From leaving school at 16 to leading an award-winning global SEO agency, Liam Quirk’s story is anything but traditional. In this episode of Expats Unpacked, the founder of Quirky explains how a teenage side gig became a career in search, how a pandemic detour brought him to Cyprus, and why he believes the future of SEO is all about authority, recommendations and staying ahead of AI driven change.

From leaving school at 16 to leading an award-winning global SEO agency, Liam Quirk’s story is anything but traditional. In this episode of Experts Unpacked, recorded at Digital Tree Studio in Nicosia, the founder of Quirky explains how a teenage side gig became a career in search, how a pandemic detour brought him to Cyprus, and why he believes the future of SEO is all about authority, recommendations and staying ahead of AI driven change.

That early passion shaped everything that followed. For years he worked inside full service digital agencies, always as “the SEO guy.” He learned how different teams operate, how clients think and where traditional agency models fall short. Eventually, the tension between how he wanted to run an SEO focused business and how others ran theirs pushed him to make a move.

Just before Covid hit, while still living with his parents and with limited financial obligations, Liam decided to start his own agency. There was risk, but it felt manageable. With six years of experience behind him, he believed he could build something different: a search first agency designed to move faster, experiment more and stay closer to what actually works in the rankings. That idea became Quirky.

A lockdown escape that led to Cyprus

If Quirky was born in Liverpool, Cyprus is where the story took an unexpected turn. During one of the strict UK lockdowns in late 2020, Liam found himself in Merseyside under fresh local restrictions, restless and unable to travel. On impulse, he opened Skyscanner, typed “Liverpool to anywhere” and started checking which destinations were open.

One of the few available routes was Liverpool to Paphos. Cyprus still had testing rules at the airport, but it was not in full lockdown. He booked the flight, landed to a nasal swab and a short wait for results, and got his first taste of the island.

Over the following months and years, Cyprus kept pulling him back. He built friendships with locals and fellow expats from the UK, Poland and elsewhere who had relocated to the island. Many were tech entrepreneurs or people working in fast growing digital businesses. At the same time, he noticed that while Cyprus was often seen by UK clients as a holiday destination, on the ground it was turning into something very different.

New headquarters in Limassol, international companies opening offices, and a tech and finance ecosystem quietly maturing. For someone obsessed with search and global markets, that combination of lifestyle and ambition was hard to ignore. Without a grand plan at the start, Cyprus slowly became a second base.

From solo consultant to global, award winning agency

When Liam first arrived in Cyprus, Quirky was essentially a one man operation. A few years later, it is a 20 person agency with clients across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and beyond. The company has been recognised at the Global Search Awards, winning Best Use of Search in Finance and Best Use of Search in B2B, prizes judged by peers in an increasingly competitive industry.

Those awards matter to Liam for two reasons. First, they validate the creativity, innovation and measurable impact of the campaigns his team runs, not just their ability to produce reports. Second, the recognition has helped Quirky win larger international accounts, which in turn allows more investment in experimentation, tools and talent.

Crucially, Quirky was built with a clear value at its core: innovation. For Liam, that means constantly testing new ideas, investing in technology, and staying comfortable with trial and error. He is open about making mistakes, sometimes daily, but believes the positives far outweigh the negatives if you are willing to learn quickly and move on.

Adapting to AI and the changing nature of search

The biggest challenge facing SEO today is obvious. Since Quirky launched around 2019, both Covid and AI have transformed how people search and how platforms respond. Google’s AI overviews, new AI modes in search, the rise of ChatGPT and the use of TikTok and other platforms as discovery engines have changed the landscape.

Liam’s response is to treat search not as “ranking ten blue links on Google” but as being recommended wherever people look for information. For hotels and travel, that might now mean TikTok. For certain financial products in Asia or the Middle East, it might mean visibility inside AI tools. For local businesses, it may involve maps, niche review sites or sector specific platforms.

He sees AI as both a threat and an opportunity. AI driven search will almost certainly reduce click volume in some areas, because answers will appear directly in the interface. At the same time, those AI answers are still built on recommendations. If a brand becomes the trusted recommendation source that AI surfaces, it can win even if raw clicks fall.

That is why Quirky spends so much time testing AI related tactics on its own network of sites before rolling anything out to clients. The team experiments with new approaches, monitors what sticks, and deliberately breaks a few “rules” on internal properties so clients do not carry the risk.

Authority as the real metric

A recurring theme in Liam’s thinking is authority. For him, the real goal is not only ranking for “forex broker” or “property lawyer” in the short term, but building brands that people search for by name first.

Brand search volume, often dismissed as a vanity metric, is something Quirky takes seriously. If more people are actively typing your brand into Google, that signals genuine awareness and trust, which search engines also pick up. It means your first touchpoint with a customer is often direct, not via a generic keyword.

To drive that, Liam advocates a broad view of SEO that includes content, digital PR, traditional PR, radio, and any channel that can create meaningful mentions and backlinks. One tactic he highlights is connecting clients with journalists through platforms where reporters request expert commentary. Instead of paying large PR retainers, brands can offer expertise, earn coverage and receive high quality links and “as seen in” credibility, all with relatively small time investment.

For Quirky, that combination of visibility, trust signals and brand demand is what real authority looks like in 2025.

Partnering with Digital Tree and serving Cypriot brands

Quirky’s formal entry into Cyprus started through a non executive director who already knew Digital Tree. With several clients headquartered on the island and others targeting Cypriot audiences, Liam was already paying attention to the market.

When he met Digital Tree CEO Thanos, the alignment of values was clear. Digital Tree takes pride in serving local brands while thinking regionally, from Cyprus into Europe and the GCC. Quirky brings deep, specialised SEO expertise across multiple languages and markets. Together, they saw an opportunity to offer something that had been missing: high level, international standard SEO delivered with local presence and face to face relationships.

The collaboration began with Digital Tree’s own projects, then expanded as both teams realised how well they worked together. For Liam, the partnership feels natural because it mirrors what he built in Liverpool: a culture where ideas are welcomed, experimentation is encouraged and long term relationships matter more than quick wins.

At the same time, he sees significant untapped potential in Cypriot business. Many local brands invest heavily in social media and offline visibility, but their search presence does not always match their ambition. With the right strategies, he believes companies headquartered in Cyprus can compete far beyond the island, whether in English, Greek, Arabic or other key languages.

If Quirky had a motto for this year, Liam says it would be simple: stay ahead of the game. That means delivering what clients need now, while quietly preparing them for what comes next.