Aperitif Dominates the 2026 APAC Search Awards
There’s a lot to toast to today. ICYMI, we’re proud to announce that we’ve taken home three awards (and one silver!) at the 2026 APAC Search Awards, held in Sydney.
Boutique by design, we believe small teams with deep expertise build better strategy, sharper creative, and stronger results.
We’ve never wanted to be the biggest. We always wanted to be the best.
These wins are proof that true craftsmanship wins every time.
Awards We Brought Home
A massive thank you to the judges of the 2026 APAC Search Awards and a huge shout-out to our Good Humans who live and breathe search every day.
Here’s the TL;DR of what we came home with:
Winner of Best Small Integrated Agency 2026 (25 or under employees)
This one means a lot. It confirms we’re on the right path with how we run Aperitif.
Starting as a bootstrapped agency with no legacy clients, Aperitif made its mark through thoughtful growth, hands-on technical ownership and a focus on actual performance.
We launched without brand recognition or recruitment, going head-to-head with much larger agencies. Here, every team member owns strategy, execution and client outcomes.
With inclusive leadership pathways and community impact through ManyRooms, this win celebrates the type of agency we want to build – one that delivers results while staying true to good, ol’ fashioned values.
Winner of Best Use of Search – Gaming 2026
Aperitif & Simrigs: Driving Growth with Turnkey Sim Racing SEO
“Level up,” they said. And level up we did.
Aperitif won for its work with Simrigs, delivering a 56% lift in organic revenue through product-led SEO, technical precision and AI-optimised content.
We secured #1 rankings for high-intent terms, expanded non-branded visibility and drove offline showroom traffic. With no shortcuts or automation, this campaign became a blueprint for modern, future-proof SEO in gaming.
Winner of Best Use of Search – Automotive 2026
Aperitif & Leaselab: How a Challenger Brand Raced Ahead in Automotive Finance
We combined SEO, PPC and CRO into a full-funnel strategy that respected strict compliance rules while outperforming the competition.
Through long-tail keyword dominance, differentiated content across 200+ pages and UX-led conversion improvements, we turned a challenger brand into a national category leader.
Aperitif’s SEO Director, Laura Shillington, says:
“I couldn’t be prouder of this campaign. Novated leasing is a complicated category. It combines two of the hardest categories – automotive and finance!
Rather than chasing impossible core terms like ‘novated leasing,’ we unearthed long-tail opportunities where we could make the biggest impact. We love working with this client and refining every detail. Their success is our success.”
Runner Up – Best Use of Search (Finance) 2026
Aperitif & Leaselab – The SEO Engine Behind Australia’s Fastest-Growing Novated Leasing Brand
In one of APAC’s most regulated and competitive categories, Aperitif earned Silver for building the search engine behind Leaselab’s rapid growth.
By avoiding saturated head terms, prioritising compliant, educational content and fixing funnel friction, we delivered scalable, high-quality leads at lower CPLs.
This campaign proved that disciplined strategy and technical expertise unlock performance, even in finance’s tightest constraints.
A Note of Thanks
To our team — a big thank you. We’re so lucky for your relentless commitment to world-class work and for showing up as generous, curious, brilliant humans every day.
To our clients — thank you for trusting us to go beyond the brief and build something meaningful together.
And to the APAC search community — thank you for pushing the industry forward and setting the bar high. We’re proud to be part of it.
Cheers to more of the good stuff…
We can’t say much, but we’re busy taking Aperitif global and partnering with some ambitious brands who value craft over convention. We’ve got exciting new clients on the horizon, bigger problems to solve and insightful ideas to bring to life.
For now, we’re growing the team thoughtfully, finding talented people who care deeply about the work and the humans behind it.
If you’re ready to shake up your growth plan, get in touch. The next round is on us.
