What is the Holistic SEO Mastermind 2026?
The Holistic SEO Mastermind is an invitation-only gathering run by Holistic SEO & Digital, the company founded by Koray Tuğberk Gübür. The 2026 edition brought 60 guests to the Infinity by Yelken Aquapark Hotel in Kuşadası, on the Aegean coast of Turkey, for a week from 25 September to 2 October 2026.
Across the week Koray Tuğberk Gübür presented the Holistic SEO Awards, each recognising one guest's contribution to search.
Holistic SEO Mastermind 2026 at a glance
| Event | Holistic SEO Mastermind 2026 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 25 September to 2 October 2026 |
| Venue | Infinity by Yelken Aquapark Hotel, Kuşadası, Turkey |
| Organiser | Holistic SEO & Digital |
| Host | Koray Tuğberk Gübür |
| James Dooley's role | Invited guest and member; King of AEO Award winner |
| Award won | King of AEO Award, 1 October 2026 |
James Dooley at the Holistic SEO Mastermind 2026
James Dooley attended as a member of the Holistic SEO Mastermind. His member profile describes him as an entrepreneur, founder and investor from Greater Manchester, and covers his Leads First approach to lead generation, the websites he owns and ranks as digital real estate, and his use of SEO, AEO, GEO and Decision Engine Optimisation (DEO) to win customers through AI-assisted discovery.
King of AEO Award
On 1 October 2026 Koray Tuğberk Gübür presented James Dooley with the King of AEO Award for his answer engine and generative engine optimisation work, citing his results across ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Overviews and his Recommendation Sculpting strategy within the Decision Engine Optimisation (DEO) framework.
Read more about the King of AEO Award
Photos of James Dooley at the Holistic SEO Mastermind 2026
Who James Dooley connected with at the Holistic SEO Mastermind 2026
Koray Tuğberk Gübür
Host, founder of Holistic SEO & Digital
Koray Tuğberk Gübür hosted the mastermind and presented James Dooley with the King of AEO Award. The two co-founded the Semantic SEO Podcast and are co-authors on Technical SEO.
Mads Singers
Founder of the SEO Mastery Summit
Mads Singers received the Automation and Efficiency award at the same mastermind. He has acted as a mentor and coach to James Dooley on staff development and standard operating procedures, and the two have met at the SEO Mastery Summit, SEO Vibes and other SEO events.
Peter Victor Jones
Co-founder of Maptimal, Be The Brand AI Recommends and Define Your Entity
Peter Victor Jones first met James Dooley at SEO Underground in 2021, and the two have attended private masterminds together since, the Holistic SEO Mastermind among them. They co-founded Maptimal and Be The Brand AI Recommends with Paul David Truscott, and Define Your Entity with Kasra Dash and Paul David Truscott.
Peter Victor Jones said of James Dooley: "In my opinion, James is the best in the world at connecting the dots across SEO, AI, lead generation and business growth." His full testimonial is on the testimonials page.
Who else was at the Holistic SEO Mastermind 2026?
These guests also received Holistic SEO Awards during the week:
- Germans Frolovs: Query Ruler
- Jacques Luong: Holistic SEO of the Year, Semantic Champion
- Luis Salazar Jurado, technical and semantic SEO consultant from Madrid: SEO by the Sea Award, in memory of Bill Slawski
- Harry Anapliotis: Beyond SEO
- Pavel Klimakov, founder of SERP.Science: Semantic SEO Innovation
- Nikola Radujković: iGaming SEO Excellence
Sources
- Holistic SEO Mastermind event details
- James Dooley's member profile (Holistic SEO Mastermind)
- James Dooley: King of AEO (Holistic SEO Awards)
- Holistic SEO Awards: winners and award stories
Other events
- James Dooley at the SEO.Domains Mastery Summit in Sofia, 2026
- James Dooley at The Masterminders 2026 in Manchester
- James Dooley at the SEO Mastery Summit 2026 in Saigon
- James Dooley at SEO Spring Training 2025 in Chandler, Arizona
- James Dooley at the Chiang Mai SEO Conference
Every event James Dooley has attended is listed on the events page. His awards are on the awards page and the people he works with are on the peers page.