been recognised by some of the biggest names in the industry. He has been a speaker at numerous conferences and events, including Technology for Marketing and International Search Summit and SMX London, where he has shared his insights and strategies for achieving success in the world of digital marketing. As a judge for the Global Search Awards, David leverages his wealth of experience to identify and recognise the best and brightest in the digital marketing and SEO industry. He is a true thought leader and expert in his field, and his contributions continue to shape the future of the industry.
Heana Thakur | Head of Marketing | Argos Marketplace
Heana heads up marketing for Argos Marketplace – despite being a new offering from the retailer, Argos is the UK's third most-visited retail website, reaching over 50 million visitors every month. With over a decade of experience across digital marketing, ecommerce and performance media, she has held senior roles across Sainsbury’s, Argos, Matches Fashion and Merkle/Dentsu. Heana specialises in using customer insight, technology and commercial data to drive profitable growth and create seamless digital experiences. She is an experienced industry speaker, awards judge and is passionate about developing the next generation of marketing talent through her role as a mentor with the Bloom network. Alongside this, she mentors colleagues within Sainsbury's and volunteers as a Community Champion, supporting local organisations focused on healthier and more sustainable lifestyles.
Leomerly is an International SEO and AI Search Strategist with over 10 years of experience across agency, in-house and consulting roles. She specializes in technical SEO, semantic search, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), LLM visibility and scalable content systems, helping businesses strengthen their presence across both traditional search engines and emerging AI platforms. Her approach combines strategic thinking, technical expertise and automation to solve complex search challenges and turn organic visibility into measurable business growth. She has built AI-powered SEO workflows using n8n, Python, APIs and AI agents, reducing content production and publishing time by up to 70%. Her career achievements also include scaling a digital platform to 1.4 million monthly organic sessions and converting 12% of its organic traffic into qualified B2B leads. Passionate about the evolution of search, Leomerly values innovation that is purposeful, user-focused and supported by strong strategic foundations. As a judge, she looks for work that combines creativity, technical excellence and meaningful results.
Michele Tommasi | Media Lead | Tempcover
Where should the next pound of investment go and when do additional returns start to diminish? What are we not seeing? Which growth opportunities are genuinely incremental? How should we balance short-term performance with long-term brand building? What needs to be true across the business for growth to scale? These are some of the questions I most enjoy working through, particularly when the answer is not obvious, the numbers matter and there are real commercial trade-offs to make. I help leadership teams turn those decisions into action, align teams and shape media investment, customer acquisition and brand strategy around commercial priorities. Over the past decade, my work has spanned paid media, performance marketing, demand generation and brand investment, from paid search and paid social through to TV, out-of-home and other channels. I have managed multi-million-pound monthly budgets across both in-house and agency-side roles, working with founder-led businesses, SMEs, PE-backed companies and global organisations.
Tasha Antwi | SEO Consultant | RMG
Tasha Antwi is an SEO Consultant with 11 years of experience in the industry, known for developing data-driven global omnichannel search strategies driven by audience insights. She has become an expert in the luxury and premium space and is a regular speaker at Brighton SEO, featured in WARC, Prolific North, and more. She has worked with some of the biggest and most renowned brands globally and was previously Director of Search at Rise at Seven and an Advisory Board Member for Wix. Tasha was also recently named one of the 'Top 24 Marketers to Follow in 2024'.
CIM-certified Growth & Performance Marketing Specialist with 8 + years’ experience driving B2B lead generation across SaaS, fintech, and tech-for-good. Recognised by the Tech Nation Global Talent Visa for exceptional digital technology expertise. Proven success managing six-figure ad budgets and delivering results through Google, Meta, LinkedIn, and Microsoft Ads. Skilled in AI-driven campaign optimisation, automation, and multichannel acquisition strategy.
Tristan James | SEO Specialist | EE
Tristan brings over 13 years of experience from a mix of agency and in-house roles and work with some huge household names notably his current role at EE. His focus on collaboration and deep love for the industry means he’ll be looking for innovative and creative approaches to SEO that cover the whole spectrum of optimisation, considering the newest and oldest techniques and the user throughout.
Iva Jovanovic | Content Marketing Specialist & SEO consultant
Iva Jovanovic is an experienced Content Marketing Specialist & SEO consultant, and the organizer of the Belgrade SEO Conference and Heapcon. She specializes in SEO and content creation for websites and social media, but also works on Technical SEO and web development. As an active member of Heapspace, a vibrant community for IT professionals, she has been on the organizing team for Heapcon since 2022 and Belgrade SEO Conference, and hosted Heapspace Meetups and SEO Talks. Originally an MA Art Historian and curator, she has been in the content marketing and SEO industry since 2018 and has worked with brands across Europe and the US in various industries ranging from IT, AI, cybersecurity, and SaaS to lifestyle, travel, transport, automotive, and relocation. She's also been a guest on podcasts, panels, meetups, and conferences.
