TL;DR: JBE Digital has been shortlisted at the Global Search Awards 2026 in the Best Use of Search – Travel/Leisure (SEO) category for its campaign with ASA Cultural Tours, “Off the Beaten Path: Climbing to Page One.”
The shortlist was announced on 3 July 2026 by Don’t Panic Events, with winners revealed at the gala ceremony at The Mansion House, Dublin on 23 September 2026.
The nominated campaign delivered a 129% year-on-year increase in non-branded organic traffic for ASA Cultural Tours, along with 200 keywords ranking at position one and 253 keywords in the top three across Google.
The recognition sits alongside JBE Digital’s shortlist at the APAC Search Awards 2026 for Best PPC Campaign and back-to-back wins at the TechBehemoths Awards 2025 for SEO and UX/UI Design.
What the Global Search Awards Recognise
The Global Search Awards, run by Don’t Panic Events under the We Are Search banner, sit at the top of the international search marketing awards series that also includes the UK, US, European, APAC and MENA Search Awards. Entries come from over 195 countries and are judged by senior search practitioners across SEO, PPC and content marketing.
Being shortlisted means an entry has cleared an independent judging round evaluating strategy, implementation, creativity, results and commercial impact. The travel and leisure SEO category we’ve been recognised in is one of the most competitive on the roster because travel brands invest heavily in organic search.
Our shortlist appears on the official Global Search Awards 2026 page and the winners are announced live in Dublin on 23 September 2026.
The Shortlisted Campaign: ASA Cultural Tours
ASA Cultural Tours runs 30 to 40 small-group cultural tours a year across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, led by academics with deep expertise in history, art, food and archaeology. Their audience is over 65, highly educated, and researches thoroughly before booking.
When we began the engagement in January 2025, ASA’s organic traffic was almost entirely branded. People already familiar with the brand were finding them, but non-branded search wasn’t bringing new travellers into the top of the funnel. That was the growth gap the campaign was built to close.
The campaign spanned technical SEO auditing and remediation, category and tour page restructuring, content collaboration with ASA’s academic writers, and competitor link gap analysis to earn placements on relevant travel and lifestyle publications.
Results Behind the Nomination
The campaign delivered against every target set at kick-off in January 2025.
Non-branded organic traffic grew 129% year-on-year. Comparing February to April 2025 against February to April 2026, sessions climbed from 882 to 2,020 against a target of a 20% lift.
Top three keyword rankings hit 253 in April 2026, ahead of the 250 target and up from a starting position of 175. Number one rankings reached 200 in April 2026, well ahead of the 120 target and up from a starting position of 95.
The client review documenting the direct commercial impact of these rankings on bookings supported the entry submission.
Recent Recognition Alongside the Global Search Awards
The Global Search Awards shortlist builds on a run of recognition across paid media, SEO and UX.
At the APAC Search Awards 2026, we were shortlisted for Best PPC Campaign for our work with Pacific Airshow, “Ticket Sales Taking Flight With Meta Ads,” entered into the PPC category on the strength of its commercial impact and intent-driven structure.
At the TechBehemoths Awards 2025, we won in both categories we were nominated for: SEO and UX/UI Design. The TechBehemoths awards evaluate agencies on impact, transparency, reliability and delivery based on verified client feedback, which makes the double win a meaningful client-side signal.
Across paid media, organic and design, the pattern the awards are recognising is the same: performance work built on strategy, tracking and long-term client partnerships rather than campaign-by-campaign firefighting.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Global Search Awards?
The Global Search Awards are an international awards programme run by Don’t Panic Events that recognises excellence in SEO, PPC and content marketing across the global search industry. Entries come from digital agencies and in-house teams in more than 195 countries and are judged by senior search practitioners.
What category is JBE Digital shortlisted in at the Global Search Awards 2026?
JBE Digital is shortlisted in the Best Use of Search – Travel/Leisure (SEO) category for the campaign “Off the Beaten Path: Climbing to Page One,” delivered with ASA Cultural Tours.
When are the Global Search Awards 2026 winners announced?
Winners are announced live at the Global Search Awards ceremony on 23 September 2026 at The Round Room, The Mansion House in Dublin.
What results did the nominated ASA Cultural Tours campaign deliver?
The campaign delivered a 129% year-on-year increase in non-branded organic traffic for ASA Cultural Tours between February to April 2025 and February to April 2026. It also grew top three keyword rankings from 175 to 253 and number one rankings from 95 to 200 across April 2026.
What services did JBE Digital deliver for ASA Cultural Tours?
The campaign combined technical SEO auditing and remediation, category and tour page restructuring, content collaboration with ASA’s academic writers, competitor link gap analysis, and a new redirect and canonicalization process for year-in-URL tour pages. The scope was pure organic search rather than paid media.
What other awards has JBE Digital been recognised in recently?
JBE Digital has been shortlisted at the APAC Search Awards 2026 for Best PPC Campaign for its work with Pacific Airshow, and won the TechBehemoths Awards 2025 in both the SEO and UX/UI Design categories.
How does award recognition sit inside JBE Digital’s Trust Engine framework?
Independent third-party recognition, verified client outcomes and named campaign results contribute to the credibility signals that AI systems and buyers use to evaluate agencies. Award shortlists sit inside the wider trust signals we build into every engagement.
The Strategic Implication
Being shortlisted at the Global Search Awards is a proof point for the way we work rather than a departure from it.
The ASA Cultural Tours campaign didn’t win a nomination through a clever tactic or a lucky quarter. It won on 16 months of strategic work anchored to a real commercial problem, executed with data and documented so the client could hold the process after the campaign period ended.
That’s the same pattern behind the APAC Search Awards shortlist for Pacific Airshow and the back-to-back TechBehemoths wins in SEO and UX/UI Design. Different clients, different channels, same operating discipline.
For established businesses evaluating agencies right now, third-party recognition is one of the credibility signals that matters most in a market where anyone can claim expertise. Awards judged by senior practitioners against verifiable results filter a lot of the noise out.
The work that earns nominations is the same work that compounds growth for the client. Build the engine properly and the recognition follows.
