Content Marketing

Here’s the underlying truth behind Yahoo’s popularity in Japan

Why Is Yahoo Soo Popular In Japan?

When you type Yahoo Japan, you will get searches related to “Yahoo Japan popular” or “Popular Search Engine in Japan”, you find many articles that say, “Yahoo is more popular than Google in Japan”, or “more people use Yahoo than Google in Japan.”

What Is The Difference Between Yahoo And Yahoo Japan?

  • Yahoo Japan has evolved independently from Yahoo because Tokyo-based Softbank Corp. has always been its biggest shareholder. Softbank and Yahoo jointly set up Yahoo Japan in January 1996, with Softbank ownership of 60 % of the stake and Yahoo’s ownership of 40%
  • It is true that Yahoo is popular, however not only as a search engine, but also as a portal of various other internet components. Yahoo Japan runs an online auction site while eBay has almost no presence in Japan. It also runs the most popular Q&A site while Quora is not even localized in Japanese and it also has a popular directory. Yahoo Japan has localized its services for Japanese users by filling in localization gaps in the industry
  • It comes as no surprise that Yahoo has 38,920,000 active users and Google has 24,910,000 active users according to Nielsen. However, the active users include users of Yahoo Answers, Yahoo Transit, Yahoo Auction, Yahoo Weather Forecast, and many other Yahoo services

You Don’t Need SEO For Yahoo Japan

If you have optimized content for Google, you need not worry about optimizing your search keywords exclusively for Yahoo as well, because yahoo uses the same algorithm as Google and optimizing your website content to Google’s algorithm is equally effective SEO for Yahoo as well.

Let Us Explore Some Of Yahoo’s Extensively Localized Services

Yahoo Answers

Yahoo Answers is a question and answer forum that fuses discussions among users and offers guidance with various queries

Yahoo Transit

The Yahoo Transit application gives users direction and transit times for walking, trains, buses and planes

Yahoo Auction

Yahoo Auction is the eBay equivalent of Japan that lets users auction for electronics, clothes, shoes, appliances etc

Yahoo Weather Forecast

The weather forecast function is similar to Google’s weather forecast giving users information about the weather in different countries

Yahoo Music

This wing provides a variety of music services that includes internet radio, music videos, news, artist information and original programming to users

Former Investor Softbank tightens its deal with Yahoo via a $2 billion deal with Altaba

The SoftBank Group is increasing its stake in Yahoo Japan through a $2 billion, three-way deal with U.S. firm Altaba to deepen ties with the internet heavyweight ahead of an IPO of its telecoms unit – Reuters

The synergies between SoftBank and Yahoo Japan are “consistent with SoftBank Group’s broader strategic synergy group initiative,” SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said in the statement.

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