Vânia Marques | Head of PPC | Minty Lab - Minty Square
With an unusual path, my career in digital marketing began in 2018, 2 years after completing my Degree in Philosophy. After a course in digital marketing with an internship, I ended up working at the agency where I interned. With 5 years of experience and dozens of clients, I worked as a PPC manager and content manager. 3 years on I decided to focus exclusively on paid campaigns. Throughout this time I developed experience in lead gen in the B2B market and later in brand development, traffic increase, and purchase generation in the B2C market. I am currently responsible for the PPC department at MintySquare, where I develop marketing strategies for several fashion brands and campaigns that aim to increase brand awareness and generate purchases.
Andrew has nearly two decades of experience in digital strategy and marketing working for household names like the BBC, National Trust and Lord's Cricket Ground. In 2017 he started his own company, Optimisey, a Cambridge-based SEO consultancy helping businesses of all sizes “get a bit optimisey” about their online presence. His love for SEO (and dreadful puns) has led to him featuring on podcasts, blogs and vlogs from SEMrush, Ahrefs, Search Engine Journal, Edge of the Web and more. He’s delighted to join the UK Search Awards judging panel and is still hoping that “Best Use of Rambling Analogy” becomes a category.
Bethany Weatherhead | Director & SEO Specialist | Ruddy Duck Digital
I am the Director and SEO Specialist at Ruddy Duck Digital LTD, a UK-based SEO company helping businesses and individuals with their SEO strategies and providing training. With over 10 years of experience in SEO and marketing, I have worked in agency and in-house roles, leading strategies for brands including finance, retail, health and technology.
Gerry White has been in the industry for 20+ years, with a background in development he transitioned to technical marketing leading on SEO, analytics and digital growth strategies for companies, agencies, the government and corporations such as the BBC. In the past few years Gerry has spoken at conferences around the globe including Paris, Germany, USA and of course the UK. Gerry was the Technical SEO Lead for Just Eat a FTSE 100 company in 12 markets as well as consulting for other e-commerce brands. Gerry was the SEO Director for Rise at Seven from 2020 to 2021 when they grew from 15 to 115 people. Gerry is now a Freelance SEO & Growth Consultant.
Natalia Witczyk | CEO / International SEO Consultant | Mosquita Digital | LinkedIn | X Profile
Natalia Witczyk is an International SEO Consultant with over a decade of experience, specializing in driving organic growth for businesses in global markets, including Spain, China, and the UK. As the founder of the consultancy Mosquita Digital, she leverages her deep understanding of multilingual and technical SEO to craft scalable strategies for a diverse clientele, from SaaS startups to Fortune 500 companies. Originally from Poland and now based in China, Natalia's expertise extends beyond Google to other major international search engines such as Baidu and Yandex. On top of consulting and judging industry awards, Natalia is also a frequent speaker at marketing conferences.
Dan Barker | Consultant
Dan has worked in ecommerce for around 20 years. He has worked within companies in ecommerce functions, up to CMO level, has worked on projects for more than 100 ecommerce businesses as a consultant, and has co-owned a couple of ecommerce businesses with millions of visitors and hundreds of millions of turnover between them over the years. He enjoys the opportunity that ecommerce has brought and can bring to people all over the world.
Aoife McIlraith | Global Search & Digital Marketing Consultant
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.
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.
Juliette van Rooyen | HEAD OF SEO | VR SQUARED
Juliette is an SEO Specialist with more than 14 years experience in both client-side and agency environments in London & Cape Town. Starting as a developer, she was lured to the dark side of SEO with the promise of being more creative. After getting a taste for SEO, she moved to London and spent 6 years working for various agencies. Her clients included Nintendo, Samsung, COI & Shell. She returned to Cape Town where she worked on the gambling industry on the client-side, spearheading multi-region and multi-language strategies for global casino brands. After 6 years of working in that arena, Juliette returned to London in 2018 to lead UK SEO for a multinational ecommerce brand.
Olesia Korobka | SEO Entrepreneur
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.
