What Is AI Overviews, What Does It Show in Turkey
AI Overviews is a summary box at the top of some Google searches, compiled from several sources and carrying links to them. Google shows it only for searches where its systems think generative AI will help, so it doesn’t appear on every search. In Turkey it began rolling out on February 18, 2026, together with AI Mode. If you’re a searcher: you can’t switch it off, but there is a way to see results without it. If you own a site: there’s no application or special markup to appear in it, but the effect on clicks varies by page type. I cover both below.
AI Overviews and AI Mode are not the same thing
They get mixed up because both are called “AI search”.
| AI Overviews | AI Mode | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it appears | Above the normal results, as a single box | A separate search experience |
| How it works | Gives the gist of a question quickly, with source links to go further | Produces longer answers for questions that need exploration, reasoning or comparison; you can ask follow-ups |
| When it appears | When Google’s systems find it useful | When the user picks that tab |
Sources: Google’s AI features documentation and its announcement for Turkey (in Turkish). According to the announcement, AI Mode runs on the Gemini 3 model family and splits a question into subtopics, running many searches at once. Both rolled out gradually in the Google app on Android and iOS and on the results page, which is why not everyone saw them on the same day.
How many searches show it in Turkey
I don’t know, and I couldn’t find a measurement I’d trust. Some percentages circulate, but I haven’t seen a published figure for Turkish-language searches with an open method, so I’m not giving a number. Running 10-20 queries from your own sector by hand and noting whether the box appears will tell you more than a general percentage. In my experience it shows up more often on informational queries (“what is”, “how to”) and less often on brand or purchase-intent searches; that’s my observation, not a measured rate.
As a searcher, can I turn AI Overviews off
No. Google’s help page says these features can’t be turned off. The “AI in Search” setting in Labs only stops new experiment notifications; it doesn’t remove AI Overviews. If you want plain text links without the summary, run your search and then pick the Web filter above the results (under “More” if you don’t see it); you have to select it again for each search. Source: Google Search Help.
As a site owner: what it takes to appear
According to Google, there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no special optimization is needed. Your page needs to be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet; no special structured data, AI-specific text file or new markup is required (source, as of October 2026). So there is no separate “AI Overviews SEO”. Here is what I do in practice; none of it is a ranking guarantee:
- Put the answer in the first sentences of the page. It helps the reader, and it makes the page easier for summarizing systems to quote.
- Organize with headings, short paragraphs, tables and lists. If each section stands on its own, it’s easier to quote in pieces.
- Check that you haven’t blocked yourself. If you’ve blocked Googlebot in robots.txt, or the page carries
nosnippet/max-snippet, it won’t be used in summaries; if you didn’t add those on purpose, remove them. - Make it clear who your brand is and who you are. If you look at how your company shows up in ChatGPT, you’ll see the same clarity helps there too.
For the overall framework, see the GEO Guide.
How it appears in Search Console
There is no separate “AI Overviews report”. According to Google’s documentation, impressions, clicks and position from these features are counted inside the Web search type in the Performance report, so you can’t filter out what came from AI Overviews. If you want an indirect signal: when impressions for a query stay flat or rise while click-through rate falls, the box may be playing a part. That’s a signal, not proof; seasonality and ranking changes produce the same pattern.
What I see in my own data
In the Search Console data of the sites I manage, I often see impressions staying the same while click-through rate drops on “what is X” style information pages. On service and price-intent queries and brand searches the effect is much smaller. This is an observation; it isn’t equally strong on every page, and I can’t attribute the cause to AI Overviews alone. I describe how click loss varies by page type on a separate page.
The practical takeaway: appearing in AI Overviews is not a traffic guarantee. The user may read the summary and leave, though they will have seen your brand shown as a source. For a small business the realistic goal isn’t to be the single source; it’s to show up consistently in both classic results and the summaries.
Can I stop my content from being used in AI Overviews
Yes, but it has a cost. The controls in Google’s documentation are nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet and noindex. They affect not only AI summaries but also the snippet in the normal search result, so classic results show less and clicks may fall. Google-Extended is for AI training and grounding in Google’s other systems; for the AI features in Search, the documentation points to Googlebot and the page-level controls above. Search Console has no separate “opt-out” switch for this. Unless you have a specific reason (for example copyright or licensed content), I’d leave it unblocked.
If you want me to check how your pages appear
I can review how your pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode and tell you which pages to start with. Typically 2 hours to 2 weeks, fully remote, billed hourly. You can look at my AI search visibility service or write to me directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to apply or change a setting to appear in AI Overviews?
No. Google defines no additional requirement; the page needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. Whether it appears is decided by Google’s systems, query by query.
Does AI Overviews appear on every search?
No. Google shows it only when it expects it to add something to the classic results; on many searches it doesn’t appear at all.
Does everyone in Turkey see AI Overviews?
The rollout began on February 18, 2026, but Google said the features were rolling out gradually. If you don’t see it, it may depend on your device, app version or account, or your query may simply not trigger the box.
Does AI Overviews reduce my traffic?
On some pages I see click-through rate drop, especially on informational pages. On service and brand searches the effect is much more limited. I won’t give an exact figure because Search Console doesn’t report it separately.