The inaugural Charles Floate Annual SEO Awards winners were announced online today, honoring the agencies, individuals, campaigns and software that delivered the strongest verified search performance across the January 2025 – April 2026 eligibility window.
ClickSlice was named SEO Agency of the Year, David Quaid took SEO Expert of the Year, and Barry Schwartz received the panel's unanimous Lifetime Achievement award for two decades of search journalism. The full list of winners and finalists across all 12 categories is on the 2026 winners page.
Uniquely among major search industry awards, every shortlisted entry was verified against live ranking, traffic and link data before the final panel vote — and entry was free. One winner, PressWhizz (Link Building Company of the Year), is founder-affiliated: the affiliation is disclosed on the category page, Head Judge Charles Floate was recused, and the independent panel decided the category alone.
Winners and finalists can request their official badge kits via the badges page.