Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 13.07.2026 
JBE Digital, a Melbourne performance marketing agency founded in 2019, has been shortlisted at the Global Search Awards 2026 for Best Use of Search Travel/Leisure – SEO. The recognition is for the agency’s campaign with ASA Cultural Tours, titled “Off the Beaten Path: Climbing to Page One”.
The campaign ran from January 2025 to April 2026 and delivered a 129% year-on-year increase in non-branded organic traffic, 253 keywords ranking in the top three positions on Google, and 200 keywords holding the number one position. Every target set at the start of the engagement was exceeded.
About JBE Digital
JBE Digital is a performance-driven digital marketing agency based in Melbourne, working with established businesses across Australia and internationally. The agency delivers integrated campaigns across SEO, Google Ads, paid social and AI-driven search, with a focus on measurable commercial outcomes.
JBE Digital delivers integrated performance marketing for established brands, with senior strategists leading every engagement and full accountability on commercial outcomes.
The agency operates on a proprietary framework, the JBE Trust Engine, which integrates search, paid and AI across four stages: Formation, Distribution, Evaluation and Capture. The framework guides how JBE Digital approaches every engagement, from technical SEO through to full-funnel paid media.
The shortlisted campaign: ASA Cultural Tours
ASA Cultural Tours is a specialist tour operator running 30 to 40 cultural tours per year across destinations spanning Europe, the Middle East, Asia and beyond. Their audience skews over 65, well educated, and heavily research-driven before making a booking decision.
The core problem was clear. ASA’s existing organic traffic was being driven largely by people already aware of the brand. New travellers, the ones who typically become long-term repeat customers for a specialist operator like ASA, were not finding them through search.
The engagement started in January 2025 with a set of documented 12-month targets:
- 20% increase in non-branded organic traffic
- Grow top three keyword rankings from 175 to 250
- Grow number one keyword rankings from 95 to 120
Strategy and execution
The SEO strategy was built around sustainable growth and long-term visibility across every stage of a cultural traveller’s research cycle.
Given the breadth of ASA’s tour catalogue and the depth of research their audience undertakes, keyword mapping was extensive. Over 600 keywords were mapped using a combination of Google Ads search terms, Google Search Console data and Semrush research. This gave a full picture of how travellers actually search, from destination-level queries to theme-based terms like history, food, art and archaeology, through to long-tail questions travellers ask when comparing operators.
The technical audit uncovered a mix of foundational issues (H1 structure, duplicate content and titles) alongside deeper structural challenges. These were worked through over the campaign period, together with site speed optimisation, image optimisation for image search traffic, and structural fixes that materially affected future revenue.
Content was restructured across Regions, Tours and Themes category pages. A dormant category that had previously dropped off in traffic was reinstated. Existing articles were audited and their historical traffic data shared with ASA’s academic writers, allowing older pieces to be repurposed with clearer intent while new content was briefed off data-backed research.
For authority building, JBE Digital ran a competitor link gap analysis to identify domains ASA’s competitors were appearing on but ASA was not. This informed a targeted outreach program that landed placements on relevant travel and lifestyle publications.
Results
Against the original 12-month targets:
- Non-branded organic traffic: 129% year-on-year growth (Feb to April 2025: 882 sessions. Feb to April 2026: 2,020 sessions)
- Top three keyword rankings: 253 by April 2026, against a target of 250
- Number one keyword rankings: 200 by April 2026, against a target of 120
The commercial impact was documented directly by the client, who noted a clear lift in leads and bookings through non-branded search over the campaign period.
Client perspective
ASA Cultural Tours has reflected on the engagement in positive terms across multiple reviews. Feedback from the team has consistently noted the time taken to understand their business, their product and their client base, the patience and clarity applied to explaining the full SEO picture, and the regular meetings and updates that allowed the work to adapt as the search landscape evolved. The commercial outcome has been clear: online visibility has grown and new leads have increased over the course of the partnership.
What the shortlist means to the team
For JBE Digital, the shortlist is recognition for disciplined SEO work grounded in data, patience and long-term thinking. Cultural tourism is a research-heavy purchase category with a long decision cycle. The work required 16 months of consistent execution and a willingness to invest in structural fixes that would take time to compound.
The recognition validates JBE Digital’s broader approach: senior-led strategy, deep engagement with each client, and systems that continue to deliver after the initial campaign period.
JBE Digital’s Founder, Joel Brooker said this on what it means: “Making the shortlist is a great reminder of the good work we have been doing for the last 6 years at JBE Digital, with big growth plans on top of a record year this is only the beginning on where we are heading”.
About the Global Search Awards
The Global Search Awards recognise excellence in SEO, PPC and integrated search across international agencies and in-house teams. Shortlisted entries are reviewed by a panel of experienced industry judges, and the awards are regarded as one of the highest benchmarks in the search industry globally.
Looking ahead
For JBE Digital, our future focus remains on building a stronger, more disciplined performance agency.
The team will continue to refine how SEO, paid media and integrated search drive commercial outcomes for established businesses, with an emphasis on cleaner data, tighter strategy, and campaigns that compound over time.
JBE Digital’s priority for the year ahead is to deliver work that holds up under scrutiny, scales profitably, and continues delivering results well beyond the initial engagement period.
The Global Search Awards shortlist reflects the standard the agency is setting, and the benchmark it plans to keep raising throughout 2026.
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