Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 13.05.2026 
Being named a finalist at the European Search Awards 2026 is a significant achievement in itself. However, reaching this milestone as we celebrate our 20th anniversary carries an even deeper meaning for the entire team at Human Level. For two decades, we have remained committed to technical excellence and business impact, and we are thrilled to see that dedication recognized in three premier categories:
- Best Large SEO Agency.
- Best Use of Search – Health (Large): Human Level & Redacción Médica.
- Best Use of Search – Retail / eCommerce (SEO): Large: Human Level & Signify (Philips Hue).
These nominations validate an evolving understanding of SEO, where technology serves as a tool for human expertise to successfully navigate the greatest disruption in the history of search.
Two Decades as a Benchmark in “Findability”
Founded in Alicante, Spain, in 2005 by Fernando Maciá, Human Level has evolved from a pioneering consultancy into a technical authority for enterprise-level brands. Today, our team of 27 specialists—including engineers, strategists, and content consultants—manages the organic visibility for nearly one-third of Spain’s IBEX 35 companies.
We pride ourselves on a culture that prioritizes brand safety and integrity. We exclusively work in “clean” verticals, famously declining requests from gambling, adult content or payday lending sectors. This principled approach, combined with exceptionally low staff turnover, allows us to build the long-term continuity required for the complex, high-stakes projects our clients demand.
Our Methodology: The Four Pillars of Organic Leadership
To achieve consistent results in an increasingly fragmented market, we apply our proprietary Organic Leadership Methodology. This framework is built on four strategic pillars:
- Audience Research: We create user profiles based on their primary intentions—such as breaking news, exam preparation, or medical consultations—to ensure that the content meets users’ specific needs and is discoverable in the sources where they make their purchasing decisions.
- Assets Audit: Our technical audits go beyond the basics, covering indexability, Core Web Vitals (WPO), structured data, and complex site architectures to triage issues effectively. And this audit doesn’t stop at the website; it extends to the entire online ecosystem to map out each company’s digital footprint.
- Strategic Findability Plan: We activate dedicated workstreams for different content types, such as “Discover-first” strategies for news or internal linking blueprints for evergreen content both through the internal and external channels.
- Business Impact Measurement: We track KPIs through custom BigQuery data warehouses and proprietary LLM monitoring tools to measure citation share in AI platforms.
A Principled Approach to Growth
At Human Level, our growth is guided by a strict ethical code. We have made the deliberate decision to refuse “white-label” work for larger agencies, insisting on direct accountability to our clients. We believe that transparency is a competitive advantage, reflected in our 98% client satisfaction score. This integrity extends to our team; we invest 2% of our payroll in professional development and maintain an average employee tenure that far exceeds industry standards, providing our clients with deep institutional knowledge.
2026 Finalist Highlights
Best Large SEO Agency
Human Level is the only agency headquartered exclusively in Spain among the finalists in this category. In 2024, we achieved a turnover of €1,761,594 (15.5% YoY growth) and a net profit of €343,008, representing a remarkable 176% increase from 2023.
This financial stability is supported by operational excellence, backed by a triple ISO certification (9001, 27001, and 22301) and the CIEGE Excellent Management certificate. Furthermore, we have been selected by ICANN to lead an international study (funded by a $350,000 grant) on geoTLDs visibility in search engines and AI.
Best Use of Search – Retail / eCommerce (SEO): Large
Campaign: Engineering Findability in the Zero-Click Era. Working with Signify (Philips Hue) across 17+ markets, we addressed a potential 70% CTR decline caused by AI Overviews. By implementing Server-Side Rendering (SSR), massive schema deployment, and a conversational content layer, we future-proofed their e-commerce ecosystem.
- The Result: Organic GMV grew +32%, and we established a measurable revenue channel from LLM platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini with direct sales attributable to these channels.
Best Use of Search – Health: Large
Campaign: From Visibility Loss to Record Audience. For Redacción Médica, Spain’s leading healthcare publication, we faced a major visibility crisis where 60% of keywords triggered AI Overviews. We pivoted the strategy toward Google Discover and E-E-A-T authority content.
- The Result: January 2026 became the highest traffic month in the site’s history, reaching 5.2 million sessions and over 4.7 million clicks from Discover alone.
Global Reach and Long-term Partnerships
While we are rooted in Spain, our impact is global. We currently manage organic and AI-platform visibility across multiple international markets. This scale is only possible because of the trust our clients place in us over the long term. After 7 years of unbroken growth with Santander Spain, the Corporation expanded our mandate to manage their Global SEO Center of Excellence, governing the organic visibility strategy for divisions in 11 countries across Europe, the USA, and Latin America. And we have collaborated with other projects, including PRISA Media Group for 13 years, Iberia Airlines for 8 years and Segittur for 13 years, driving international visibility for their brands.
Findability Beyond Rankings
The search ecosystem has changed faster than anyone anticipated. Users now consult ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot. In Human Level, we call this findability: ensuring you are found no matter where your audience is searching. This is not a new concept for us, but the scale of the challenge has changed. We now offer specific SEO services for AI platforms and continue to research how these systems present information through our ICANN partnership.
“These nominations are a testament to a team capable of navigating the AI disruption without losing sight of business reality. We accompany our clients in their strategic decisions to ensure they triumph in this new paradigm.” — Fernando Maciá, Founder and Director of Human Level.
Looking Ahead
The future of search will be defined by artificial intelligence and the fragmentation of information access points. Human Level has a clear goal: to continue helping large enterprises remain visible in this ecosystem with strategy, human criteria, and measurable results.
We look forward to celebrating these achievements with the rest of the industry finalists in Porto on May 20th.
Connect with us
Author: Human Level Team.
Human Level is a digital consultancy specializing in large-scale SEO/GEO, technical search strategies, and Digital PR for international markets with over 20 years of experience.
