How to create an awards page that adds authority to your website
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If you’ve racked up awards or accolades for your business, you’re not wrong in wanting to show them off.
Your achievements signify you’re doing a few things right, so why wouldn’t you display them on your website?
The key is to ensure you don’t look too company-focused or braggy – after all, a cardinal sin of content is using too much “I” or “we” language and forgetting to talk to your audience with “you” language.
To strike the right balance, you need to write an awards page that isn’t distracting or annoying, but rather adds credence to your brand and builds trust.
You want customers to say, “Wow, this company is really successful!” Not, “Yuck, this company is obsessed with itself.”
Let’s talk about how to create an awards page, including how having one builds trust with customers.
Contents
Why create an awards page on your website?
Awards pages can help establish your authority, giving your SEO a little boost.
How?
Awards are proof that you’re a force in your industry, doing exceptional work. Other people paid attention and recognized you for what you do, and now they’ve given you physical evidence of your company’s prowess.
Thus, those awards are trust signals to prospects and to search engines (E-A-T, anyone?).
For example, the Search Engine Land Awards are handed out yearly to marketers, teams, and agencies that demonstrate excellence in organic or paid search marketing initiatives or campaigns.
How to create an awards page that shows off your achievements – without turning people off (+ 7 examples)
Wondering how to create an effective awards page? Here are six tips with seven examples from real-life businesses that have done it well.
1. Consider creating a separate awards page
If you have earned a lot of awards over the years (good on you!), consider displaying them on a separate awards page.
For example, the University of Dundee in Scotland has a page dedicated to its awards, with additional pages that explain the context of each award.
The awards page is linked under their “About” information, which is also a good practice.
This way, people who want to view your awards have an obvious place to click, while people who don’t care won’t be inundated with a long list to scroll through.
2. Include all your important awards, from most recent to least
If you’ve been winning awards for years, that says a great deal about your company and its legacy. If your award history goes back five, 10, 15, or even 20 years, don’t be shy about displaying your pattern of excellence.
That said, also consider the relevance of each award to your audience and whether they’ll care. For instance, if your company won an award for participation five years ago, you can probably leave that one out.
On the other hand, maybe you won “brand of the year” in an industry-wide contest five to 10 years ago – that’s relevant to your customers, your reputation, and your authority. Thus, you should display it on your awards page.
A good example of this in action is Liberty Mutual’s awards page – they have a long list of awards going back to 2016.
3. Include award badges or icons
Most awards come with small badges or icons for displaying on your website. In most cases, it’s a good idea to do so.
Why?
Because many of these badges come replete with their own recognition, especially among those in your industry. Displaying a recognizable (and perhaps coveted) badge is a really easy way for the people who matter to see it and register it in a second.
One huge tip – if you have a lot of awards badges, make sure they look clean and organized. Otherwise, your page could look messy and unprofessional, which is the exact opposite of what you want. A good rule of thumb is to keep them on the smaller side and organize them into a list or neat grid.
On the Goodnow Farms Chocolate homepage, they include a tidy list of badges as part of a photo carousel.
4. Briefly describe the context of each award
In many cases, simply listing out your awards isn’t enough. Why should customers care if they don’t know what that award means or signifies?
To that end, include a brief description of each award you’ve won, including how you were chosen – especially if customers voted for you (a giant trust signal). Progressive does a good job of this on its awards page:
Don’t have a long list of accolades yet? Instead of creating a separate awards page, consider adding your awards badges to a dedicated section on your about page.
This also works if you have more than three awards, by the way, and is a smart strategy to draw attention to them without dedicating an entire page to them.
In this vein, Thrive has included a section dedicated to their awards on their about page. They use a simple paragraph to give some context along with an organized row of small badges, and it does the job nicely.
If you have one or two awards to your name, you should consider adding the badges to your sidebar or footer. These are unobtrusive places that benefit from remaining static across your site, so your awards will be displayed on every page.
Remember, you can always create an awards page later if you earn more.
6. More than 25 awards? Create an awards list
Let’s say your business rakes in the awards consistently. That’s incredible, and you have every right to humble-brag a little.
A smart and crafty way to display these awards is to create a list. The more awards you have, the more impressive it will look, especially at first glance.
Magpie Studios, a British design agency, does this to great effect. Their awards list is incredibly long and goes all the way back to 2011. Altogether, it makes a lasting impression that this is a company to be reckoned with.
Another company that does this well is Hueston Hennigan, a law firm:
Never create an awards page without intention or a strategy. Just like your other website pages, an awards page has a purpose that will help you build toward reaching your goals.
It’s not about showing off but rather offering proof that your business is credible and trusted. To that end, only display awards your customers will care about and keep your page organized and easy to read.
Ultimately, a well-designed awards page is a good idea as long as you keep your customers, goals, and strategy in mind.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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About the author
Julia McCoy is the founder of Content Hacker, 7x author, and a leading strategist around creating exceptional content and brand presence that lasts online. At 19 years old, she used her last $75 to build a 7-figure writing agency which she sold ten years later. In the 2020s, she’s devoted to teaching founders and marketers the strategy, skills, and systems they need to build a business through inbound content, so they can create more lasting impact in the world.
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