Naver (035420.KS), South Korea's dominant search platform, is upgrading its restaurant search function to a level where it reads user intent and context from searches alone to deliver curated dining recommendations.
According to the information technology industry on the 31st, Naver has been conducting an A/B test for its Place restaurant search in the mobile environment since late March. An A/B test is a technique that applies a new service to a select group of users and analyzes how the results differ from the existing version. Randomly selected users can receive restaurant recommendations during the test period that reflect context such as location, menu, time of day and weather when they search for restaurants on Naver. However, this test is limited to restaurants in nine areas including Gangneung, Gwanggyo, Gwanghwamun, Daejeon and Yeosu. For example, searching for restaurants in Gwanghwamun would display restaurant lists under various themes such as "kid-friendly restaurants" and "recommended restaurants based on my history."
Explaining the purpose of the test, a Naver official said, "Until now, users received largely similar search results when searching for restaurants in a specific area. Going forward, our goal is to provide different restaurant lists reflecting each user's individual characteristics." The official added, "We are conducting the test to personalize search results." Naver is also expected to leverage this upgraded restaurant search function when it launches its "Place Agent" in the future. This is because the company aims to introduce artificial intelligence agents across all its service areas, covering everything from search to product and service selection, reservations and payments.
The upgrading and personalization of search services is a global trend across search engines. Google, for instance, launched "AI Overviews," a search result summary feature, in 2024 and expanded its "Search Live" service to approximately 200 countries on the 27th of this month. Search Live is a real-time conversational search feature where users point their smartphone cameras at their surroundings, ask questions and receive voice answers from AI.
So-called "personalized search" helps not only attract users but also boost revenue, according to companies' assessments. Google saw improved advertising effectiveness after introducing its AI Overviews feature, with search and other revenue rising 17% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year. Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon also said during the February earnings conference call, "We have confirmed that user satisfaction with search advertising has been increasing since the introduction of the AI briefing feature." She added, "We expect to raise both the unit price and effectiveness of advertising."