Why should you use Naver for business? Well, it is the most widely used search engine in Korea and therefore the best tool to easily reach your target audience in this country.
South Korea is one of the most connected nations in the world: in 2022, Internet penetration among the population reached 98%. Cell phone penetration is also very high: 96.8% of Koreans own at least one. People in this country spend an average of 5.5 hours a day connected to the Internet, mainly to search for information, read news, fill free time, and inquire about brands. In fact, 60.8% of the population searches online for information about brands before buying their products. And in order to buy, 72.5% do so online.
Thus, it is critical for companies to learn about the Korean digital landscape in order to enter the South Korean market. Where to start? Without a doubt form the most widely used search engine in Korea: Naver. Learn how to use Naver for business is crucial to reach a large audience and to make yourself known to Koreans.
Naver: more than just a search engine
Naver is by far the most used search engine (51%) in Korea, but it also offers a range of other services to make the user experience as complete as possible. Shopping, forums, blogs, payments, encyclopedia, translator, news, Q&A, and social media are just some of the services users have access to. These represent at the same time the tools that brands can leverage for their digital marketing strategies.
Naver ecosystem – Image created by East Media
To rank on Naver and get your brand known, you first need to understand the SERP structure of this search engine. The goal is to keep the user within the platform as much as possible: for this reason, Naver’s SERP is very different from what we are used to on Google.
Results are presented in blocks, each tied to a category of result type. The first and last ones on the page are the most interesting ones for brands, Paid Ads: Naver heavily favors Paid Ads. Organic results are found only after a series of categories related to Naver’s various services: leveraging the entire ecosystem of platforms is vital to appear heavily in the SERP.
How to use Naver for business
As we mentioned, paid Ads occupy almost 50% of the SERP, so they are crucial when you use Naver for business.
Naver PPC is the tool used on this platform to advertise brands. Similar to Google, companies have to choose the keywords they want to be ranked with and bid on. Obviously, the position of the Adv is assigned based on the bid and the quality of the advertisement.
Based on the keyword entered by the user, thanks to a very powerful AI, Naver will show only the most relevant Adv in the highest (PowerLinks) and lowest (BizSites) section of the SERP.
To rank on Naver, companies can choose between two types of Adv:
– Search Ads: they appear at the top of the SERP and are tied to a specific keyword, so they are perfect for users ready to purchase specific products or services. They can promote sites, brands, products, and content and appear in the SERP, on Naver Shopping, Naver Cafe, Naver Blog, VIEW, and other Naver-related services.
– Display Ads: they are not tied to a keyword and appear on pages of various content. Since the reach is wider, they are perfect for brand awareness and to reach as many users as possible. They can be banners or videos and appear on Naver’s front page and various other services offered by the platform.
Brands can leverage Naver GFA, a feature that allows them to target Adv based on direct interest, purchase and search intent, and user behavior. This makes the targeting offered by Naver incredibly effective and high-performing.
Use Naver for business while taking advantage of its services
As already mentioned, to appear heavily in Naver’s SERP you need to take advantage of all the services it offers. It is not enough just to be visible in the Paid Adv sections, you need to target all the other result categories as well.
Naver implements a number of algorithms and also a Creator Rank score to show the most appropriate results in the SERP. C-Rank is calculated based on the quantity and quality of the content created. Naver rewards those who create a lot of content on its platforms, so it is important for brands to know and use them as much as possible.
Here are some of the services you can take advantage of to rank on Naver:
Naver Shopping
Shopping platform that offers a very wide range of local and international products. Brands can create their official shop in the platform so that products are cataloged on Naver. It is a very useful tool to showcase products to users and increase their credibility. Brands can take advantage of Paid Ads here as well.
Screens of Naver Shopping – Image created by East Media
Naver Cafe
Platform in some ways similar to Facebook groups: users gather in the various Cafes to discuss a wide variety of topics. It is a sort of social media, where you can find real communities and influencers. It is therefore important to also preside over this tool, trying to find the figures who might talk about the brand and checking what is being written in the Cafes about you. Naver shows Naver Cafe results in the VIEW section of the SERP.
Naver Blog
A very popular blogging platform in Korea, it is now also used by brands to rank on Naver. It is perfect for a content marketing strategy: one can create relevant content for users, trying to focus on keywords of interest so that the article appears in Naver’s SERP. Results from Naver Blog are often found in very high positions in the SERP and in the VIEW section. Famous bloggers can also be leveraged on Naver Blog: you can ask them to write a product review and insert a CTA to the brand site. Taking advantage of this platform is therefore important for the SEO, in order to drive traffic to the website and to improve the C-Rank score.
Knowledge IN
Q&A platform that works similarly to Yahoo!: users write questions and receive a response from other users. With this tool, questions can be answered through the brand profile, including in the answer a link to your site or content on which you want to increase traffic. A category of results from this platform is also often included in Naver’s SERP.
Naver Pay
Platform to make payments, both online and offline, through various methods such as credit cards, bank transfers, mobile payments, etc. Brands can leverage it to increase sales by offering rewards and discounts to those who use Naver Pay to pay. In addition, it can be used to track purchase data.
Naver Tok Tok
Part of the Naver Business suite, which offers many interesting tools for businesses. This platform is useful for brands because it allows you to create and manage your own official channel: you can post updates, announcements, promotional content. But you can also interact with users, answering questions and providing customer support.
Why you should use Naver for business
If you decide to use Naver for business and rank on this search engine, you will gain a series of advantages. First, given the high market share of the platform, Naver allows you to reach a large segment of the Korean population. In addition, there are so many services in Naver’s ecosystem that you can leverage to reach even more users. Finally, many tools are provided for businesses to support their activities on Naver: Naver Webmaster, Naver Analytics, Enterprise Solution, and Naver Business are just a sample of the tools available for brands to manage their website, Adv, performance, and more.