Richard Gregory | Founder | Agency NXD
Richard is co-founder of AgencyNXD as well as an advisor and NXD to multiple tech firms and agencies, including Adzooma, Fluid Digitial and Ruler Analytics. Heralding from “Silicon Ramsbottom” he is an ardent supporter of the digital and tech industry in the North of England. Previously, Richard was the managing director of digital agency Latitude, director of Tech North and co-founder of SAScon.
Jon Myers | Founder & MD | Ascending Media
Jon is an experienced leader within the Digital Marketplace with over 19 years’ experience and has demonstrated dedication to the industry over his career which has been recognised when he was awarded Search Personality of the Year 2017 at the UK Search Awards and also voted into Europe’s Top50 Performance Markets 2017. He has worked in senior roles for large agencies, publisher-side with Yahoo, and more recently the Ad Technology space as VP and MD EMEA of Marin Software before joining DeepCrawl and then setting up his own company Ascending Media. He has experience in Paid Search since its inception, and has also worked heavily in SEO, Display and Paid Social over the years. This broad range has given Jon a strong understanding of all sides of the market, a sharp business knowledge and skill set, and many connections across EMEA and the US who recognise him for his experience and thought leadership within the online advertising industry. Jon is extremely active in the Search community, and is most likely to be found moderating, speaking and sharing his knowledge at conferences, webinars and events across the world. He also frequently acts as a judge for awards in the industry, including the UK Search Awards, European Search Awards, US Search Awards and Performance Marketing Awards to name a few.
Nick Andrews is the Group Head of SEO at Kingfisher plc, where he oversees search strategies for leading home improvement retailers including B&Q, Screwfix, Tradepoint, Castorama, and Brico Dépôt. With over 15 years of experience in digital marketing, Nick has previously led digital marketing strategy, SEO and PPC teams at Marks and Spencer (M&S) and Debenhams, and served as Head of Acquisition at Moonpig Group, along with managing digital marketing teams at two UK agencies. A long-time supporter of industry excellence, Nick has 10 years experience as a judge, supporting the UK & European Search Awards and the UK & EU Ecommerce Awards amongst others.
Jason Meininger | Technical SEO Manager | Stepstone Group
Jason has been online since before browsers had graphics, and a 20+ year career in both enterprise and startup environments spans web design, development, marketing, and project management. For well over a decade he has been a core part of the SEO programme at Totaljobs Group (now part of StepStone Atlantic), supporting both on-and off-site SEO initiatives with a primary focus on scalable, data-led technical optimisation to improve reach, drive organic traffic, and maximise engagement across a transcontinental portfolio of online recruitment classified sites. Also a MENA Search Awards judge, he is an avid traveller, a competitive archer, and maintains a parallel career in London as a theatrical producer and lighting designer.
Cheryl Hill is a Fractional CMO and Growth Marketing Advisor, and the founder of C.Hill Consulting. She has built performance marketing teams from the ground up, scaling a marketplace's order volume from 7 million to 86 million and managing a media budget north of $50M. She has also stepped into a DTC brand as CMO, rebuilding a broken funnel into 195% revenue growth in six months. With over two decades in digital marketing across finance, logistics, travel and retail, she has a consistent record of full-funnel growth built on search, paid media, CRM and data-driven personalisation. She is a certified GTM OS Partner and now works with founder-led B2C, B2B, and marketplace brands, helping them build the marketing and growth systems that let them scale without the founder carrying the whole engine.
Motoko Hunt | President | AJPR |
Motoko Hunt is an International SEO and GEO consultant offering technical, content, and other SEO services. Since establishing AJPR in 1998, she has been providing International SEO/GEO and SEM services targeting Japan to companies worldwide. Her search marketing consulting services, leveraging her extensive knowledge of Asia and the Japanese market have been highly valued and significantly impacted the SEO/GEO projects and search marketing campaigns of several popular multinational brands. She frequently speaks at global search marketing conferences and writes SEO/AI related articles for online publishers.
Anna Oshkalo | Digital Strategy Consultant
Anna is a digital marketer with over 15 years of experience. She's had the opportunity to live and work in the Netherlands and Sweden and has now settled in Portugal, where she runs her own consultancy business. Before starting her consultancy, Anna worked at Ericsson, where she was responsible for global SEO and paid media strategies, development of Ericsson’s digital marketing tech stack and training of marketing teams across the globe. Anna's expertise also extends beyond corporate; she has worked with various startups in competitive sectors like telecommunications, gambling, and e-commerce.
Montserrat Cano | International SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant
Montserrat Cano is a global digital strategist and delivery leader,working with organisations to turn complex digital strategy into measurable business outcomes by aligning product, marketing and delivery across global markets. Her work spans organic visibility, product marketing and digital transformation, connecting strategy with execution to deliver sustainable growth. She is an international speaker, University trainer, co-author and a contributor to Search Engine Journal and the Web Almanac.
