How Does a Turkish Digital Specialist Keep Up With the Trends in the Market?
A List of Blogs, Influencers, and Agencies From Local Experts
The language, food, and music preferences change from country to country. Have you ever wondered about the regional differences among professionals and how they affect business?
The Serpstat team decided to investigate local markets and determine what distinguishes them from the international one. Our virtual journey began in Turkey.
The Serpstat team decided to investigate local markets and determine what distinguishes them from the international one. Our virtual journey began in Turkey.
Meet our guest experts
We talked to people we trust and who are valuable experts in their field. We have added their comments to this article to give you a more in-depth experience of the Turkish market.
- Haydar Özkömürcü
Marketing consultant at Cremicro
Haydar has worked with more than 300 brands such as General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, and T. İşbank worldwide during his professional career. In addition, he has trained more than 3,000 students who are active in the field. - Mert ErkalFounder at StradijiMert is an experienced marketer and SEO specialist with more than ten years background. He is the founder of Stradiji.com, one of the leading agencies on the Turkish market. Mert also holds SEOs Diner Club community with the latest news in the SEO field.
- Yiğit Konur
Founder of Zeo Agency and Wope
Yiğit is a professional with over fifteen years of experience in the market. As a specialist with a wealth of experience, he shares it at various conferences. He also serves on the jury representing Turkey at the Search Awards. - Kürşad Sualp
Founder of Digitanya SEO Agency
Founder and SEO Manager of Digitanya SEO Agency. He has managed over 250 SEO projects and is currently involved in medium and large-scale projects. Also Kürşad produces Youtube content called SEO Chats.
Contents:
Participants’ info
How do specialists gain knowledge of the industry?
What tools do Turkish SEOs use?
Conclusion
How do specialists gain knowledge of the industry?
- What are the most popular social networks among Turkish digital professionals?
- What do Turkish digital professionals read?
- Who should you follow to keep up with the latest market news?
What tools do Turkish SEOs use?
Conclusion
Sunny and colorful Turkey has a mature digital market. But understanding it on your own, without the language proficiency and the local experts in your contact list, is a difficult task.
We interviewed Turkish digital experts to gain an insight into how everything works here. In the first part of the survey, you will find out where to keep up with the industry news and who to follow.
This article will be helpful to:
We interviewed Turkish digital experts to gain an insight into how everything works here. In the first part of the survey, you will find out where to keep up with the industry news and who to follow.
This article will be helpful to:
- Professionals who are just starting their journey in the market;
- Digital specialists who want to find new sources of inspiration;
- Those who are just curious to learn more about the Turkish digital market.
Participants’ info
The survey was conducted among 100 specialists. Our respondents came from a variety of professions, including Marketers, SEO specialists, PPC specialists, and Digital Marketers.
Among the participants, there were also specialists in SEO and content marketing, Web design and SEO, Advertising specialist, Brand management and digital marketing, and Web development and promotions.
How do specialists gain knowledge of the industry?
To stay in demand, you need to keep up to date with the changes in the industry. Blogs, specialized media, and influencers can help with this.
The official language in Turkey is Turkish, and most of the population speaks Turkish. Therefore, it can be assumed that all professionals consume content in their native language.
However, 56% of the respondents shared that they receive professional content in English, 40% prefer Turkish, and the other 4% read sources in both languages.
The official language in Turkey is Turkish, and most of the population speaks Turkish. Therefore, it can be assumed that all professionals consume content in their native language.
However, 56% of the respondents shared that they receive professional content in English, 40% prefer Turkish, and the other 4% read sources in both languages.
“
Although Turkish content on the Internet is relatively small compared to English in percentage, content-oriented SEO studies are popular in Turkey. In the post-Covid-19 period, all e-commerce sites have invested in SEO, and the market has grown incredibly fast. This also increased the competition. BERT algorithm works well in the Turkish language. For this reason, it has become almost impossible to do SEO without knowing the language. Since Turkish is an inflected language, keyword-oriented studies can be done with a bit more effort than in English.
