# What is GEO (generative engine optimization), and why does it matter for brands in Türkiye? > GEO is the work of making sure AI answers from ChatGPT, Gemini or Google AI Overviews name your brand and describe it correctly. Why it matters for Türkiye. Published: 2026-11-07 GEO (generative engine optimization) is the work of making sure AI answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews name your brand and describe it correctly. GeoMono is a platform that measures how visible brands are in AI answers; this guide explains what GEO is, where it differs from SEO, and why it carries extra weight for brands operating in Türkiye. In short: some of your buyers now read an AI answer before they click anything. If your name is missing from that answer, or wrong in it, your site analytics will not tell you. GEO starts by making that answer visible and measurable. ## What GEO is, briefly The term comes from [an academic paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735) presented at KDD in 2024. It calls search engines that build answers with generative AI "generative engines" and measures, in its own benchmark, what makes a source more visible in their answers. It found that adding statistics and quotations to a source raised its visibility, while keyword density did not. Those results belong to a benchmark: read them as a hypothesis to test on your own site, not a promise. Short definitions of the terms used here are in the [GEO glossary](/en/blog/geo-sozlugu). In practice GEO answers three questions: - **Am I named?** When a buyer asks a question, does the answer contain my brand's name? - **Am I cited?** Does the engine show my site as a source for the answer? - **Am I described correctly?** Is what the answer says about me true, and is it about me rather than another company? ## How GEO differs from SEO SEO's unit is a page and a position: where does your page rank in a list of results? GEO's unit is an answer: does your name appear in it, and how? The two share a foundation. Crawlers must be able to reach your site, important information must be in server-rendered HTML, and pages must be written clearly. Where they part is this: an AI answer is usually assembled from several sources, and many of them are not your site. A page ranked first may not be cited; your name may appear in an answer that cites nothing. We cover how to split budget between the two in [the difference between SEO and GEO](/en/blog/seo-ile-geo-arasindaki-fark-butce). ## Why it matters for brands in Türkiye ### AI answers now appear in Turkish search According to [Google Turkey's announcement](https://blog.google/intl/tr-tr/urun-duyurulari/turkiyede-ai-modu-ve-ai-bakisi-donemi-basliyor/), AI Mode and AI Overviews began rolling out gradually in Türkiye from 18 February 2026. A search made in Türkiye can now show an AI summary above the results. Google's [developer documentation](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features) says no extra markup or special file is needed to appear in these features: the one basic requirement is that the page is indexed and eligible to be shown with a preview in search results. ### Use is spreading TÜİK's 2025 figures show that 19.2% of individuals in Türkiye used generative AI tools. That does not mean every search has moved to a chat tool; it means a meaningful share of buyers meet these answers. In a separate measurement in the United States, fewer than a third of Google searches in early 2026 ended in a click ([SparkToro, Similarweb data](https://sparktoro.com/blog/in-2026-less-than-one-third-of-google-searches-still-send-a-click/)). That study does not cover Türkiye; we cite it for the direction only. ### Answers are rarely fed by the brand's own site In our own measurements, the engines most often cited complaint platforms, forums, video sites and marketplaces when describing Turkish brands. Across our measurements up to 3 August 2026, 93.6% of citations pointed somewhere other than the brand's own domain. That sample is our own client and comparison brands and does not represent the whole market. We published the details and method in [Who does AI read when it describes Turkish brands?](/en/blog/yapay-zeka-turk-markalarini-kimden-okuyor) For Turkish brands this has two consequences. First, improving your own site may not be enough on its own; what others write about you also goes into the answer. Second, one old complaint or one wrong forum post can set the tone of the answer. ### Turkish questions, English sources When answering a question asked in Turkish, the engines can also read English sources. For a brand that sells abroad, or that appears in English-language sources, keeping its English pages current and consistent matters too. We describe how Turkish and English Wikipedia gave different results in our measurements in [a separate post](/en/blog/vikipedi-mi-ingilizce-wikipedia-mi). ### Being confused with a namesake Companies with the same or similar names can be hard for an engine to tell apart. When an engine confuses you with a namesake, your name appears in the answer but the company described is not you. That distorts your visibility figures and gives the buyer wrong information. {{cta}} ## Where GEO starts GEO starts with measurement. Before deciding what to change, you need to know where you stand: 1. **Write your buyers' questions.** Without your brand's name, the way a buyer would ask, in the language they use. 2. **Ask five engines separately.** ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews read different sources; read their results separately. 3. **Read the answers one by one.** Is your name there, which sources are cited, who is named alongside you, and is what is said about you true? 4. **Check access.** Can AI crawlers reach your site, and can important information be read without JavaScript? 5. **Measure again with the same questions.** You can only see the effect of a change by asking the same questions again. This is how GeoMono covers these steps: questions are registered before the measurement in a written, versioned declaration; every question goes to each of the five engines; answers are recorded one by one; and every mention is verified with namesake detection. The sources the answers relied on and the brands named alongside you are recorded as well. The free [GEO scan](/en/tarama) shows which AI crawlers cannot reach your site. For a step-by-step starting plan, see the [GEO guide](/en/blog/geo-rehberi-yapay-zeka-aramasinda-gorunur-olmak). ## What to avoid - **Guarantees.** No method can guarantee that an engine will recommend you. Engines do not give the same answer to the same question every time. - **A single score.** Folding five engines into one number hides which engine changed. - **Questions that contain your name.** An engine asked "Is X any good?" will name X; that is not visibility. - **Looking only at your own site.** Much of what goes into the answer comes from other sites. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does GEO replace SEO? No. The two share the same technical foundation: crawler access, readable HTML and clearly written pages are needed for both. GEO adds measuring AI answers, working on sources beyond your site, and checking that you are described correctly. ### Do Turkish brands need English content for GEO? It is not required, but the engines can read English sources when answering Turkish questions. For a brand known abroad, or one that appears in English-language sources, current and consistent English pages matter. ### Do I need special markup to appear in Google AI Overviews? Not according to Google's documentation. The one basic requirement is that the page is indexed and eligible to be shown with a preview in search results; no extra file or special structured data is needed. ### How long until GEO work shows a result? No published timeline exists. A change in a source has to be read again by the engines, and that takes a different time for each engine. The only way to see a result is to ask the same questions of the same engines at regular intervals. ## Sources - [GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024, arXiv:2311.09735)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735), arXiv / KDD 2024, 2024 - [Türkiye'de AI Modu ve AI Bakışı Dönemi Başlıyor](https://blog.google/intl/tr-tr/urun-duyurulari/turkiyede-ai-modu-ve-ai-bakisi-donemi-basliyor/), Google Turkey Blog, 18 February 2026 - [AI features and your website](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features), Google Search Central, updated 10 July 2026 - [Artificial Intelligence Statistics 2025 (Press Release 57945)](https://veriportali.tuik.gov.tr/en/press/57945), TÜİK (Turkish Statistical Institute), 2025 - [In 2026, Less than One Third of Google Searches Still Send a Click](https://sparktoro.com/blog/in-2026-less-than-one-third-of-google-searches-still-send-a-click/), SparkToro (Similarweb data), 9 June 2026 - Who does AI read when it describes Turkish brands?, 2026-08-03: 16 brands, 61 runs, 75,417 citations; our own client and comparison brands, not a market sample (https://geomono.com/en/blog/yapay-zeka-turk-markalarini-kimden-okuyor)