What up with Google Korea? Part 1
The question is often asked me…what up with Google Korea?
Well, as some may know, I’ve answered that numerous times online and off….. and in general, the answer is simple……. nothing……..yet. 
Google Korea current has about a measley 1.6% of the search market here 
… which is in direct contray to all the Google hype and domination worldwide–which puts them ranked 7th in terms of search engine usage here (last I checked). 
EDIT: just checked….google korea 0.73% of the market (according to RANKEY) as of this post.
(still ranked 7th). This is by no means “official” or absolutely accurate…but its still very illustrative. and even off by a 10th degree is still non-player. Naver by contrast has 66.74% of the market.
But in Google Korea’s defense, they haven’t really tried either (in this market). Some moves in the background cornering some AdSense syndication deals and web search feeds (empas, paran for example)…and some small/test efforts on the ground (signage in Apkujung and teh infamous Google Bus 
) ….. but nothing that one would call “serious” efforts by the 110 billion dollar giant.
Its pretty much been a “wait and watch” attitude as far as anyone can tell. I have been saying for..well…years now….that Google WILL make a move and when they do…. do not expect them to remain at 1.6%…but that said, the window of opportunity like anywhere and in anything may be getting smaller.
Recent rumbling suggest some active movement on their part nowadays…. but as of yet its just that…rumblings. Most of the press is concentrated on their international success.
So…… for whatever reason…I figure its about time to put together my own little report (as I’ve been saying I’ll do for a years now) about what the current status of Google Korea—touched with my insights and comments along the way of course….
if anything it will interesting to see what I get wrong and right as time goes on…. 
I’ll try to make a series out of this (and take any questions along the way) …but for now, let’s start simple:
A quick round of up current service offerings and comparison.
as of this post……..
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구글 코리아|GOOGLE KOREA
구글 코리아 서비스 / Google Korea Services
- 그룹 (Groups)
- 알리미 (G Alerts)
- 뉴스 (News)
- 웹 검색 (Web [page] Search)
- 대학검색 (University Search)
- 웹 검색 기능 (Web Search Features)
- 디렉토리 (Directory)
- 이미지 (Image)
- 블로그 검색 (Blog Search)
Total services: 9
Google 도구 (Google Tools)
- Blogger
- 번역 (Translation)
- Picasa
- 툴바 (Tool Bar)
- 데스크톱 검색 (Desktop Search)
Total Tools: 5
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Google USA | 구글 (미국)
- Alerts
- Maps
- Answers
- Mobile
- Blog Search
- News
- Catalogs
- Directory
- Scholar
- Froogle
- SMS
- Groups
- Special Searches
- Images
- University Search
- Labs
- Web Search
- Local
- Web Search Features
Total Services: 20
Google Tools|구글 도구
- Blogger
- Picasa
- Code
- Talk
- Desktop
- Toolbar
- Earth
- Translate
- Gmail
Total Tools: 9
———————————-
well….superficially we can see already see one major difference. Google Korea doesn’t have anywhere near the services offered in the US.
Interestingly, there are couple that seem MISSING from the Google Korea side…. like Gmail is available in Korean, Google sitemaps (which highlighted on their About page, but not seen anywhere else) and Google Earth has made a few headlines (with some Koreans raising a fuss that SEOUL was spelled wrong!! It was actually spelled “Soul” ) but anyway……. I’m sure they have their reasons.
Anyway…..sounds like an open and shut case?
Google just doesn’t have as many services here…THAT’S why they dont’ do as well here! …….
NOT SO FAST…
(if only ANYthing were that simple….)
let’s look closer……..
the problem is deeper than that…….
We can go on about Google’s site design and how that matches up with standard Korean site design (which I will later….for now make your own conclusions. )
but just looking at the services… the problem isn’t just Google Korea doesn’t “have as many” as Google USA….
but the services that ARE translated to Korean/Korea services don’t “make the grade”, imo. At least for this Korean market, or at least not yet. Its not a 1-to-1 with US versions (and I haven’t even gotten into how they stack up again the local big guns, like Naver and Daum) Some of it has to do with the vastly differnt competitive environment here in Korea, some of it has to do with culture and some of it again, has to do with… just not really putting much effort into on the Google side of things (for the look of things)…..