“
It is common that most of our search engine optimization campaigns in Turkey are only focused on the Turkish language. The exception to this is our international e-commerce platforms and SaaS solutions. To understand the user's intent fully and to cluster keywords effectively in order to map them with information architecture, it is mandatory to speak Turkish at least on an intermediate level. Thanks to recent advancements in Google Sheets, using the =GOOGLETRANSLATE formula might help you to create something, but you have to admit that knowing the dynamics of the Turkish market and speaking Turkish as a native language is a definite plus.
Talking of content sources, the following picture appeared:
- 32.8% of respondents get up-to-date news about the industry on social media.
- 25.9% follow blogs.
- 23.3% follow professional media.
- 12.9% receive industry news from Influencers.
- 5.2% prefer other sources.
What are the most popular social networks among Turkish digital professionals?
Based on the results of the previous question, we can assume that social media is a key resource for up-to-date news. So let's take a closer look at this topic.
Experts shared what social media they use most often. The results are following:
Experts shared what social media they use most often. The results are following:
42% use Instagram, 36% – LinkedIn, 20% – Twitter and 2% prefer Facebook.
Telegram is not a very popular source of professional news. However, our respondents shared the channels they read there. Among them:
Telegram is not a very popular source of professional news. However, our respondents shared the channels they read there. Among them:
- Search engine land;
- Boosmart;
- Search Engine Optimization SEO;
- Personal channel of Samet Baki Bayram;
- Personal channel of John Mu;
- Personal channel of Tevfük Mert Azizoğlu;
- Personal channel of John Garben.
What do Turkish digital professionals read?
According to our survey, 60% of respondents claim that there are many professional blogs in Turkey, and they are in Turkish. Only 4% indicated that these blogs are in English. The remaining 36% stated that there are very few or no professional blogs in Turkey.
However, blogs are a significant source of knowledge for digital professionals in the Turkish market. Therefore, we invite you to take a look at the blogs mentioned by our respondents:
However, blogs are a significant source of knowledge for digital professionals in the Turkish market. Therefore, we invite you to take a look at the blogs mentioned by our respondents:
- Webrazzi is Turkey's leading media covering the development of the internet and the tech world through research and analysis.
Followed by many professionals shaping the sector, Webrazzi publishes a wide variety of news and analysis, from web start-ups to investments in the field. - ZEO is an international SEO and digital marketing agency. You will find helpful tips, in-depth tutorials, and more practical materiasl on the ZEO blog.
- SEO Hocasi is the only ISO 9001-certified SEO company in Turkey that provides corporate SEO consulting services. On the SEO Hocasi blog, you can get up-to-date information about the industry and learn from the company's experience.
- The company's expertise aims to provide professional website design, SEO services, and online advertising.
In their blog, you can find helpful SEO and web design articles. - Kobisi is an e-commerce infrastructure where you can both create an e-commerce site and integrate your site with different marketplace platforms. In addition, Kobisi also provides its customers with various services.
They have a blog that is constantly updating with helpful articles SEO and digital marketing. There you can find content based on agency professionals' experience. - At MarketingTR, you can find articles to suit all tastes, from email marketing to advice on building a sustainable strategy. There's also information on industry events, webinar recordings, and much more.
- Pazarlamasyon offers original and valuable content on marketing, business, and digital transformation topics. In addition to the usual articles, the resource regularly conducts digital research and interviews with experts.
- Earnando's blog has three main sections: marketing, business development, and startup tips. You can find guides and tips to help you dive deeper into your chosen topic in each section.
- Webtures is a company specializing in digital marketing, especially SEO. The Webtures blog publishes comprehensive guides and articles. Therefore, it can be a good source of information for newcomers or those who want to delve deeper into a particular topic.
- Branding Turkey is a new generation channel where academics and industry professionals assess all the facts about integrated marketing. In addition to academic and industry articles, Branding Turkey also includes interviews with industry experts, book recommendations for professionals, and news, announcements, and events for the business world.
- This website publishes SEO, SEM, ASO, design, and UI/UX news. Aramamotoru also posts practical articles on these topics.
- SeoSozluk is a platform that shares articles about SEO, SEM, and eCommerce. The platform has gained popularity due to its successful work and participation in many medium and large eCommerce and Corporate projects.
