The winners of the inaugural MENA Search Awards have been announced.
The awards, produced by Don’t Panic Events and presented in association with Plan B, celebrate the expertise, talent and achievements of the search industry and, its organisers say, are the premiere celebration of search engine optimisation, pay-per-click (PPC) and content marketing in the Middle East and North Africa.
Among other categories, three awards were given for best small agency, and two for best large agency.
In the small agency category, best SEO agency went to Bruce Clay Middle East. Small integrated agency went to Kubix Digital. And Small PPC agency was awarded to RBBi PPC Team.
James Gaubert, regional CEO at Bruce Clay, said: “It was a great honour to be shortlisted in multiple categories for the MENA Search Awards. Winning the award for the best small SEO agency was an added accolade, considering the strong contenders in that category. We are thrilled and honoured to be a part of an industry that is growing quickly in the region, and we hope to come back bigger and stronger next year.”
In the large agency category, the best integrated agency was Latitude Digital Marketing and best SEO agency was Zeo Agency.
Latitude’s regional director, Kinloch Magowan, said: “We’re tremendously happy with our award wins at the MENA Search Awards. The innovation award demonstrates the value of our new ‘Inventions’ team, helping clients with automation and measurement. It’s fantastic to see an event like this in the Middle East, and we look forward to seeing the community develop further.”
Mehmet Aktug, SEO director at Zeo Agency, was named young search professional of the year, and Naguib Toihiri, the SEO department lead at RBBi, was MENA search personality of the year.
Toihiri said: “During the past few years I’ve enjoyed sharing the great search knowledge I’ve amassed both internally with RBBi, and externally with professionals from different industries, through continuous events, training, workshops, meet-ups and more.
“I feel more motivated than ever to contribute more in nurturing and driving a thriving digital environment in Dubai and bring global trends and expertise to the region.”