What is the Most Famous Search Engine in Japan?

You may have asked your SEO digital company about the popularity of different search engines in Japan, this post provides succinct answers that you need. There are three known search engines in Japan. These are Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. However, according to StatCounter, the most popular and by extension, the most-used search engine for mobile phones, tablets, and desktops among the three is Google. On all search platforms, Google has the highest with over 70% of users, including SEO reseller services providers, using it to search. The overall market share of search engine in Japan is as follow:

• Google: 77.1%
• Yahoo!: 17.9%
• Bing: 4.6%
• Others: Less than 1%

What is the Official Government Data on Search Engine in Japan?

The data highlighted above is from StatCounter and many SEO marketing service providers use this data in their planning. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan also provides data that indicates the share of the market of the search engines in Japan in a 2018 report. According to its source, the market share of the three known search engines in Japan is as follow:

• Google: 72%
• Yahoo!: 23%
• Bing: 4%
• Others: 1%

What are the Search Engine Trends in Japan?

Historical data has also shown that Google has the biggest market share in Japan within the last ten years. By 2015, the market share of Yahoo increased to about 37% but within the last five years, it has steadily decreased. Overall, Google maintains the highest market share with a total of 77%. It is not such a surprise therefore that many SEO reseller services use Google reports in developing the keyword strategies for their clients.

What are the differences between Google and Yahoo in Search Results Listings?

Although Yahoo is also well known in Japan, Google takes the lead. As a fact, Yahoo Japan also uses the algorithm, which means that an SEO digital company in Japan has to optimize their clients’ websites to Google results in search engine optimization for Yahoo. It should also be noted that Yahoo search usually adds extra items to its organic search results, which makes it a bit different from Google search results.

Google and Yahoo: Which is more popular?

When you check these words in a search engine, you are likely to get mixed results. Some sources may write that Yahoo is more popular than Google. For instance, Nielsen result has it that Yahoo Japan is more popular with about 33.7 million access through the desktop and 56.3 million on Smartphones per month. It reports that Google has 23.9 million users from desktop and 60.5 million from smartphones per month. However, the data that has been mentioned earlier stated that Google is the most popular. So, why is the difference? It is very simple. Yahoo is the most visited website in Japan but Google is the most used search engine in Japan. Yahoo is a content-rich site covering news and other content, such as weather, finance, and more than 100 other services. This makes Yahoo on the whole the most visited site in the country.

Final Thought

Google Japan is the most popular with a market share of 77%. Yahoo Japan is the most popular website. SEO marketing service providers must understand the difference to avoid confusion as both are different.