02 January 2008

Search engine Naver proves a hit in South Korea

Search engine Naver has proved so popular in South Korea that it has become the world's fifth-largest portal, according to figures produced by comScore.

The company attracts in the region of 16 million unique users a day, generating a combined total of one billion page views and commanding in excess of 77 per cent of the internet search market in the country, the Financial Times reports.

Based on the English word "navigator", Naver is one of South Korea's home-grown search providers.

Launched in 1999, the firm was the first portal to provide an integrated search service in the country.

The search results posted on Naver do not appear as a list, such as on Google or Yahoo!, but rather are categorised according to the type of result, such as websites, blogs, videos or shopping.

Commenting on its service, South Korean college student Hwang Ji-sun stated: "I love Naver because everything I need is conveniently shown on the first page.

"I get everything from news, shopping advice, the latest entertainment gossip, interesting pictures and hot search words. On Google you see nothing but a search box."

Despite its global success, figures produced by internet market research firm KoreanClick indicate that Google processes less than two per cent of search queries in the country, while rival search engine Yahoo! only fairs slightly better at four per cent.

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