Industries · Medical tourism
GEO for medical tourism: The right answer to a patient abroad
A patient abroad asks about treatment options and clinics in their own language, on the AI they use. In Türkiye, the rules for promoting health tourism differ from domestic promotion. This page explains the difference and how AI visibility is built within it.
International health tourism in Türkiye requires a licence. Licensed facilities and intermediaries may promote more broadly on a separate site or account aimed abroad, in languages other than Turkish, provided they do not create demand in Türkiye. Here GEO means building a multilingual source with open documents and consistent facts.
Which rules apply to promotion aimed abroad?
| Rule (source) | Effect on GEO work |
|---|---|
| A licence is required for health tourism; the Ministry issues it to facilities, USHAŞ to intermediaries (Health Tourism Regulation Art. 5)Source 2: Uluslararası Sağlık Turizmi ve Turistin Sağlığı Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 26.04.2025, 32882) | No promotion work for organisations without a licence. |
| A website with a foreign-language option is mandatory; names and titles must match the licence; accreditation or certificates must be published on the site (Art. 13/2)Source 2: Uluslararası Sağlık Turizmi ve Turistin Sağlığı Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 26.04.2025, 32882) | Names and titles match the licence in every language; documents are clearly visible. |
| The licence must be published on the organisation’s website or social media account (Promotion Regulation Art. 8/1-b)Source 1: Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075) | The licence is given as text and a link that AI can read. |
| Sponsored promotion is allowed on a separate site or account aimed abroad, in languages other than Turkish (Art. 8/1-a)Source 1: Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075) | A separate language version is built for each market. |
| Promotion creating demand among people living in Türkiye is prohibited; domestic audiences may not be targeted (Art. 8/1-c)Source 1: Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075) | Turkish content and measurement follow domestic rules separately. |
| Patient stories, reviews and thanks may be shown if the patient’s explicit consent is documented (Art. 8/1-ç)Source 1: Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075) | Reviews are used only with documented consent, on the site aimed abroad. |
| The HealthTürkiye logo must be used on all channels (Art. 8/1-e)Source 1: Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075) | It appears on every foreign-language version. |
| The facility name, title and domain must match the name and ownership on its licence (Art. 8/1-f)Source 1: Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075) | Entity data (Organization) uses the licensed name. |
| Within this scope, discount, campaign and competitive price announcements are allowed (Art. 8/3)Source 1: Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075) | Prices appear only in versions aimed abroad and are kept current. |
| Procedures banned or not permitted in Türkiye may not be promoted (Art. 8/2)Source 1: Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075) | The procedure list is checked against Ministry permissions. |
Outside these provisions, the domestic promotion rules also apply to health tourism (Art. 8/4)Source 1: Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075). For those, see Healthcare and clinics.
How is a multilingual site built for AI visibility?
- Each language lives at its own URL; Google recommends separate URLs per language rather than switching language with cookies or browser settingsSource 3: Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites.
- Language versions are linked with hreflang; Google determines a page’s language from its visible content, not from code-level language tagsSource 3: Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites.
- Visitors are not redirected automatically to the language you guess they speakSource 3: Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites.
- Treatment, process and document details rest on the same facts in every language; text is localised for each market, not just translated.
What do we measure?
The question set is written in each target market’s language and measured separately per language. Format examples: “Which licensed clinics in Türkiye offer [treatment] to patients from [country]?”, “Which accreditations does [clinic name] hold?”. We check whether the clinic appears under its correct name, whether its documents are reported correctly and which sources the answer lists.
This page summarises how two regulations affect GEO work. For a decision about your organisation, consult a lawyer and the relevant Ministry unit.
Frequently asked questions
01We do not have a licence; can you do GEO work for us?
A licence is required for international health tourismSource 2: Uluslararası Sağlık Turizmi ve Turistin Sağlığı Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 26.04.2025, 32882). Without one we do not do promotion work aimed abroad; domestic information follows the rules on the Healthcare and clinics page.
02Can we show health tourism prices on our Turkish site?
No. Price and campaign announcements are allowed within promotion on a separate site or account aimed abroad, in languages other than TurkishSource 1: Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075). Promotion aimed at creating demand in Türkiye is prohibitedSource 1: Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075).
03Which languages do you work in?
We work directly in Turkish and English. How other languages are handled is agreed in the intro call; measurement is done separately in each language.
Sources
- [1]Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 12.11.2025, 33075)Resmî Gazete · accessed: 26 September 2026
- [2]Uluslararası Sağlık Turizmi ve Turistin Sağlığı Hakkında Yönetmelik (RG 26.04.2025, 32882)Resmî Gazete · accessed: 26 September 2026
- [3]Managing multi-regional and multilingual sitesGoogle Search Central · accessed: 26 September 2026
How to cite this page
Kaynaq. (26 September 2026). GEO for medical tourism: The right answer to a patient abroad. https://kaynaq.pages.dev/en/industries/medical-tourism
Updates and corrections
No corrections on this page yet. If you spot an error, write to us; we publish every fix here with its date.