PITTSBURGH, PA — Level has been shortlisted for two categories at the 2026 US Search Awards, which recognizes the strongest search marketing work in the country each year across SEO, PPC, content, and integrated search campaigns.
Level’s shortlisted entries:
- Best PPC Campaign, for “Engineering Enrollment Efficiency,” a portfolio-wide paid search transformation built with Ancora Education
- Best Use of Search, Finance (SEO), for “One Brand, One Domain,” a three-site SEO consolidation built with IRA Financial
Engineering Enrollment Efficiency, with Ancora Education
Ancora Education operates a network of vocational school brands spanning skilled trades, allied health, and automotive programs nationwide. Level built a value-based bidding model across every Ancora brand:
- Retrained bidding to prioritize leads likely to enroll rather than leads that were simply cheap
- Applied one consistent bidding and structure framework across the full brand portfolio
- Preserved local targeting flexibility for individual campuses
The new bidding model caused a short, deliberate dip in performance while the algorithm relearned what a high-quality lead looked like. Level and Ancora held through that relearning period rather than reverting. The 2025 June through August peak window, measured against the Q1 baseline, showed the payoff:
- Blended cost per enrollment improved by 18% across all Ancora brands
- Cost per enrollment at the Miller-Motte College campus in Fayetteville dropped by more than 86% between February and July on comparable spend
One Brand, One Domain, with IRA Financial
IRA Financial, a self-directed retirement account provider, decided to consolidate three domains into one brand home, using the weakest of the three by page-one keyword count. Level rebuilt the migration around three moves:
- Restructured site architecture around searcher intent
- Added optimized copy to the bottom-of-funnel pages that drive account openings
- Staged the blog migration so rankings had time to transfer before the legacy domains went dark
“The innovation on both of these accounts wasn’t a new tool or a clever trick,” said Nicole Jennings, EVP of Delivery at Level. “It was refusing to accept the standard tradeoff—that a portfolio-wide bidding change has to be slow and painful, or that a domain migration has to mean losing ground before you gain it. Finding a better way forward was a true team effort, powered by clients who bring that same desire to innovate.”
Winners will be announced at the US Search Awards ceremony later this year.
About Level
Level is a digital marketing agency serving complex, high-consideration brands. We integrate performance marketing, creative, CRM, and AI into one connected growth system, working as an embedded partner for clients across financial services, higher education, healthcare, and other regulated and considered-purchase industries.
Public contact
Brad Stephenson
SVP, Marketing
brad.stephenson@level.agency
