Understanding Search Market Share in Korea: Sports Brands Analysis

Understanding consumer search behavior in digital marketing is critical for making informed decisions, especially when entering new markets. If you're considering expanding your brand's presence into Korea, you must understand where Korean consumers primarily search online.

Korean users predominantly use three major search platforms: NAVER, Google, and Daum. Despite the assumption that Google's Android market dominance would correlate with higher search volumes in Korea, the actual data tells a different story.

For this analysis, we focused on running-related sports brands—Nike, Adidas, New Balance, ASICS, and HOKA—to illustrate search engine share in Korea.

Data Overview

• Period: March 2025 (one-month search data)
• Keywords analyzed: 989 keywords related to the products and categories of five major sports brands
• Data Sources:
  • NAVER: NAVER Search Ads Keyword Tool
  • Google: Google Ads Keyword Planner
  • Daum: Kakao Business Keyword Planner

Search Volume Results

Platform	NAVER	Google	Daum
Search Volume	8,950,640	986,320	672,937
Market Share	84.36%	9.30%	6.34%

 

Search Market Share in Korea: Sports Brands Analysis

 

NAVER significantly dominates the Korean search market.

 

Additionally, we examined keyword search volumes specifically associated with Nike, including brand and official website-related keywords.

Platform	NAVER	Google	Daum
Search Volume	1,310,180	212,760	122,147
Market Share	79.6%	12.9%	7.4%

 

Again, NAVER dominance is clearly visible.

 

Insights for Non-Korean Marketers Considering Entry into Korea

1. NAVER's dominance: Despite Google's global prominence, NAVER holds an overwhelming share in the Korean search market. Brands entering Korea must prioritize NAVER-centric strategies to ensure effective visibility.
2. Local content ecosystem: NAVER excels in user-generated content (UGC) via NAVER Blog, vibrant community discussions in NAVER Cafes, and robust product comparisons in NAVER Shopping. Marketers must leverage these platforms to effectively reach Korean consumers.
3. Language optimization: NAVER's advanced Korean language algorithms and specialized natural language processing outperform Google in delivering relevant and localized search results, underscoring the need for native-level Korean content and strategic keyword planning.

Traditional market research methods focusing merely on platform dominance are outdated. Today, utilizing detailed search volume data allows brands to precisely understand the consumer digital environment and optimize their strategies accordingly.

 

Which brands or industries' Korean market keyword shares would you like to see next? Let us know in the comments!

 

Want to dominate NAVER search rankings in the Korean digital market? Contact 1089MEDIA. Our team has extensive experience successfully localizing global brands for the Korean market. Curious about how brands like Lululemon, ExpressVPN, Hotels.com, and Expedia.co.kr achieved top positions in NAVER search results? They didn't succeed through identical strategies.

Each brand benefited from deep consumer insights and customer-focused search strategies tailored specifically to their unique market needs.

 

Contact : contact@1089media.com