- Markethinkers is an award-winning international SEO and content marketing agency that focuses on developing high-quality content that will improve your business rankings on search results pages. The agency's team created a knowledge base based on their own experience. So on the website, you can find information about content marketing and SEO development.
- Icerik bulutu academy is an extensive knowledge base for digital professionals. There you will find articles, webinars, and e-books about content marketing.
- You will find news from the advertising and marketing industry on this site. Also, get acquainted with the novelties and trends of visual communication. In addition, the site is regularly updated with research and interviews.
Want to choose a list of resources for your topic?
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Using Serpstat, you can easily see the most relevant sites for the keyword you are looking for.
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Who should you follow to keep up with the latest market news?
Typically, opinion leaders are specialists in a particular field who have worked in it for a long time and have accumulated unique knowledge and experience. By following the influencers in your area, you will be able to receive industry news, be inspired by others' experiences, and apply them to your work.
Of course, there are many content formats, and every influencer chooses the one that suits them best. To learn more about content trends on the market, we asked digital professionals in which form they feel most comfortable receiving professional news.
The results are following:
Of course, there are many content formats, and every influencer chooses the one that suits them best. To learn more about content trends on the market, we asked digital professionals in which form they feel most comfortable receiving professional news.
The results are following:
22,6% prefer short videos, 20,5% – long text content, 19,9% – short text content, 18,5% – instructional pictures, 12,3% – long videos and 6,2% listen to podcasts
“
When it comes to SEO strategy, I am not a believer in local trends when it comes to the strategic approach. As a result, I am unable to see any local trends here. The importance of creating an excellent information architecture that prioritizes what users are searching for is crucial for all markets.
When you succeed in putting a great strategy on the global market, you can also follow the same principles to create success in the Turkish market. There is only one difference in terms of Google's ability to understand content from a technical point of view, but that does not mean that you can still use spammy tactics to do SEO, but we cannot deny that backlinks are effective in those markets where Google is unable to understand the context of written language.
When you succeed in putting a great strategy on the global market, you can also follow the same principles to create success in the Turkish market. There is only one difference in terms of Google's ability to understand content from a technical point of view, but that does not mean that you can still use spammy tactics to do SEO, but we cannot deny that backlinks are effective in those markets where Google is unable to understand the context of written language.
List of infuencers on Turkish digital market
Haydar Özkömürcü
He has worked with more than 300 brands such as General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, and T. İşbank worldwide during his professional career. In addition, he has trained more than 3,000 students who are active in the field. He writes articles in leading industry publications and has been selected as Turkey's most influential figure in the Internet and technology in 2018.
Büşra Çildaş
Büşra is an experienced Search Engine Optimization Executive with an extensive history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. She is skilled in SEO, PR, Content Marketing, and Social Media.
As an SEO specialist, she has a lot to share. And she actively does so on her Twitter and LinkedIn. Büşra is also a content writer on BoostRoas.
Koray Tuğberk Gübür
Koray is the founder and owner of Holistic SEO & Digital. He shares his knowledge through articles, webinars, conferences, and SEO-related events. He focuses on Data Science, Machine Learning, Web Development, Entity-based Contextual Search, Semantic Content Network Creation, and Marketing, Branding, and Reputation Management.
You can follow Koray on Twitter, LinkedIn or read his articles on Serpstat blog.
Ayhan Karaman
Ayhan is head of the digital productivity and advertising agency Site Support. He is one of the top 5 marketing blog sites in Turkey (Power 100) and one of the top 5 SEO experts in Turkey. He focused on Search Engine Technology, Sales, Execution ?, and Management.
Ayhan has a YouTube channel where he shares helpful SEO tips and interacts with industry leaders. He also has his blog, where he publishes articles about digital marketing, and LinkedIn, where he shares top news.
Yiğit Konur
Yiğit started his career in 2005 and has been involved in many SEO projects as a freelancer. In 2012, he founded the Zeo agency. Yiğit speaks at conferences such as Digitalzone, CMMasters, SEMdays, WMF, inOrbit, and the biggest contemporary SEO conference, called BrightonSEO. He also serves as a jury, representing Turkey at the Search Awards.
