Google Vs Naver: Google’s struggles – South Korea In Focus

Bill, do you think there is evidence that Asian cultures (yes I know there are many) may not welcome & assimilate trends from other areas of the world as easily?

They're still around?! I haven't set eyes on the Naverbot/Yeti in almost three years, and I used to see them all the time. Huh.

It has been long documented in this forum that Google has not ever performed well in Korea. The native options had a long history of simply being better. That gap may be closing, but there are now decades of brand loyalty in Korea that seem difficult for an outsider to overcome.

In the case of Korea and search and social media, they've actually been far ahead of the West for years in many respects. So it's not been a case of them simply being reluctant to let in the foreign giant (Google), but that their homegrown tech was more advanced and tailored to local needs. There is no firewall here keeping the Google-tech out, like China. The locals just prefer what they have.

Korea is hardly the only country--or Asia the only continent--that prefers its own search engine. There's Seznam, Exa-whatever-it-is, and above all yandex. (I am always staggered to see someone actually coming in from google.ru.) In some cases--notably India--what surprises me is that there isn't a homegrown favorite.

notably India--what surprises me is that there isn't a homegrown favorite

Well there's khoj.com, which is seeded with Google.

Google was never as good with Asian languages compared to a lot of the local SEs. They're getting better all the time, but there's a lot to be said for the smaller home-turf players. Korea is probably the most lopsided. The Korean stuff is really a step above on a lot of levels. Google just can't compete.