Gianluca Fiorelli | SEO & Web Marketing Strategist | X Profile
Gianluca Fiorelli started working as an SEO in 2004, after previously having worked in the Italian TV and Audiovisual industry. Amongst the best known International and Strategic SEO consultants, Gianluca helps and helped brands like Iberostar.com, Glassdoor, Outsystems, ActivTrades, Magoosh, Go Overseas and many others to reach the sought success in organic search. Gianluca, who is also the founder of The Inbounder digital marketing conference, spoke at international events like Mozcon, BrightonSEO, SMX, and PubCon.
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.
David Edmundson-Bird | Principal Lecturer in Digital Marketing & Enterprise | Manchester Metropolitan University
David is Principal Lecturer in Digital Marketing and Faculty Lead for AI at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. He leads the faculty team responsible for developing policy and good practice embedding the use of AI in teaching, assessment, research and business engagement. He is co-author of 7th edition (and soon to be 8th edition) of Digital Business & E-commerce Management with Dave Chaffey and Tanya Hemphill. David has enjoyed several spells in academia as well as senior management roles in the digital sector. he helped set up Manchester’s second web design agency, Sozo, back in 1995, and was Chief Learning Architect at Academee from 1999 to 2002 He set up the UK’s first part-time MSc in Digital Marketing in 2007 for MMU, as well as their first full-time MSc Digital Marketing Comms in 2016. He also led the creation of Man Met’s Digital Marketing Degree Apprenticeship, now in its 5th cohort. He runs several courses at Manchester Met, including units on SEO, E-Commerce, Value Proposition Design, and Digital Strategy. He works with the Centre for Enterprise providing training, coaching, and mentoring in strategic marketing, digital marketing practice, and e-commerce development themes for SMEs. He sits on the Board at FutureEverything, a global digital arts business.
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
Aleyda Solis | International SEO Consultant | Orainti
Aleyda Solis is an award winning International SEO Consultant -service that she provides with her company Orainti-, a blogger (Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal and Moz), author of the SEO book in Spanish “SEO. Las Claves Esenciales” and experienced speaker (with more than 100 conferences in 20 countries in English and Spanish). Awarded as the European Search Personality of the Year in 2018 at the European Search Awards, included in Forbes as one of the 10 Digital Marketing specialists to follow in 2015, in Entrepreneur as one of the 50 Online Marketing Influencers to follow in 2016 and in Hubspot as one of the 59 Female Marketing and Growth Experts You Should be Following, she has been also interviewed in publications such as The Huffington Post and in the Google Partners Podcast.
Murat is a seasoned Product and Growth Strategy leader with over 15 years of experience scaling global digital businesses. He is the Founder of Fokal, a growth consulting firm that has been up and running for 10+ years. Through Fokal, Murat has advised over 100 companies, ranging from early-stage startups to established enterprises, helping them build sustainable growth engines and optimize their digital presence. Before founding Fokal, He served as VP of Growth at Brainly, where he built high-performing teams and led the platform’s massive expansion from 80 million to 400M MMUs. Prior to that, he was a Director at Global Savings Group and spent five years at Google as a Senior Product Analyst in the Search Quality team, ensuring the integrity of Google’s search results. Murat is currently a mentor and trusted advisor for Google and HubSpot in startup acceleration programs. He holds degrees in Computer Engineering and Engineering Management, and his academic successes include graduate studies at Stanford University.
Rumyana Miteva | Growth Marketing Director | Motorway
Rumyana is an experienced digital marketer with a great passion for the Travel industry. As Head of Performance & Revenue, she is leading a team of Paid Search, SEO and Social Media specialists. Prior to joining Secret Escapes, she has helped several other Ecommerce & Travel brands grow their online presence. Rumyana is a regular conference speaker on topics such as Machine Learning, Automation and Performance Marketing Best Practices.
Michael Bonfils is the Founder and CEO of SEM International. Which is an award winning global digital marketing management firm with 32 worldwide offices specializing in multilingual PPC, SEO, Social Media, Global eCommerce, Content and Localization. His company’s services are tailored to assist global advertising agencies and multinational corporations with their digital marketing strategies around the world. He has been in the industry since 1997, has been a frequent speaker at global conferences, is a recognized industry award judge and past/present board member for a number of digital marketing organizations.
