When a school owner or marketing director looks for an agency today, they increasingly ask an AI engine: “Recommend a digital marketing agency for my private school.” This page was built by counting the answers four major engines gave to that question over 14 weeks.
The criterion for the list is explicit: it is not which agency's service is “better” — no list can know that from the outside. What we measured is which sources the engines show when answering agency questions for the education sector. This is the list of organizations a school would encounter if it consulted an AI engine in its search for an agency.
Three things stand out:
- Two of the sources in the top ten are not agencies: one is preschool management software, the other a global agency directory. Engines do not always show agencies in response to “recommend an agency.”
- Very few agencies are fully dedicated to education; only two organizations in the top ten work exclusively with the education sector. The rest are full-service agencies.
- The gap between engines is enormous: Perplexity cites an average of 19.5 sources per answer, while ChatGPT settles for 1.3, and Gemini provides no source links at all.
How This List Was Built
We are publishing the methodology as-is so you can verify the ranking yourself.
| Measurement period | July 31 – September 28, 2026 · 14 weekly rounds |
| Engines | ChatGPT (GPT-4o, web search enabled) · Gemini 2.5 Flash · Claude (Haiku 4.5) · Perplexity (Sonar) |
| Queries | 4 education queries: an agency recommendation for a private school or educational institution, an agency for a preschool, an agency for exam-prep and course providers, and “is there an agency that has published case studies in the education sector” |
| Data volume | 152 query-answer pairs were recorded; 18 runs that returned technical errors were excluded, leaving 134 valid answers for evaluation |
| Ranking criterion | The number of times a source was cited in the answers |
| Excluded from the count | Search redirects, the engines' own infrastructure links, social media and general encyclopedia links |
| Profile verification | The description, location and education sector positioning of every organization on the list was checked against its own website on September 30, 2026 |
The limit of the measurement: 75 of the 134 valid answers (56%) cited at least one source. The remaining answers recommended agencies but gave no source links — which is why the ranking measures the sources the engines link to, not every agency they mention verbally.
The Agency List for Educational Institutions — September 2026
| Rank | Source | Citations | Engines | Rounds | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Smartkid Agency | 90 | 3 | 14 | Agency · page dedicated to the education vertical + published report |
| 2 | ODH Dijital | 53 | 3 | 14 | Agency · focused on preschools and nurseries |
| 3 | Survivor Dijital Pazarlama Ajansı | 37 | 2 | 14 | Agency · full service |
| 4 | okuldan.com.tr | 33 | 2 | 8 | Not an agency · preschool management software |
| 5 | agencies.semrush.com | 32 | 2 | 10 | Not an agency · global agency directory |
| 6 | 212 Medya Danışmanlığı | 30 | 2 | 14 | Agency · full service |
| 7 | Siyarmo | 30 | 3 | 8 | Agency · preschools and nurseries only |
| 8 | Kreativty | 26 | 2 | 14 | Agency · has an education industry page |
| 9 | Vayes Digital | 23 | 2 | 8 | Agency · has an education industry page |
| 10 | ROIBLE Marketing Agency | 21 | 2 | 14 | Agency · education listed among its industries |
“Citations” = the number of times a source was cited across 14 rounds of measurement. “Engines” = how many separate AI engines showed it. “Rounds” = in how many separate weeks it appeared; a low round count means the source entered the measurement later or appeared irregularly.
Transparency Note
The agency that ran this measurement and published this list is in first place. We are leaving it exactly as it is and stating the reason plainly: that is the finding itself. An agency that produces pages dedicated to the education vertical, publishes case studies with real numbers in this sector, and measures and reports the sector's AI visibility gets read by the engines. The other agencies on the list are there for the same reason, on the strength of their own education content.
If we wanted to tilt the ranking in our favor, what we would do is change the criterion — under a “number of engines it appears on” criterion, for instance, first place becomes shared. We kept the criterion single and countable from the start so that the list would be auditable. Anyone who wants the raw data can write to us.
