Sixty-eight percent of all online activities start with a search engine. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ensures potential customers find websites in relevant searches, and attracts customers to marketer websites rather than interrupting the customer’s natural journey with pushy sales tactics.

Japan, like other countries, has its own approach to SEO. The nature of local language and cultural preferences impacts search intent and SEO in Japan, posing a challenge for global B2B marketers in executing marketing tactics.

Search intent mismatch leads to confusion and failure to reach intended audiences. Knowing how SEO in Japan works benefits B2B marketers in organically syndicating their content to specific audiences in targeted purchasing processes.

Current Internet & Search Engine Preferences in Japan

• Ninety-four percent of Japanese access the internet daily.
  According to the Japan Digital 2022 report by We Are Social, more than 118 million internet users in Japan access the internet daily to find information.
• Search engines are the primary source of brand and product discovery, well ahead of TV ads.
  More than 43 percent of Japanese internet users utilize search engines as a primary source of new brands and product discovery, well ahead of advertising on TV, according to a Global Web Index survey in 2021. Japanese people tend to visit brand websites after performing a query on a search engine
• Google dominates Japan’s search engine market, but Yahoo! Japan is noteworthy
  Google dominates Japan’s search engine market share at around 76 percent, although somewhat less when compared to Google in global markets.