Everyone has heard that for a website to be successful, it must have fought for higher positions in the results of major search engines, mainly Google . But many forget that in some languages it is better for the website to be optimized for other search engines.
They are among the most visited globally. And in this article you will read about them, starting from the smallest to the largest.
Naver – the Korean giant
Due to the specifics of the Korean language and its Hangul alphabet, the predominant search engine that Koreans use is called Naver (pronounced "Naver").
If anyone is snickering that this is some small site from a small company, let's remember one thing - there are over 42 million internet users in South Korea. And Naver has over 15,000 employees and its shares are traded on the stock markets.
Naver has become so embedded in the lives of Koreans that they offer services such as:
- own Q&A platform (similar to Quorra);
- a blogging platform with over 23 million blogs;
- dictionary and encyclopedia;
- own video streaming platform V-life;
- own online translator Naver Papago;
- Naver Pay payment service;
- own television channel Naver TV;
- Naver NOW radio streaming service;
- comic book distribution service;
- own browser (Naver Whale).
Returning to the search engine, Naver offers a special tool for website owners called Naver Search Advisor (and is available at the following address: https://searchadvisor.naver.com/ ). With it, any website can be one step more optimized for the Korean market.
But one important remark should be made: it is a bit difficult to handle (due to the “Hangul” alphabet) and switching to the English version is not the easiest.
The advantages of Naver are that through it a website owner can reach the large and solvent Korean market.
Read more: A few important rules when creating SEO optimized content
And for those who doubt: there may be great potential interest in your site, which is in Bulgarian.
While browsing Naver's blogging hosting service, we came across posts about Bulgaria that had attracted interest.
Imagine the following situation: you have a small business that produces handmade products. And through popular search engines like Naver, you can reach a market for which price is not an issue.
Yandex – the Russian bear
The Russian search engine Yandex is also one of the most visited search engines in the world because it targets a huge market of more than 170 million people.
Both Naver and Yandex offer many other services (beyond the search engine), such as:
- own video sharing service Yandex Air;
- own Q&A platform;
- own traffic measurement tool Yandex Metrica;
- a business listing service (similar to Google My Business);
- own advertising platform.
And others. There are really many services, and if we had to describe each one, we would be going far away from the topic of this article about the most popular search engines.
Yandex offers a more user-oriented tool (in terms of the language used) for website optimization: Yandex Webmaster tools.
Through it, it is possible for any site owner to:
- add a map to your site in xml format;
- connect your Yandex Metrica and Yandex Webmaster tools profile for faster crawling;
- to create a faster mobile version of its site – the so-called Yandex Turbo, which is similar to Google Amp technology;
- to upload e-store products to search engine results faster using a special file format.
With Yandex, among other things, there is the possibility that sites have a strong regional focus. What does this mean?
Let’s say you have a business located in Moscow. By using regional settings, your “Moscow site” will be able to more easily be displayed in Moscow, where your customers are, than in St. Petersburg, for example.
Anyone who optimizes their website for the Russian market can count on another source of traffic in the future. And not be “at the mercy of Google.”
Baidu – the Chinese dragon
Baidu (pronounced “Baidu”) is a giant beyond all superlatives. It is the fourth most visited website in the world and one of the most popular search engines!
Its payment service Du Xiaoman Pay alone has over 130 million users, and its short video sharing service has over 544 million users.
And the various services the company offers (from image search to mp3 search and patents) – they receive billions of searches per month.
The service for website owners that helps optimize websites is called Ziyuan and is available at the following link: https://ziyuan.baidu.com/
The problem is that you may have to use a third party to sign up (as a Chinese phone number is required). It will cost you a hundred dollars, but it may turn out to be some of the best money you've ever invested.
Because – let's remember that there are internet restrictions in China. And even a well-optimized site that is indexed in Google may not appear in higher positions in Baidu.
If you have the means – translate your site into Chinese and list it through Baidu.
And be prepared for the fact that your server may “overheat from traffic”.
Final Thoughts on Regional Search Engines
If you want to be more independent from Google by diversifying your traffic, then consider regional search engines.
You can also create a separate domain with an ending that will attract local visitors - such as .cn for China, .ru for Russia, .kr for South Korea.
There is another market for your goods and services out there. Don't underestimate it and optimize your business for search engines that you haven't seen before.
