Naver ranked a dominant No. 1 with a search market share of more than 60 percent last year, data showed.

According to market research firm InternetTrend on Saturday, Naver’s average domestic search share in 2025 was tallied at 62.86 percent. That was up 4.72 percentage points from 58.14 percent in 2024. It was the first time in three years that Naver’s share exceeded 60 percent, after it recorded 61.20 percent in 2022.

Google was next with a search share of 29.55 percent, down 3.45 percentage points from a year earlier. The gap between the two major platforms widened over a year, a sign that Naver’s dominance in the domestic search market has become more entrenched.

Microsoft’s search engine Bing ranked third at 3.12 percent, slightly up from 2.91 percent a year earlier. Daum ranked fourth at 2.94 percent, slightly down from 3.72 percent. Other search sites such as Zum and Yahoo failed to exceed 1 percent share.

Against this backdrop, industry commentary says Naver’s rebound last year reflects its efforts to try various technologies to improve search reliability. It said search touchpoints increased further in tandem with Naver’s newly launched AI search, AI Briefing, last year.

A key example was the health-focused AI Briefing released in October. The health-focused AI Briefing provides summaries of professional health information by using authoritative sources such as tertiary hospitals, top general hospitals, public institutions and academic societies. In fact, one of the most frequently generated search keyword topics for AI Briefing last year was "health information".

In the case of the public sector-focused AI Briefing, AI answers are provided based on the latest documents from authoritative sources such as public institution websites and official social media. Naver also introduced "stock information-focused search" in November, making it easier to check corporate trends, earnings announcements and professional content.

A Naver official said, "AI Briefing is expanding around areas where the reliability of information is important." The official added, "Based on differentiated content, we will continue to provide Naver’s own AI search experience."

[Yonhap News Agency]