Naver and Kakao are rolling out AI search services one after another. Conventional search shows results based on the words users enter. AI search works differently. It can understand full-sentence requests that include a user’s purpose and conditions, such as “a company dinner spot in Pangyo where group seating is easy to reserve and staff grill the meat,” and connect that request to reservations or purchases. This means search terms are shifting from simple keywords to data that contain users’ situations and intent. For Naver and Kakao, both of which generate revenue from advertising, this gives them a new weapon for running more precise ads.
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Starting April 27, Naver has been providing the beta version of its AI search service “AI Tab” to Naver Plus Membership users. AI Tab is scheduled to become available to all users in the first half of this year. Kakao has also recently begun a trial of “Kanana Search” for some users who agreed to use Kanana. The service replaces the existing Sharp (#) Search inside KakaoTalk chatrooms. What the two services have in common is that they are based on AI search.
AI search changes the nature of the search data users leave behind. Instead of short search terms, full sentences containing purpose and conditions become the starting point for search. For example, a search for “Pangyo barbecue restaurant” leaves only the area and business category in the record. By contrast, a prompt such as “Find me a place for a company dinner in Pangyo where group seating is easy to reserve and staff grill the meat” leaves behind a wider range of records, including location, the nature of the gathering, reservation intent, preferred service and reviews.
This appears to be the type of data Naver and Kakao want. Both companies’ AI services are designed to drive conversion into their own services, such as commerce and maps. More specific data allows them to understand demand more accurately and make conversion easier. In fact, when a user searches on Naver AI Tab for a restaurant in Pangyo that grills meat for a group company dinner, the service displays the restaurant’s Naver Reservation page.
This is why platform companies such as Naver and Kakao inevitably have their eyes on AI search data. Data containing user intent can lead directly to advertising and purchase conversion.
The industry believes AI search prompts contain not only what users are looking for but also why they are looking for it, what conditions they want and how likely they are to take actual action. Google has also emphasized that AI can read user intent in conversational search and turn it into advertising demand.
John Nicoletti, vice president of Google Customer Solutions, said in an official blog post last year that Google AI can help advertisers identify purchase intent at new touchpoints. For example, if someone uses AI to search for “why my water pressure is low after installing a new sink,” showing an ad for a local plumber could provide useful information to the user while connecting the business with a valuable potential customer.
In the post, Nicoletti wrote that “to unlock the full potential of AI,” companies need “the fuel of a strong and comprehensive data foundation.” He added that data is what connects marketing activity to real business outcomes and helps companies focus their investments on actual revenue generation.
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