You can follow Yiğit on Twitter and LinkedIn. He is also the author of articles on the Zeo blog.
İlyas Teker
Ilyas has been working in the SEO field for 13+ years. He is now Founder & SEO Consultant at Mosanta.com. He had worked as an SEO Director of iProspect's Chicago office, one of the world's largest digital marketing agencies. Ilyas provided SEO consultancy for more than 200 brands, such as Coca-Cola, Adidas, Sony, Pegasus in Turkey, Europe and American markets.
Kaan Gülten
Kaan Gülten is a technology entrepreneur, CEO of Webtures. Founder of Girişimci Kafası, the largest entrepreneurship community in Turkey. Startup Mentor at Cube Incubation, Turk Telekom Pilot, and BTM Istanbul. Skilled in Mobile Advertising, Digital Strategy, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), E-commerce, Marketing Strategy, Growth Hacking, and Entrepreneurship.
Kaan actively writes on his Twitter and LinkedIn, filling them with helpful content. He also has his blog where he shares his experiences and useful material in article format.
Zafer Kavaklı
Zafer has six years of digital marketing experience in domestic and foreign markets in Turkey, USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Mena, South Asia, and Australia in 6 languages. He also conducts training on Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram advertising.
Since the beginning of his career, he has been developing a blog and sharing professional content on social media.
Ahmet Balat
Ahmet is co-owner and digital marketing coach at the advertising agency Brandok. He has been working in digital for about ten years. Ahmet likes to share his knowledge, so he spends a lot of time training in one-to-one format.
Ahmet also shares his knowledge on his blog and social media: LinkedIn and Instagram.
Temel Aksoy
Temel left has large experience in industry as a marketer researcher. He has led and supervised many studies in the marketing research field. He was the President of the Turkish Marketing Research Association. (2008-2010).
He currently consults on strategy and brand for some of the largest companies in Turkey through his consultancy firm and writes articles on brand, management, and strategy on the blog and Twitter.
Rating of digital agencies in Turkey
Digital marketing can involve many popular forms of online promotion. Digital marketing agencies understand how each aspect of digital marketing can help achieve an organization's goals and design their services accordingly. They often provide additional solutions to increase their online presence, such as adaptive website design, search engine optimization (SEO) services, and an overall online marketing strategy.
There are many digital marketing agencies on the market, and the easiest way to explore this topic is through various ratings. But unfortunately, there isn't one universal list. They are all based on different metrics: customer feedback, expert opinion, traffic counts, and more.
There are many digital marketing agencies on the market, and the easiest way to explore this topic is through various ratings. But unfortunately, there isn't one universal list. They are all based on different metrics: customer feedback, expert opinion, traffic counts, and more.
How did we choose the agencies for the ranking?
Important: We considered only the agencies that our respondents informed us about. It's therefore unlikely that we will cover all agencies in Turkey.
For the ranking itself, we relied on how the search engine "sees" the agencies themselves in search engine rankings, i.e., on potential traffic and visibility indicators. We believe that if an agency promotes itself well, it gives good results for its clients.
For the ranking itself, we relied on how the search engine "sees" the agencies themselves in search engine rankings, i.e., on potential traffic and visibility indicators. We believe that if an agency promotes itself well, it gives good results for its clients.
Visibility is a metric that determines the number of impressions for selected keyword phrases based on a website's position in search engine results. In other words, website visibility helps to check how "visible" a website is in search. There's no universal number for the "Visibility" indicator - it will be different depending on the size of the site and topic matter.
As you work with visibility, you should compare your performance in a given period with the previous and following period and with the performance of other sites on the same topic. Visibility is most often used to measure the effectiveness of SEO work on a website.
Organic traffic is the potential amount of traffic to the site per month. It is an indicator that correlates with real domain traffic. Serpstat calculates total traffic based on CTR, number of domain’s keywords, and domain’s position for those queries.
We used Serpstat Batch analysis to collect data. The advantage of the tool is the speed of data processing. We loaded the list into the tool to analyze several domains at once and selected a search region.
