Most used search engines in South Korea 2023, by MAU share

In 2023, the most used search engine in South Korea was Naver, with a share of around 58 percent of monthly active users. Naver is a South Korean online platform and search engine which is operated by Naver Corporation. Despite the domestic website being popular among users, Google took first spot as the market leader in the South Korean search engine market.

Online search behavior

Naver was still the first place to go for South Koreans looking up information on the web.The most successful search engine visit category in South Korea was related to studying, averaging over two-thirds of visits. At the same time, search engine results of the games category had the highest bounce rate. Studying, on the other hand, had a rather low bounce rate, indicating that users were more satisfied with the shown search results.

 Internet usage in South Korea

The significant majority of South Koreans used the internet, maintaining an internet usage rate of over 90 percent for years. Reasons for using the internet in South Korea are countless, as it has seeped into every facet of life. Nevertheless, the most commonly named reasons for going online were communication purposes and looking for information. Using the internet for multiple reasons, South Koreans spent on average more than 20 hours per week online.