What are search engines? Google, Bing, Yandex and AI search

Search engines are software systems that crawl web pages, store their content in an indexIndexThe database a search engine draws on to choose answers for queries, holding information about web pages., and rank the results relevant to a user’s query so they can reach the information they need.

We assess a business’s search visibility starting from its index status in Google, Bing and Yandex, then look at which sources AI search draws on. We never assume a page found in Google is also in Bing, and we never treat verifying a site in a panel as appearing in results.

What is a search engine?

A search engine is software that finds and ranks web pages relevant to a user’s query. It works through crawling, indexing and ranking. Crawling is discovering and reading a page; indexing is accepting it into the pool of results. Ranking decides which results are shown, and in what order, for a query.

Google, Bing and Yandex are examples. Changing a browser’s search setting and making a site findable in these engines are different jobs.

The next step depends on the situation:

1. You need a definition or examples for an assignment → A search engine is software that ranks results for a query; Google, Bing and Yandex are examples.
2. You want to change your browser’s search engine → This is done in the browser’s search setting, not in a site verification panel.
3. A business website does not show up in search → We review verification in that engine’s panel, the page’s index status and crawl access.

Which search engines are used in Turkey?

Turkey’s search engines are Google, Yandex and Bing. In StatCounterStatCounterA statistics service that measures browser, operating system and search engine usage shares from counters installed on websites.’s August measurement, Google took 80.9% of searches in Turkey, Yandex 17.5% and Bing 0.9%; roughly one in six searches happens on Yandex. Since shares shift monthly, we set priorities from the site’s own visitor mix.

Each engine uses its own index. Google’s control panel is Search Console, Bing’s is Bing Webmaster Tools and Yandex’s is Yandex Webmaster. The general web results of Yahoo and DuckDuckGo come largely from Bing.

Market share is not a traffic split. We compare organic visits in GA4 with impressions and clicks in the webmaster panels, so national usage and the business’s own visibility are assessed separately.

How does an AI search engine work?

An AI search engine processes information from web sources and presents a written answer next to, or instead of, a list of links. How it reaches sources varies by service; we never tie all AI search to one index.

Google AI Overviews and AI Mode use the Google index. Google Search Central’s “AI features and your website” documentation says no special markup is needed; the page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet.

ChatGPT search draws on OAI-SearchBotOAI-SearchBotThe bot OpenAI uses to crawl web pages for ChatGPT’s search feature; it is not used for model training. crawling and on third-party search providers, Bing among them (OpenAI’s bot documentation and the ChatGPT search help page). Microsoft Copilot’s web search runs on Bing. Perplexity crawls with PerplexityBot and builds its own index.

The table draws on Google Search Central, OpenAI’s bot documentation, Bing Webmaster Guidelines and Perplexity’s crawler documentation. Being indexed is not the same as being chosen as a source in an AI answer. A Bing listing does not explain every ChatGPT source path, and a Google ranking does not prove Copilot reaches the page via Bing.

How do you check whether your site is registered with search engines?

We check registration through the verification details in Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and Yandex Webmaster. Verification proves authority over the site; indexing is the engine accepting a page into its results. A verified site and the number of indexed pages are different information.

After Search Console, we move to Bing Webmaster Tools, where importing the site verified in Google simplifies verification (Bing Webmaster Tools help). We then check the sitemap and key pages’ index status in Bing’s own panel.

Our five-step method, from registration to measurement:

1. Search ConsoleWe verify the domain with a DNS record, submit the sitemap and review index status in the Pages report.
2. Bing Webmaster ToolsWe verify by importing from Search Console, check the sitemap and inspect key pages with URL Inspection.
3. Yandex WebmasterWe add the site, verify it with a meta tag or DNS, submit the sitemap and check the region setting.
4. IndexNowWe place the key file on the site and send new and updated URLs through the shared route Bing and Yandex use.
5. CheckWe run site:domain.com in each engine and review the google / organic, bing / organic and yandex / organic rows in GA4 source/medium.

IndexNow is not a registration panel but a protocol for announcing URL changes; the key file verifies the right to notify. Google does not take part, so Search Console work runs separately, and a notification does not guarantee indexing (IndexNow participants and FAQ).

Visits in GA4 show a page gets traffic; no visits do not prove it is missing from the index. So we read index status from the panel and organic traffic from measurement.

What should you do when a site does not appear in search engines?

For a site missing from search engines, index status and bot access are checked first, then content and measurement. Being found in Google is not visibility in every engine; the work depends on the situation.

Three needs, three responses:

1. You are in Google but not in Bing → We check Bing Webmaster Tools verification, the sitemap and URL Inspection, announce the URL with IndexNow and recheck index status; a sent notification does not close the job.
2. You are in Google and Bing but missing from AI answers → We check OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot access in robots.txt, the page’s direct answer and brand consistency. Crawl permission opens access; it does not secure selection as a source.
3. You are in Google and Bing but get no Yandex traffic → We look at Yandex Webmaster verification, the region and Turkish-language pages’ index status; if indexed, we review queries, impressions, clicks and measurement.

We assess selection as a source in AI answers separately, from content and access, in our GEO consulting work. We run the same query and inspect the source page shown, so we never diagnose access or content problems from visit counts alone.

Why does Yandex matter in Turkey?

Yandex needs its own visibility check in Turkey because it is the second engine there, with 17.5% of searches, and uses its own index. Google rankings do not carry over, so Yandex Webmaster registration and index checks are done separately (StatCounter Turkey, Yandex Webmaster documentation).

Yandex offers a Turkish interface at yandex.com.tr. In Yandex Webmaster we check the sitemap and region and whether Turkish-language pages are indexed. The region matches the business’s service area, with consistent address and contact details on the site (Yandex Webmaster, site region documentation).

Yandex supports IndexNow, but a sent notification does not mean visits are coming in. With no “yandex / organic” row in GA4, we compare Yandex Webmaster query, impression and click data with measurement. An indexed page with no traffic and an unindexed page are different problems; that distinction decides the work.

Common mistakes in search engine visibility

Treating registration as indexing, blocking bots wholesale and measuring only Google rankings leave an audit incomplete. Our distinctions:

• Looking only at Search Console: We confirm crawl and index status in Bing and Yandex from their own panels.
• Blocking search bots wholesale: We check Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot access separately in robots.txt.
• Counting an IndexNow notification as indexing: After notifying, we return to the engine’s page inspection.
• Measuring only Google rankings: We also assess Bing and Yandex visits in the GA4 source/medium breakdown.
• Not checking the Yandex region: We match it to the business’s service area and the details on the site.
• Treating sitemap submission as enough: We confirm the engine processed the sitemap and check key pages’ index status.

In our SEO consulting work we verify access and index status first, then assess which queries the page appears for, whether it gets clicks and whether AI answers cite it. More on technical checks, content and measurement is in our blog posts.

Frequently asked questions