What Is AI Overviews, What Does It Show in Turkey
AI Overviews is the summary box compiled from several sources that appears at the top of a Google search. AI Mode is an entirely different, separate chat-based search tab. Both launched in Turkey on February 18, 2026, and as of July 2026, AI Overviews appears in roughly 43-48% of searches — the rate is higher for informational queries. So whether your site shows up in that box now directly affects your traffic. Below I explain the difference between the two, the real picture in Turkey, and what you need to do.
AI Overviews or AI Mode? What’s the Difference
It’s easy to mix the two up because both were launched under the “AI-powered search” umbrella. But the user experience, and how you optimize for each, are completely different.
AI Overviews: A summary box that appears at the top of normal Google search results. The user still sees the classic “ten blue links” list, just with an answer compiled from a few sources added above it; below it there are usually links to the cited sites.
AI Mode: A separate tab next to the search box. The user asks a question, a chat-based engine produces an answer, follow-up questions can be asked. The classic ten-link result list is almost entirely absent from this screen.
The table below puts all three side by side:
| Feature | AI Overviews | AI Mode | Classic Organic Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it appears | Above normal results, on the same page | A separate search tab/experience | The results page itself |
| Format | Short summary + a few source links | Chat, follow-up questions possible | Title, description, URL |
| Number of sources | Usually 3-8 sites at once | Variable, often not visible | A single site, a single result |
| Click behavior | User often settles for the summary | User stays in the chat, rarely leaves | User clicks the result |
| How to optimize | Clear, quotable answer structure (GEO) | Same GEO principles, entity clarity more critical | Classic SEO |
I cover the difference between GEO and classic SEO in detail on a separate page, you can start there.
AI Overviews in Turkey: What the Numbers Say
AI Overviews and AI Mode launched in Turkey on February 18, 2026 — Google’s own announcement and news from that period confirm this. So this isn’t a feature that’s been talked about for years and arrived late in our country; it’s a relatively recent change.
According to July 2026 data from sources like Similarweb and Semrush, AI Overviews appears in roughly 43-48% of Google searches. That rate climbs even higher for informational queries in the style of “what is,” “how to” — meaning you’re more likely to see AI Overviews on research-stage searches than on searches with clear purchase intent.
Google also updated Search Console to match this shift: there’s now a separate report for AI performance, so you can see which queries you appear in AI Overviews for. An opt-out option was also added — you can turn off your site being used as a source in AI Overviews. My recommendation is clear: keep opt-out off. Turning it off removes you from AI Overviews but doesn’t increase your visibility — it just closes off one more channel.
What I See on the Sites I Manage
As someone who regularly looks at Search Console data across 26 sites, let me share a general observation without naming names: on informational, “what is X” style pages, impressions stay the same or increase, but click-through rate drops. Google still “sees” your page and sometimes uses it as a source in AI Overviews, but the user reads the summary and closes their search without ever visiting your site.
This isn’t equally strong on every page. The effect is much smaller on transactional/service-intent queries (“price,” “how to buy,” searches that include a brand name). Where I see the effect most is on classic encyclopedic information pages — much like this very page.
I cover the topic of click loss in AI search in more detail on a separate page — you can look at the numbers and which page types are affected the most there.
What It Gets You (and What It Doesn’t Guarantee)
Let me put it in business-owner terms: appearing in AI Overviews does two things. First, brand awareness — even if the user doesn’t click through to your site, they see your brand’s name somewhere shown as a source. Second, a trust signal — a site Google shows as a “source” carries a better chance of standing out in search results down the line too.
But to be honest: appearing in AI Overviews doesn’t guarantee traffic. It’s known that outbound click traffic from chat-based search engines concentrates on a fairly narrow pool of sites; there’s a similar tendency in Google’s AI Overviews — large, authoritative sites get a disproportionate share. For a small or mid-sized business site, the realistic goal shouldn’t be “be the number-one source in AI Overviews,” it should be to appear consistently in both classic organic results and AI Overviews.
So I’d recommend treating AI Overviews not as a standalone goal, but as part of your overall GEO strategy.
What to Actually Do to Appear in AI Overviews
In order, the steps I’ve seen have the most impact:
- Answer the question directly. The first 2-3 sentences of the page should give a clear answer to that question — AI Overviews usually picks the first clear sentence when quoting.
- Clarify the structure. H2/H3 headings, tables, numbered lists — AI systems break text into pieces to understand it; a long wall of plain paragraphs makes its job harder.
- Do complete schema markup. FAQPage, Article, Organization schema also tell the machine “what” the page is.
- Clarify your entity. Make it clear who your brand is, who you are, where you operate — when you look at how your company shows up in ChatGPT, you’ll see how much of a difference this clarity makes.
- Follow the new AI report in Search Console. Check every few months which queries you appear in AI Overviews for and how that affects clicks.
None of this is a one-off “setup” — it’s a discipline that needs ongoing monitoring. I’ve gathered the overall framework on the GEO Guide page.
You Can Ask Me for This Work
You can ask me for this. I’ll audit how your pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode, and tell you which pages should be tackled first. Typically 2 hours to 2 weeks, fully remote, billed hourly. You can check out my AI search visibility service or write directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to do anything special to appear in AI Overviews?
No, there’s no separate application or “AI Overviews SEO.” Google feeds AI Overviews from the pages it already indexes normally. If your page is already searchable, well-structured, and gives a clear answer, it already has a chance of being a candidate.
Are AI Overviews and AI Mode the same thing?
No. AI Overviews is a summary box that appears above normal search results; AI Mode is an entirely chat-based search experience that runs in a separate tab. Both draw on similar underlying models, but the user experience is different.
Can I turn off AI Overviews for my site?
Yes, you can opt out through Search Console. But turning it off doesn’t increase your visibility, it just removes you from that channel. The general recommendation is to keep opt-out off, i.e. stay open to AI Overviews.
Does AI Overviews reduce my traffic?
It depends on the page. On informational, encyclopedic pages I often see impressions stay the same while clicks drop. The effect is much more limited on transactional searches that include a brand name or price.