The Emergence of Japanese SEO

The advent of Internet has encouraged Japan to open new markets and become a productive marketplace for businesses and entrepreneurs alike. Nowadays, there exists a large market for Japanese SEO companies and services; there are many entrepreneurs and businesses that have understood the basic requirements of the online market and are offering effective Japanese SEO services.
More and more companies are pursuing advanced technologies in their businesses and implementing them to help them benefit from the continuous growth of the internet world. For the record, this is not exclusive to big budgeted companies, smaller companies and businesses have definitely benefited from this marketing strategy.

As a whole, SEO or search engine optimization is not new to the internet world, but it is to Japan and hence more and more businesses are trying to understand and comprehend the relevance of SEO marketing on their business and how to use it online to help them maximize their returns. These days, there are several companies who offer SEO services to both Japanese and global clients to bring upon a keyword driven or search powered success in the country.
At present, SEO, like everywhere else in the world is creating a buzz in Japan. But, a slight difference is that the dominant search engine player in Japan is surprisingly not Google, but its direct rival, Yahoo! Though, Google Japan has followers and has a good presence in this country, but the leader is definitely Yahoo!, which holds 80% of the Japanese SEO industry.
Another aspect of the online revolution in Japan is the capability of mobile phones to connect to the internet. Almost 60% of Japanese uses their cell phones to search the World Wide Web. The truth is Japan is ready to take on the world of SEO with more companies that are eager to offer SEO solutions and services. They are more than ready, but the biggest problem is that there is a language barrier between Japan and the world. SEO is a niche and should be done by an expert who knows and understand the requirements and language of SEM/SEO in Japan.
The main problem is that several of the words being used as Japanese translation of English words are not always accurate. Words are not supposed to be translated word for word, converting it that way will take away the intended message of the phrase or sentence.

Another aspect that hinders SEO in Japan is the difference between Yahoo Japan and Yahoo US APIs. This is the most challenging area as the essence of the internet is being able to communicate worldwide – that whatever is offered in a certain area is offered globally too. The ability and the convenience of doing SEO research or receiving SEO reports through a mobile phone is also something to be dealt with, remember, majority of the Japanese community uses their mobile phones to access the internet.
When expert figure out how to deal with these minor problems, Japanese SEO market could be gold mine. Japan is considered as a big player in the internet market, they have a long way to go but they are finally here and they are ready for the SEO challenge!

Przemyslaw Prokopow is a project manager at JPSof LLC, Tokyo-based internet agency specializing in Japanese website design, marketing and eCommerce in Japan. He has a Ph.D. in computer science and over 10 years experience in IT industry.