COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merkle (www.merkle.com), a leading technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing agency, today announced it has been recognized as Search Agency of the Year at the 2018 MediaPost Agency of the Year Awards, highlighting Merkle’s best-in-class search advertising solutions for the second year in a row. Merkle will be honored at The MediaPost Agency of Year Awards on January 24, 2019 at The Yale Club in New York.

The MediaPost Agency of the Year Awards celebrate the top work from agencies in the past year. Securing this win for the second consecutive year further solidifies Merkle as an industry leader in search marketing and addressable media.

Merkle’s work highlights how the search landscape is changing – from its influence beyond online touchpoints to the rapidly evolving technology that powers customer journeys. Merkle’s focus is on maximizing search value for each individual, based on where and why they are searching through predictive intent and inferred context. To do this, Merkle leverages its suite of proprietary tools and technology and prides itself on developing solutions that don’t exist in the market today. In 2018, that meant focusing search innovation around Amazon/eRetail, voice search, and continued advancements to Merkle’s SEO resource website, technicalSEO.com.

As a testament to this, Merkle has been continuously recognized for its work in search this past year, being awarded Best Large PPC Agency at the US Search Awards 2018, as well as being named a finalist for three categories including Best Use of Search - Retail/eCommerce, Best Integrated Campaign, and Best Large SEO Agency. Other highlights include receiving a commendation at The Drum Search Awards US 2018 for Most Innovative Search Campaign and being named a finalist in the Best Use of Search – Retail/eCommerce Campaign, Best Integrated Campaign, and Performance Agency of the Year categories. Merkle|Periscopix was also named Performance Agency of the Year at The Drum Search Awards UK 2018.

Merkle’s award wins in 2018 come after a successful 2017, with Merkle being ranked as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Search Marketing Agencies, Q4 2017 and recognition from the MediaPost Agency of the Year Awards, the US Search Awards, Search Engine Land's Landy Awards, and The Drum Search Awards.

“Merkle is honored to be awarded by MediaPost for the second year in a row,” said Patrick Hounsell, EVP, head of performance media at Merkle. “Taking this honor home again in 2018 showcases our team's tireless commitment toward being the leading search strategists for our clients. We continue to redefine our approach to people-based marketing and firmly believe our proprietary tools enable our clients to serve relevant ads that help positively drive their business.”