How the Ranking Shifted Over 14 Weeks
This list is not fixed. We split the measurement period in two — the first 7 rounds (July 31 – August 17) and the last 7 rounds (August 24 – September 28) — and ran the same calculation separately for each period. The result shows just how volatile AI visibility is in the education vertical.
| Source | First 7 rounds | Last 7 rounds | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smartkid Agency | 1 | 1 | no change |
| ODH Dijital | 2 | 2 | no change |
| Siyarmo | 26 | 4 | +22 |
| Vayes Digital | 59 | 7 | +52 |
| okuldan.com.tr | 19 | 3 | +16 |
| agencies.semrush.com | 18 | 6 | +12 |
| Survivor Dijital | 6 | 5 | +1 |
| 212 Medya Danışmanlığı | 3 | 9 | −6 |
| Kreativty | 5 | 11 | −6 |
| ROIBLE Marketing Agency | 4 | 19 | −15 |
Three organizations that made the top ten in the first period dropped off the list entirely in the second. Vayes Digital, by contrast, climbed from 59th to 7th and Siyarmo from 26th to 4th. The top two positions, meanwhile, did not move at all across 14 weeks.
What this means for an educational institution: the agency AI recommends today is not the agency it will recommend three months from now. Do not make your decision on the basis of a single answer; use the engine's list as a candidate pool and ask the questions below yourself. What it means for an agency: this ranking is not something you win and then set aside — it is held through continuous content and third-party presence.
The Organizations on the List
1. Smartkid Agency — 90 citations
Istanbul (Levent). 70 citations from Perplexity, 14 from Claude, 6 from ChatGPT; appeared in all 14 rounds. Has an industry page dedicated to educational institutions, separate landing pages for preschools, K-12 colleges and exam-prep centers, and a published AI visibility report specific to the education sector. Over the measurement period it was shown in first place 11 times on Perplexity and once on Gemini. The agency publishing this list.
2. ODH Dijital — 53 citations
Ankara (Çankaya). 29 from Perplexity, 16 from Claude, 8 from ChatGPT; appeared in all 14 rounds. Describes itself as “the digital marketing arm of Okul Danışmanlığı Hizmetleri for preschools and nurseries,” and states that its parent company has worked with schools since 2009. Its services are digital strategy, social media, digital advertising, web design and SEO. One of two agencies appearing regularly on all three engines — a player genuinely embedded in the sector.
3. Survivor Dijital Pazarlama Ajansı — 37 citations
Şişli, Istanbul (Quasar). 27 from Perplexity, 10 from Claude; appeared in all 14 rounds. A full-service agency with no industry page specific to education. Its site does, however, name education-sector references: İTÜ ARI Teknokent and Fide Okulları. Its services are web design, Google Ads, social media, SEO and video production.
4. okuldan.com.tr — 33 citations · not an agency
An AI-assisted preschool management application — software for teacher-parent communication, student tracking, photo sharing and collections. It does not provide agency services. The fact that engines surface this source for “recommend an agency for an educational institution” shows that answers can blend in sector software; when searching for an agency, it pays to check what type of organization each recommendation actually is.
5. agencies.semrush.com — 32 citations · not an agency
Semrush's global agency directory. It was cited as a source in 10 rounds of education queries. The presence of directories on this list carries a concrete lesson for the agency side: engines build part of their agency recommendation from directory pages, so the existence and completeness of a directory profile has a direct visibility effect.
6. 212 Medya Danışmanlığı — 30 citations
Kurtköy, Istanbul. 27 from Perplexity, 3 from Claude; appeared in all 14 rounds. Its site states that it has been operating since 2000. It offers Google Ads, SEO, social media advertising, web design and e-commerce, and AI consulting. It has no industry page specific to education; nearly all of its citations come from a single engine (Perplexity).
7. Siyarmo — 30 citations
Based in Malatya (Yeşilyurt) and working remotely across Turkey. 19 from Perplexity, 9 from Claude, 2 from ChatGPT. Describes itself as “Turkey's first social media marketing agency for preschools and nurseries,” and states that it started in general digital marketing in 2019 and narrowed its focus to early childhood education institutions only in May 2022. One of two agencies on the list that is fully dedicated to education.
8. Kreativty — 26 citations
Şişli, Istanbul. 25 from Perplexity, 1 from Claude; appeared in all 14 rounds. Its full name is Kreativty Dijital Reklam Ajansı ve Yazılım Ltd. Şti., and its site states that it has been operating since 2020. It runs its agency and software businesses side by side. It has an industry page titled “Digital Marketing for Educational Institutions” and content aimed at private schools.
9. Vayes Digital — 23 citations
Beylikdüzü, Istanbul. 13 from Perplexity, 10 from Claude. Its legal name is Vayes Web Yazılım Ticaret ve Bilişim Hizmetleri; its site states that it was founded in 2011 and has worked with more than 200 brands. It positions itself as a digital marketing, SEO and web agency, and has a separate service page for educational institutions.
