Enes Ege and Emir Yildirim
13 October 2026•Update: 13 October 2026
Search engines and virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping digital marketing by replacing click-driven metrics with a “citation economy,” as experts say producing original and verifiable content has become increasingly important for brands to stand out amid the oversaturation of generative AI content.
Digital visibility across AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews hinges on “generative engine optimization,” or “GEO,” according to a report by Princeton University and partner institutions.
Researchers developed a test dataset called “GEO-bench,” which includes over 10,000 different queries to analyze the data processing architecture of generative search engines.
The test showed that digital content with verifiable statistics, credible citations and expert opinions increased its visibility in AI-generated answers by up to 40%.
With more and more users relying on AI-generated summaries rather than clicking through search engine query results, marketing agencies worldwide are reshaping their strategies to adapt to the changing trend.
Experts say this transition will usher in a new era where brands that produce high-quality original content will prevail over those that boast massive ad budgets.
Bunyamin Sarac, co-founder and CEO of Indexa, told Anadolu that brands appearing in AI chatbot answers and AI-generated search engine summaries are more successful as internet traffic shifts away from the simple click-based system.
Sarac stated that AI engines evaluate real-time search results using trust signals like “source authority,” “timeliness” and “extractability.”
“Developers of these models do not fully share the details of their source selection mechanism, so we can’t really say that there’s a definitive formula, but research and observation showed certain signals that these models look for,” he said. “AI responses are trained by two sources: the data set used to train the model and web search inquiries at the moment that the answer is generated to a prompt.”
Sarac noted that click-through rates drop when users receive an AI summary, citing Pew Research Center findings that showed that while 8% of users who read an AI summary on Google clicked on one of the resulting links, this rate was nearly double among those who did not see a summary.
“We expect a decline in web traffic from information-seeking inquiries, as visitors who click on a website will be those who have already read the AI summary or done their research through AI and are closer to making a purchase – the metric for success will shift from the number of clicks to the number of times that a product or brand was recommended for critical search inquiries,” he added.
Erdem Dagdemir, co-founder and CEO of Analythick, told Anadolu that conventional search engine optimization (SEO) focused on technical code and voluminous data, which is no longer sufficient. He urged brands to embrace a newer approach that highlights human context, real-world customer satisfaction and organic digital footprints.
“AI does not look at the volume of data but at its qualitative accuracy and depth, synthesizing information by cross-referencing a brand’s digital footprint and asking if the source is trustworthy and whether customers are satisfied,” he said.
“Brands must plan their operations, establish effective communication, and build trust by prioritizing customer satisfaction,” he added, noting that if these digital footprints do not corroborate a brand’s corporate promises, AI might completely remove the brand from recommendations.
Dagdemir stated that large language models (LLMs) go through online forums and review sites to reveal persistent consumer complaints to decide whether a brand or product can be recommended to users. He added that marketing teams clinging to outdated methods, like oversaturating superficial content, will lose ground to competitors who offer verifiable information.
“The clear and fast responses AI chatbots are made to deliver force people and industries to adapt to this new pace, and Türkiye’s ecosystem stands at this threshold of adaptation – while some brands are still using outdated methods to cling to their prominence, the fundamental rule of the new era is no longer about visibility but about reliability, and amid the clutter of information and scarcity of quality content, I think brands that abandon ad-driven strategies in favor of offering genuine and accurate information will gain a significant edge over competitors in AI-generated search responses,” he added.
