Google takes on local search engine

Google's market share in the Czech Republic has been climbing since it launched Google.cz in 2006, but the company that dominates elsewhere in the world has had to take the No. 2 spot here, to homegrown favorite Seznam.cz.

In its quest to grab the lead, Google has launched a television ad campaign that puts a Czech spin on an ad that's already running in the United States: A Czech boy meets a French girl, googles French phrases, then French airline tickets, and they live happily ever after.

"We've had online campaigns, but this is the first time we scaled up the campaign to television so we can bring it to other users," said Luděk Motyčka, head of marketing for Google Czech Republic. "There are people who are hard to target online, people who are only light users of the Internet, that we want to reach."

The Czech Republic is one of five countries where Google doesn't take the No. 1 spot for search engines; the others are Russia, China, Japan and Korea. Seznam currently takes close to 60 percent of the market share, according to both companies, but Google is closing in with just over 40 percent now, according to Motyčka.

Seznam's strong hold on the majority comes from a carefully managed brand, which was up and running in the Czech Republic in 1994, just as Internet use was taking off.

"Seznam is a synonym for the Internet in the Czech Republic," said Martin Šámal, brand manager at Seznam. "We were here when the Internet started to develop in our country, and that's why we've been able to keep our leading position."

Like Google, Seznam also offers an e-mail service, which currently boasts 6.5 million accounts in the Czech Republic. Unlike Google, Seznam consolidates many of its features and content on its homepage, where users can find everything they need in one place, Šámal said.

"Users like Seznam because we provide all the information. Users can be passive when they open Seznam; it's all already there. Their e-mail, news and other services are available without any further searches or action," he said.

In the next couple months, the company will be adding a travel service to clients, where they can search for the best offers from travel agencies in the Czech Republic.

The localization is attractive to users, particularly with the advantage of providing services in Czech, Motyčka admitted.

"They provide local services in the local language; that's the main reason" they're No. 1, he said.

Google isn't actively trying to overtake Seznam, he added. The company's mission is rather to continue bringing new products and innovative services. One new service may be a nod to the company's focus on the tougher Czech market, however. This week, Google introduced a voice-activated search engine for smart phones. The service is currently available in 10 languages worldwide - Czech being one of them.

"The product was actually developed in coordination with Czechs, in order to collect the vocal samples. We're lucky we got to introduce this product so quickly here," Motyčka said.

Claire Compton can be reached at
ccompton@praguepost.com