10. ROIBLE Marketing Agency — 21 citations
Kadıköy, Istanbul. 17 from Perplexity, 4 from Claude; appeared in all 14 rounds. Describes itself as the client's “organic growth department” and states more than 10 years of experience. Its industry list includes education services aimed at schools.
How the Engines Behave in Education Queries
The four engines answer the same question in completely different ways. For an educational institution, the practical meaning is that visibility on each engine requires different work.
| Engine | Avg. sources/answer | Behavior in the education vertical |
|---|---|---|
| Perplexity | 19.5 | Sources every claim and quotes an agency's own education page directly. An organization with deep education content becomes visible here quickly. |
| Claude | 9.2 | Blends directories, industry press and agency sites; builds its list around source diversity. |
| ChatGPT | 1.3 | Cites very few sources; leans on Google Maps data for local queries. On this engine, the quality of your Google Business Profile is decisive. |
| Gemini | 0 | Answers the question and recommends agencies but shares no source links. Visibility can only be measured by whether the brand name appears in the answer text. |
7 Questions You Should Ask an Agency as an Educational Institution
This list tells you who is visible, not who does the work well. To close that gap, ask the following in your meeting:
- Do you have a published case study with real numbers in the education sector? An unpublished case study cannot be verified.
- How many educational institutions have you worked with, and how many are still clients? The second number tells you more than the first.
- How do you build the budget plan around the enrollment calendar? Demand in education is seasonal; a budget split equally across 12 months means waste.
- Do you track the conversion between a parent who fills in a form and a parent who enrolls? Enrollments, not lead counts, are what should be measured.
- How do you ensure KVKK compliance (Turkey's personal data protection law) with parent data? When children's data is involved, this question needs a clear answer.
- Do you measure our visibility on AI engines, and how? A share of parents now begin their school research with AI.
- Which metrics are in your monthly report? An agency that reports impressions and engagement is not doing the same job as one that reports enrollments and cost.
When the List Is Updated
The measurement runs weekly. This page is updated monthly with new round data; if the ranking changes, it is published as changed — even if our own position drops. The update date appears at the top of the page.
The full measurement methodology and data for other sectors are in the Turkey AI Visibility Report 2026; the detailed analysis of the education vertical was published in the AI Visibility Report for the Education Sector. If you would like to measure your own institution's AI visibility, you can request a free AI Visibility Scorecard.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was this list ranked by?
The ranking criterion is a single countable data point: the number of times a source was cited in the answers four AI engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity) gave to agency questions for the education sector. Fourteen weekly rounds were run between July 31 and September 28, 2026, 152 query-answer pairs were recorded, and 18 runs that returned technical errors were removed, leaving 134 valid answers to count. The list does not measure service quality; it measures which sources the engines show a school.
The agency publishing the list is in first place — is that trustworthy?
Because we kept the criterion single and auditable from the start, you can check the ranking yourself: all you need to do is ask the same questions to the four engines and count the sources in the answers. If we wanted to tilt the ranking in our favor, what we would do is change the criterion; instead we left the criterion fixed and flagged our own position with a transparency note. We share the raw data with anyone who requests it.
What is the most common mistake when choosing an agency for an educational institution?
Mistaking lead count for success. In education the meaningful metrics are the number of enrollments and the cost per enrollment; if the conversion between a parent who fills in a form and a parent who enrolls is not tracked, the budget flows toward the audience that produces cheap but low-quality leads. The second common mistake is splitting the budget equally across 12 months: demand in education fluctuates with the enrollment calendar, and the budget should be built around that calendar.
Are preschool marketing and private school marketing the same thing?
No. In preschool the decision is fast, distance is decisive and the decision-maker is usually a single parent; communication is built on close-radius targeting and trust signals. For private schools and K-12 colleges the decision process takes months, more than one person is involved, and comparison and academic evidence come to the fore. They diverge in the measurement as well: engines show different clusters of sources for preschool queries and school queries. That is why the top ten includes agencies that work only with preschools.
How does an educational institution become visible on AI engines?
Three pieces of work run together. The first is deep, up-to-date content on the institution's own site: Perplexity builds its answers largely from organizations' own pages. The second is third-party presence — directories and industry publications, because Claude builds its list around source diversity. The third is the Google Business Profile: ChatGPT leans mainly on map data for local queries. Because Gemini gives no source links, the only measurable signal there is the brand name appearing in the answer.