The SEO and SEM community came together last night at the 2018 Search Engine Land Awards, part of the SMX Advanced after-hours events. This year marked the fourth consecutive year of the Search Engine Land Award celebrations and included a full lineup of search rock stars and superheroes. The Search Engine Land Awards recognize the industry’s most outstanding campaigns, agencies and individuals.

The 2018 Search Engine Land Awards included a total of 25 award categories. Winners were selected from a wide range of agencies, in-house teams and individuals who submitted entries. This year’s awards list included a number of new categories — like the Best Research Initiative by a Software Tool — and a few surprise awards to honor Search Engine Land’s top contributors and speakers of the year.

Rise Interactive made Search Engine Land Award history this year as the first agency to receive a perfect score for their Large Agency of the Year entry.

More than 500 industry professionals were in attendance at this year’s Search Engine Land Awards. The event was sponsored by Google, Bing, Marin and Acronym and hosted at MoPOP in Seattle, Washington. In addition to honoring the top performers in the SEO and SEM community, a portion of the award entry fees and tickets sales were donated to Mental Health America, the 2018 charity organization recipient.

The 2018 Search Engine Land Award Winners

• Best Overall Search Marketing Initiative — SEO & SEM: Milestone Inc.
• Best Integration of Search into Cross-Channel Marketing: Wolfgang Digital.
• Best Overall SEO Initiative — Small Business: Infront WebWorks.
• Best Overall SEM Initiative — Small Business: TriMark Digital.
• Best Overall SEO Initiative — Enterprise: Path Interactive.
• Best Overall SEM Initiative — Enterprise: Precis Digital.
• Best B2C SEM Initiative — Enterprise: Adobe.
• Best Enterprise SEM Initiative — Travel & Lifestyle: Acronym.
• Best Retail Search Marketing Initiative — SEM: Rise Interactive.
• Best Retail Search Marketing Initiative — SEO: Nebo Agency.
• Best Local Search Marketing Initiative — SEM: Jellyfish.
• Best Local Search Marketing Initiative — SEO: BrandMuscle.
• Best Mobile Search Marketing Initiative — SEO: Back Azimuth.
• Best B2B Search Marketing Initiative — SEM: Mediative.
• Best B2B Search Marketing Initiative — SEO: AIS Media.
• Best Search & Social Media Marketing Initiative: FSC Interactive.
• Best Research Initiative by an Agency: Catalyst.
• Best Research Initiative by a Software Tool: Adthena.
• Search Marketer of the Year: Stephanie Wallace.
• Search Marketer of the Year: Raymond Deschenes.
• In-House Team of the Year: HomeToGo GmbH.
• Boutique Agency of the Year — SEM: FSC Interactive.
• Boutique Agency of the Year — SEO: Victorious.
• Large Agency of the Year — SEM: Rise Interactive.
• Large Agency of the Year — SEO: Women’s Marketing.

This year’s awards list included four “surprise” categories — SEO Contributor of the Year, SEM Contributor of the Year, SEO Speaker of the Year and SEM Speaker of the Year. Search Engine Land nominated five candidates in each category to recognize the top contributors on Search Engine Land and the top speakers from SMX Conferences during the past year. Here’s the complete list of nominees and winners.

SEO Contributor of the Year Winner and Nominees

Winner: Sherry Bonelli
Nominees:

• Joy Hawkins.
• Marcus Miller.
• Paul Shapiro.
• Patrick Stox.

SEM Contributor of the Year Winner and Nominees

Winner: Frederick Vallaeys
Nominees:

• Daniel Gilbert.
• Pauline Jakober.
• Marcus Miller.
• Andy Taylor.

SEO Speaker of the Year Winner and Nominees

Winner: Christine Churchill
Nominees:

• Dana DiTomaso.
• Eric Enge.
• Leslie To.
• Patrick Stox.

SEM Speaker of the Year Winner and Nominees

Winner: Michelle Morgan
Nominees:

• Elizabeth Marsten.
• Adam Proehl.
• Maggie Malek.
• Frederick Vallaeys.

Search Engine Land would like to congratulate this year’s award winners and send thanks to all the agencies, in-house teams and individuals who submitted entries.

Photos from the awards event can be found here.

Planning for next year’s Search Engine Land Awards event is already underway. If you have an SEO or SEM campaign you want to enter for consideration, be sure to check out these 21 tips for crafting an impressive awards submissions.