What factors should I consider if I’m doing an SEM campaign in Korea?

Mainly 5 factors you need you consider when we do SEM targeting Korea.

1)    SEM Planning

-Korean local engines are relatively expensive. Accordingly budget should be allocated. To know the average CPC per keyword, you should have NHN Business platform ID& PW.

-They do have conversion code like Google conversion tracking code. If client allows, we should use them as they don’t provide API for SEM which means it is not easy to use omniture search centre, Marin or Kenshoo.

2)    Where are the target audiences are

You have 3 options of sites. Depending on the audience’s profile you target, you should choose Google, Naver or Overture considering that which will work the best for your marketing plan. Each site has different characteristics. For example, English keywords are searched more by people who use google.co.kr. Naver is strong in Korean language (English searches are getting higher and higher but not yet there.) and covers majority of Koreans as a top local site. Overture covers Daum, Nate and many other sites. So if you want to do SEM in any other engines all together, overture will be a good option. Each site has different demographic in terms of age, so accordingly you should choose.

3)    Account set-up

-We should consider that an account set-up process would be different. For example like Naver, you should send ‘Business license’ and ‘media fee’ to them first. They don’t have invoice based payment but do have credit card payment.

Overture is lesser complicated than Naver but still it will take longer and different compared to Google.

-The number of keywords are ad groups are limited per one business certificate.

4)    Local engines have  CPC and CPT buy

5)    Google is not the least option