Let’s look at the services for Google Korea again with a little commentary:
Google Korea Services
그룹 | Google Groups
A quick dig through produced almost no group any content actually in Korean except, not surprisingly for the English (as in learn/study english category). Of which there wasn’t anywhere near the amount of groups or participation you would find at…say….Daum cafe or cyworld.
Note: that “groups” is marked as “NEW!” on the G services page, but not on the actual homepage. Tough to know if that is on purpose or not. Did they promote this and I just miss it? maybe…. but whatever…… I dont’ see this doing much without drastic changes to match the media rich and feature Korea equivalent cafes etc.
뉴스 | NewsNews… this I like. Hard to say whether that’s just me though caues I’m still partial a bit partial to US version that offers ATOM/RSS feeds. Every Korean portal has extensive and very good news search and reporting. And prettier.
웹 검색 | Web [Page] Search
ok this section alone deserves an entire write up (which I will do later)…. I’ll just make a few points here.
1. there is a difference between web page search and web site search in Korea.
2. web page search is no where near the most popular kind of search in Korea…KNOWLEDGE SEARCH is (more on that later too). On Naver’s, web page results are 7 section down on the combined SERP.
3. A comparison of like parts would probably put google Korea ahead… for whatever that’s worth.
대학검색|University Seach
ok, to be honest, I don’t use this US side of things, so comparison is unfair.
But as is, I test on a bunch Google Korea University searches…
and NONE of the ones I did actually worked…at all. :/ 
디렉토리 | Directory
pretty much useless. dmoz who? what?
nuff said.
블로그 검색 |Blog search
A good notion…too bad the entire first page came up only with MSN spaces results…. which almost NOBODY uses here.
Blogs are dominated by Naver and Daum and cyworld –if you wanna call that a kinda blog. None of which I found results for….which is funny considering the subtext under blog search says “가장 좋아하는 주제로 블로그 검색” or “best (theme/subject) blog search” 
. Took me to page three to find a yahoo korea blog. 
congrats!
알리미 |Google Alerts
nice!! but does anyone use it here? I have no idea. But I suspect I’m one of the few. 
I either missed the announcement/press on this … or it didn’t happen–which again, either means it didn’t “take” or Google Korea just ain’t trying (I suspect the latter on this one actually).
이미지 / Image
ok this one is interesting. We MIGHT be getting somewhere here.
I’ve gotten feedback from an actual Korean who uses Google Korea—ahem, as her THIRD choice (which is GOOD for G here )—and when I asked her what/why she uses G for…she said for “Image” search. 
Catch? She was a designer who needs photos and images…and google results are more International (thus better variety) and so she is less worried about copyrights. lol 
plus easier to copy, cause some portals (like Naver) don’t let you copy images (disable the right click for everything in their image search) or have them watermarked as Naver as some is actually Naver property…
don’t know if that a good thing or not for Big G…but there you have it. )
웹 검색 기능 |Web Search Features
ie: Advanced Web Search
This is basically what you see in the US…. pdf search, calculator, weather etc… Nice but well….i barely remember to use this at Big G USA, much less here where its easier at the portals who have actual tabs or drop down menus devoted to such things.
Google 도구 (Google Tools)
Blogger and Picasa
–to be honest I had no idea that they korean versions of these. 
but that said, I can’t image Blogger has much use here….picasa maybe…its a nice program and I don’t know/see much of similar in the market. Thing is…does anyone know about it??
번역|Translation
does anyone ever use this for anything but humorous respites? 
) I haven’t.
데스크톱 검색: Desktop Search
This made some hype, but NHN quickly made bigger hype…
not my thing so not sure what the market decided…but if I were to bet I think we all where it would go…..
I posted an article too about how all the mid-size companies had gotten into this game and “out to out do google” with fancier features and better results. If this is just a port…which I bet it is…then Google better have a good story to come with why Koreans should be using theirs.
툴바: Toolbar
see Desktop search.
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ok so NOT ONLY does Google Korea have far less services available here compared to Google USA….. they most of them aren’t doing anything or fairly dead in the water.
AGAIN, disclaimer is…this could all be ground work for a big Google Korea push. They historically good bringing stuff together suddenly and excitingly…. but as is stands now…
these are just “translations” ports…. which, imo, just aren’t good enough make anykind of real impact in this market. 
ok ok ….let’s go on to the more fun stuff…..
PART 2. HOW DOES GOOGLE COMPARE WITH KOREAN PORTALS???
(to be continued)