Silvia Martin Palacio | Founder and SEO Consultant | Trebole | Silvia Martin Palacio
Silvia is an independent SEO consultant, international speaker, author of SEO for Branding, and founder of Trebole, a boutique consultancy based in London. She specialises in SEO strategy, international SEO and technical SEO, helping global clients improve their organic visibility and performance. She holds a Master’s degree in Marketing and has more than 13 years of experience in SEO, having worked across in-house, agency and independent consultancy roles since 2013. Silvia is also a Search Awards judge and certified mentor. Alongside running her own mentoring programmes, she has collaborated with organisations including Women in Tech SEO, WYK and Santander.
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
Seb Atkinson | SEO & Organic Growth Consultant | Atkinson Smith Digital
Seb Atkinson is a Digital Marketing Consultant with over 12 years of experience in Technical SEO, International SEO and Content Strategy for editorial and eCommerce sites in both B2B and B2C. Specialising in connecting search visibility with commercial goals to increase revenue, Seb has worked with businesses across multiple industries including personal finance, professional services, B2B and consumer brands. Seb’s approach is to understand a business’ goals, what’s currently working and what isn’t, and produce a strategy and roadmap to elevate revenue through organic search traffic. He prides himself in his thorough approach and out-of-the box thinking to solve problems and develop effective SEO programmes that deliver results, carefully considering a business’ current capabilities and how to help take them to the next level.
Mohammadreza Hasanpour | SEO Manager | Snapp!
Mohammadreza is the SEO Manager at Snapp!, where he leads organic growth across a high-traffic, multi-vertical ecosystem. With over nine years of experience, he has shaped search strategies for some of the most competitive industries, including travel, insurance, finance, health, and e-commerce, delivering measurable impact at scale. Beyond execution, Mohammadreza focuses on building the foundations for sustainable organic growth: designing SEO systems, internal tooling, and high-performing in-house teams that scale with the business. His core expertise lies in technical SEO, deep data analysis, and SEO automation, with a growing focus on how large language models and AI-powered search are reshaping the discovery layer of the web. He treats SEO as an engineering and intelligence discipline, combining crawl-level technical rigor, automation pipelines, and machine-learning-driven analysis to navigate the evolving search landscape.
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The UK Search Awards celebrate everything we strive for at Exposure Ninja: fantastic client results, innovative work that pushes the industry forward, and a brilliant team behind it all. We’re incredibly proud of the standard of work we deliver, so having it recognised amongst the UK’s best makes every shortlist and win really special.Charlie Marchant, CEO Exposure Ninja
The awards gave us a stronger position. When people arrive already trusting your capabilities, the sales process becomes a lot more natural.Alex Tkacovs 94N
Winning consistently at this level gives both our clients and our team confidence that the work we’re delivering stands up against the very best in the industry.Aedín O’Neill GrowWeb
It’s encouraging to see work recognised that focuses on clarity and effectiveness rather than complexity. These awards reflect an approach built around understanding search behaviour and applying it in a way that delivers genuine value for clients.Josh Hamit My Search Ranking
We're delighted to have been shortlisted for the UK Search Awards due to its prestigious nature whilst also being able to showcase a project which we are all incredibly proud of. We feel that being shortlisted for awards like this is a testament to the hard work that has been put in by both our team and our clients.Sebastian Dean Imaginaire
Being shortlisted in two prominent categories at the UK Search Awards is more than just a recognition; it is a celebration of who we are and what we stand for. It encapsulates our journey, our values, and the hard work of our amazing team. It encourages us to continue striving for excellence, breaking new ground in PPC and tech innovation, and setting new standards within the industry. Clean Digital
The UK Search Awards have long been a benchmark for excellence in digital marketing and being recognised here reinforces our commitment to continuous improvement. For us, it’s not just about celebrating a campaign — it’s about celebrating the craft of SEO itself.Alex Mungo, Founder Go Mungo SEO
We found the entry process for the UK Search Awards to be smooth and well-organised, thanks to the great support from the Don’t Panic Team. They were always responsive, approachable, and ready to assist with any queries we had, making our experience as finalists in five categories very positive and rewarding.Stewart Roode Hooked On Media
The UK Search Awards is an evening we always look forward to, it’s a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the hard work and exceptional results our team consistently delivers. It’s incredibly rewarding to see our team’s efforts recognised externally, and we’re proud to be part of such an inspiring industry.Ian McIntosh Evolved and UpShift
“Entering the UK Search Awards gave us the opportunity to demonstrate that small-budget campaigns can still deliver exceptional outcomes, particularly in the third sector.” Wildcat Digital
