Sungur Kerem Gezergün has been named a finalist in the Emerging Talent Award category at the MENA Search Awards 2026.

Currently working as an SEO Specialist at Hepsiburada, Gezergün is an e-commerce SEO specialist whose work focuses on technical SEO, organic growth and building scalable search strategies for complex digital platforms.

His career has been shaped largely around e-commerce and search. He has contributed to SEO strategies for more than 30 brands across different industries, including MINISO, Sabancı University, Manuka, Fresh Scarfs, 3D Teknomarket and Aker. His work has covered technical SEO, content strategy, site architecture, crawlability, indexation and organic visibility, with a strong emphasis on turning SEO requirements into repeatable and scalable processes.

The 2026 shortlist marks Gezergün’s second consecutive year as a MENA Search Awards finalist. In 2025, he was part of the team behind the MINISO SEO project, which was named a finalist in the Best Low Budget Campaign (SEO) category. The project focused on using data, technical SEO and on-site improvements within strict budget constraints.

An e-commerce-focused SEO career

E-commerce has remained at the centre of Gezergün’s professional development. Working with websites containing large numbers of products, categories and dynamically generated URLs has shaped his approach to SEO around scalability, technical foundations and search intent.

His work includes areas such as site architecture, internal linking, crawl efficiency, indexation, category and content structures, metadata standards and organic growth planning. A recurring principle in his approach is that SEO should not be treated only as an optimisation task carried out after publication; instead, search requirements should be considered as part of product, content and technical processes from the beginning.

Today, he continues this work at Hepsiburada, where he works as an SEO Specialist and focuses on search visibility within a large-scale e-commerce environment.

Using automation to make SEO processes more efficient

Another area of focus in Gezergün’s work is the use of automation to reduce repetitive SEO operations. He has developed practical systems and lightweight tools for tasks such as technical checks, metadata production, internal linking, log analysis and reporting.

The objective is straightforward: reduce time spent on repetitive operational work so that SEO teams can devote more attention to analysis, prioritisation, problem-solving and strategy. Rather than treating tool development as a separate discipline, Gezergün approaches it as a way to solve recurring problems encountered during day-to-day SEO work.

Sharing SEO knowledge beyond day-to-day projects

Alongside his professional work, Gezergün has contributed to educational and industry initiatives focused on sharing SEO and digital marketing knowledge. He has taken part as a speaker and trainer in activities involving Üsküdar University, Ahi Evran University and the Turkish Psychological Association, and has also been involved in broader educational projects around e-commerce and digital marketing.

He also co-produces the Sepetteki SEO podcast, where SEO, e-commerce and developments in search are discussed with an industry-focused perspective.

Looking beyond traditional search

More recently, Gezergün has been exploring how search is changing as generative AI becomes part of the way users discover and evaluate information. His areas of interest include Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), AI crawler behaviour, entity understanding and the conditions that influence whether brands and sources are interpreted as reliable across generative search systems.

This work sits alongside his graduate studies in neuromarketing, where he is interested in the relationship between user behaviour, decision-making, brand perception and digital search experiences. The combination reflects a broader interest in understanding search not only through algorithms and rankings, but also through the way people discover, assess and trust information.

“Search is gradually becoming broader than ranking for a set of keywords. Users are discovering brands through search engines, AI assistants, marketplaces and multiple other interfaces. I think the next phase of SEO will require us to understand not only how search engines crawl and rank information, but also how different systems interpret, connect and trust that information.”

Two consecutive years on the MENA Search Awards shortlist

Gezergün’s 2026 Emerging Talent Award finalist position follows his involvement in the MINISO project that reached the finals of the Best Low Budget Campaign (SEO) category in 2025. The two shortlist appearances represent different stages of his work: the first centred on a campaign, while the second recognises his individual development and contribution within the search industry.

“Being a finalist last year with the MINISO project was very valuable to me. This year, being shortlisted in the Emerging Talent category for my own development and work has a different meaning. I see it not as an end result, but as motivation to keep working across e-commerce SEO, technology and the next generation of search.”

Looking ahead, Gezergün plans to continue working at the intersection of e-commerce SEO, automation, generative search and user behaviour, with a focus on practical approaches that help search teams adapt to a changing discovery landscape.

Connect with the Author

Sungur Kerem Gezergün LinkedIn