Based on the results, we have compiled our ranking of SEO agencies.
Based on the results, we have compiled our ranking of SEO agencies.
TOP-15 digital agencies of Tukey
Several agencies were named leaders, but we excluded them due to poor company website optimization.
Local VS global SEO
We also talked to experts to find out which markets local SEO agencies are targeting.
“
Between 2007 and 2020, I worked in the SEO agency business in Turkey. According to what I have seen from our competitors, most of them focus on the Turkish market. In light of the recent economic changes in our geographic region, more and more agencies are looking to expand their reach to the UK and US markets by internationalizing their marketing strategies and participating in job boards like Upwork. Accordingly, we can easily predict that more international SEO firms will be based in Turkey in the upcoming years. There are some great SEO minds in our country who deserve international experience, and we look forward to seeing how the market focus will lead to global expansion.
“
Due to the economic conjuncture, Turkey is in, agencies are striving to become a player in the global arena. Since the Turkish diaspora is more powerful than ever before, SEO agencies have started to expand abroad quickly. However, we are still at the beginning of the process. In the next few years, we can say that we are on the way to becoming a new India.
“
In my opinion, most agencies focus on the local market as it can be relatively easy to do SEO in Turkey. There are 85-100 million people who only use this language. But with global languages like English, it can be more challenging.
In addition, SEO is a sector that is about to grow in Turkey. Users in the global may be more conscious compared to those in Turkey.
In addition, SEO is a sector that is about to grow in Turkey. Users in the global may be more conscious compared to those in Turkey.
“
More agencies, including Stradiji, are focusing on global SEO and trying to gain clients from USA/UK. This is not easy, but as Stradiji, for example, we acquired four foreign customers in the last year. Companies that want the same quality service with a more affordable budget may prefer to work with Turkish SEO experts.
To increase the number of successful Turkish SEO experts like Koray Tugberk Gubur, I have been publishing a Turkish SEO bulletin called "Digital Marketing Notes" for the last two years, and I am trying to raise the SEO knowledge level of the sector to international standards.
To increase the number of successful Turkish SEO experts like Koray Tugberk Gubur, I have been publishing a Turkish SEO bulletin called "Digital Marketing Notes" for the last two years, and I am trying to raise the SEO knowledge level of the sector to international standards.
What tools do Turkish SEOs use?
The toolkit of digital marketers is very diverse. They are essential to their work since they help them analyze results and plan their work. So we had to ask our respondents about their favorite tools.
- Serpstat
- Google Tools (Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, Google Search Console, Google Site Speed Test)
- Screaming frog
- Ubersuggest
- Yoast
- Helium 10
- SEO PowerSuite
- Sistrix
- DeepCrawl
- Searchmetrics
- oncrawl
- Rank Math
- KeywordTool
“
Indeed, the cost plays a decisive role. It will sound funny, but buying tools in bulk and using them together is widespread. At this point, it is impossible to discuss an ethical and moral approach. The Turkish Lira, whose value is constantly decreasing against the Dollar and Euro due to the adverse conditions the Turkish economy is going through, plays a very influential role in this.
“
The essential item is the databases created for keyword volumes. Most SEO tools do not update the Turkish language regularly. However, we are talking about a very active market. Keywords can change 60-70% every month, not every year.
“
Among the digital marketers of Turkey, they love to keep up with the trends of the local market. A large part of the SEO software tools used in Turkey are either endorsed by well-known people in the community or used by large agencies and promoted through their events. To be a successful company in the Turkish market, localization of software and being featured at well-known content hubs in the industry are essential.
“
As a senior SEO specialist and SEO instructor. I can highlight the following points:
- The proximity of data to reality;
- Convenience panel for the end-user;
- It's becoming increasingly critical that the product has an optimal price/performance volume.
Conclusion
The Turkish digital market is an area that is developing rapidly and has many players. It is necessary to follow its trends in different resources. However, the most popular method is social media, where experts share news and professional advice through posts and short videos.
We hope our article has helped you understand more about the Turkish market. Do your best in your work!
We hope our article has helped you understand more about the Turkish market. Do your best in your work!
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