Naver said on Tuesday it will overhaul its Place review service this year, including introducing numeric supplementary indicators.

Naver will keep the existing qualitative review structure based on keywords, photos, videos and text while adding numeric information that users can use as a supplementary reference.

From April 6, users will be able to record satisfaction with their experience using a place as a star rating on a 5-point scale when submitting a Place review. Applicable categories include restaurants, shopping, distribution, services, industry, daily life, convenience, facilities, buildings, sports, entertainment, lodging, travel, attractions, culture, arts, place names, pop-up stores and Naver Booking.

The newly collected numeric indicators will be gathered for a certain period to ensure data stability and fairness. During this period, related information will be disclosed only to the author and the business owner and will not be shown to general users.

Business owners will be able to choose whether the collected indicators are made public. The default will keep the value currently set by the business owner, and those who do not want the indicators displayed can maintain the existing method without any separate procedure. Naver will provide business owners with separate guidance later on the specific timing and method of disclosure.

Policies aimed at preventing abuse and improving reliability will also be applied. Users will be limited to editing the content and star rating only within 3 months after writing a review. The measure is intended to block abusive reviews made during periods unrelated to actual experience, maintain quality and protect business owners.

Naver will also sequentially carry out work this year to improve how Place review information is conveyed, including revamping the design of keyword reviews.