Magazine says Google could learn from Naver

Google Inc. should keep an eye out for a smaller Korean search engine ― NHN’s Naver.com, according to the latest edition of the magazine BusinessWeek. The U.S. weekly cited NHN’s “Knowledge-In” service as something Google could learn from. According to the magazine, Google Inc.’s share price leapt 103 percent last year to nearly $415, but NHN’s jumped 218 percent to $267. NHN, with $351 million in sales, is still a small fry compared to Google, which has $4 billion in sales, but NHN’s Naver search engine trounced Google’s offering in the Korean market, the magazine said. The issue pointed out that Google’s four-year-old Korean-language search service last year accounted for less than 2 percent of search page views and search-related ad revenue in Korea, while NHN’s ad sales accounted for nearly 40 percent. One reason for Naver’s popularity, the magazine said, was that the site can deliver more relevant search results than Google. A simple Google search returns only certain kinds of Web pages, while NHN offers a mix of categories, including blogs and community sites. The magazine also lauded Naver’s “Knowledge-In” service, which lets users ask and answer questions on “anything from recipes for kimchi to the composition of rocket fuel.” by Moon So-young