Nadine Wilmanns Photography ⋆ SEO, GEO: Sadie McMaster Kooba

Text und Fotografie: Nadine Wilmanns

SEO, GEO and the new shape of search

In Conversation with Sadie McMaster

What happens to search when people stop typing keywords into Google and start asking AI for direct answers? That is one of the big questions shaping digital strategy right now. If you ask Sadie McMaster of the Digital Web Agency Kooba, the answer is refreshingly grounding: “SEO still relevant – google is not going anywhere especially when it comes to search,” she says. At the same time, she is clear that something new is taking shape: “GEO is becoming as important as SEO.” SEO optimises content online to rank in traditional search engines like Google, while GEO takes it a step further, ensuring content is also surfaced and referenced by AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude. In other words, this is not about one discipline replacing another. It is about the search landscape getting broader, faster and more complex.

What do you want your website to do for you?

Kooba is a digital agency specialising in web design, development, and digital strategy. I was founded in Dublin and now has a growing presence in London and Berlin. The agency is focused on what Sadie calls “high performing websites.” That practical mindset runs through everything she says. Rather than beginning with design for design’s sake, the agency starts with the fundamentals: “We help clients build the brief by asking, ‘ What do you want your website to do for you’?” It is a simple question, but an important one. It shifts the conversation away from looks alone and towards performance, purpose, and outcomes.

AI wants answers

Sadie’s explanation of the difference between SEO and GEO is clear: “The difference is how they work: Google is looking for info, AI is looking to find answers and wants them fast,” she says. It is a neat way of describing a real shift in user behaviour. Traditional search still matters when people want to explore, compare, or dig deeper. But generative tools are changing expectations by collapsing that process into a direct response. People are no longer just searching for sources. Increasingly, they are searching for an answer.

Understand prompts

That has consequences for the way content is written. As Sadie puts it: “If you want to be coming up in the answers, you need to have answers to problems on your website, and you need to know the prompts.” She comes back to that point more than once: “Understanding the prompts is most important.” It is an insight that captures the difference between writing to be indexed and writing to be surfaced in response to a real-world question. The challenge for brands is not only to cover a topic, but to anticipate how users will ask about it and to respond in language that is clear, useful, and easy to extract.

Research, refine, repeat

Kooba’s process sounds hands-on and highly intentional. “We have a team to research prompts,” Sadie explains, “and we make sure that what is showing up in your answers to the problems you address on your website is tailored to the prompts.” She also points to the practical side of that work: “We have a tool to import the prompts, to measure that and to report back on visibility and sentiment and then adjust.” The goal, she says, is to “tailor the content so that it’s scannable by AI.” That makes GEO feel less like buzzword territory and more like an emerging workflow: research, test, measure, refine, repeat.

Start and experiment

There is also a competitive edge to all of this. Sadie talks about “tracking against competitors – measuring whether you come first – adjusting the answers to the questions.” That idea will be familiar to anyone who has worked in SEO, but it takes on a different urgency in AI-driven discovery, where visibility can feel less transparent and more volatile.

“If you start now you have an advantage over those who wait”, Sadie explains. It is not hype so much as a strategic reminder. While many businesses are still figuring out what GEO means in practice, those already experimenting may be better positioned for what comes next.

Clarity and understanding

The way people discover information is changing, and websites need to adapt to that shift. The result is a more layered view of digital visibility: one that values strong fundamentals, clear answers, and a sharper understanding of how people actually ask questions.

You can find out more about Kooba here: www.kooba.ie

Are you interested in strong visuals that make visitors of your website stay? You can find out more about working together at nadinewilmanns.com/business-offer.