How Kakao Captures $78.65K in Traffic Value Monthly - A Marketing Strategy Breakdown

By Team Inblog ⋅ April 2, 2025

KakaoTalk is a widely-used messenger app that connects over 150 million users across mobile, desktop, and wearable devices, bridging people and services around the globe. Kakao has successfully generated $78.65K in traffic cost value through its SEO strategies as of February 2025. This growth is driven by a combination of keyword targeting, content optimization, and on-page SEO improvements.

In this article, we’ll dive into the key marketing strategies that contributed to their success.

Keyword Strategies

A well-planned keyword strategy helps connect your content with the right audience by aligning it with their searches.

Boost SERP Rankings by Understanding Search Intent

The key to this strategy’s success is Kakao's deep understanding of search intent. Search intent isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the reason people type queries into search engines and a major driver of search traffic.

There are four main types of search intent:

• Informational: When someone is looking to learn more (e.g., “What is kakao?”)
• Navigational: When someone is trying to find a specific page or site (e.g., “Personal CRM Template”).
• Commercial: When someone is comparing options (e.g., “kakao vs. Competitors”)
• Transactional: When someone is ready to buy, use, or download something (e.g., “kakao Pricing”)

As search intent moves from Informational to Navigational, Commercial, and Transactional, users become more specific and action-driven. Initially, users seek general information, but as they move down the funnel, they get closer to making a decision or purchase.

Considering various keyword variations that users might search for in areas like UX or template solutions, Kakao's top 1,000 organic keywords have been categorized into these intent types.

Notably, navigational keywords are displayed using examples and account for the largest share, contributing $78.40K in traffic cost.

Optimizing Content for Search Intent

To rank well on Google, it's important to create content that aligns with what users are actually searching for. Google aims to provide answers by using advanced algorithms to understand the intent behind each query. Understanding search intent helps ensure your content meets users’ needs.

Here are the top five pages on Kakao that generate the most organic traffic through content optimized for keyword intent:

Kakao's SEO success is rooted in a traditional content marketing strategy, where long-form guides rank for a wide range of keywords. Although none of the available keywords rank within the top 10—a key criterion—the selection above represents the best available candidates from the dataset when considering other requirements such as non-branded, English, and long-tailed queries. The keyword “webtoon” clearly drives the highest traffic, making it a major content pillar, while “android version history” and “maps javascript api” are solid long-tail queries that address specific needs from technical users. “Lucia webtoon” serves a niche audience likely interested in more detailed or character-specific content. Meanwhile, “daum” rounds out the list despite its positioning slightly diluting the ideal criteria; its strong search volume still makes it an important term worth further content optimization and refinement. This structured approach to content not only boosts rankings but also ensures that searchers find exactly what they’re looking for.

Choosing the Right Keywords to Attract Quality Traffic

The more organic keywords you rank for—that is, words and phrases that draw people to your site from a search engine results page (SERP)—the better. Kakao ranks for 3149 organic keywords. One of the biggest contributors to Kakao’s organic success is their ability to rank for high-value, non-branded keywords with strong search intent that span diverse content areas.

On-Page SEO: Keeping a Consistent URL Structure

On-page SEO involves optimizing various elements within a webpage—including title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and URLs—to improve search engine rankings and attract the right audience. A well-thought-out URL structure conveys clear context about the page’s content and plays an instrumental role in keyword relevancy and user navigation.

Kakao follows a meticulous URL format where the main domain is supplemented by strategically chosen subfolders. This clear segmentation not only helps visitors quickly grasp the page’s focus but also signals to search engines how content is organized, enhancing site authority and overall SEO performance.

By implementing both simple and nested URL structures—such as kakao.com/[subfolder] for broader categories and kakao.com/[subfolder]/[keyword] for more specific topics—Kakao creates an intuitive hierarchy that improves crawlability and user experience. This uniform approach streamlines technical SEO efforts while reinforcing the site’s content strategy.

Examples of URL Structure:

kakao.com/[subfolder]

• https://kakao.com/login
• https://kakao.com/page
• https://kakao.com/map

kakao.com/[subfolder]/[keyword]

• https://kakao.com/channel/3164233
• https://kakao.com/content/54872059
• https://kakao.com/help/info

Conclusion

This report provides an in-depth breakdown of Kakao’s marketing strategy that has resulted in a monthly traffic value of $78.65K. It details the application of comprehensive SEO strategies including keyword analysis based on search intent, content optimization to align with user queries, and targeted keyword clusters that drive high-quality organic traffic. Additionally, the report highlights the significance of a uniform URL structure in enhancing on-page SEO, thereby reinforcing the overall content strategy and improving site authority.