Best Practices for Japanese SEO

Posted: May 14, 2021

Updated: Nov 14, 2025

Japan is the second largest Asian region regarding ad spending in the digital market, second only to China, according to a Statista report published in March 2025. According to Statista, within the advertising market in Japan, 64% of total ad spending will come from digital sources in 2030. Japanese advertisers are increasingly using digital platforms to target tech-savvy consumers, driving a shift towards online spending. Although it's not too late for new businesses to gain a share of the Japanese market, it's important to first learn about its unique background and culture.

Digital Marketing and Advertising in Japan

You may already know that Dentsu is the most powerful advertising agency, especially in traditional media. In recent years, they have further expanded globally through a series of acquisitions. Hakuhodo is the second largest ad agency in Japan, and they have traditionally had a stronger presence in print advertising. In the web media space, CyberAgent has also risen to prominence - originally from Ameba, a popular blogging platform. Global agencies such as Ogilvy and GroupM are present in Japan, and there are also many of boutique marketing agencies that may support your entry into the Japan market.

If you have an existing SEO-friendly website in English or another language, it's possible to manage the launch and optimization of a Japanese site independently. Remember that alongside standard international SEO techniques (hreflang, localized URLs), you must also adhere to best practices unique to the Japanese market.

Hosting Server

The first question you might ask yourself is, should you use a Japanese hosting server? There isn't a definitive answer to this question among SEO professionals, but one thing to keep in mind is that the server location can affect page speed, which of course can affect SEO.

According to Google Search Central way back in 2007, the web server's IP address is a factor for search results. If you are targeting Japanese SEO, you might have some advantage if you use a rental hosting server located in Japan.

Later in 2015, John Mueller gave a slightly different statement in the webmasters forum.

For search, specifically for geotargeting, the server's location plays a very small role, in many cases it's irrelevant. If you use a ccTLD or a gTLD together with Webmaster Tools, then we'll mainly use the geotargeting from there, regardless of where your server is located. You definitely don't need to host your website in any specific geographic location -- use what works best for you, and give us that information via a ccTLD or Webmaster Tools.

Top-Level Domain

The best top-level domains for Japanese sites are .co.jp and .jp.

.co.jp is available for companies registered in Japan, so it indicates that the business is legitimate and trustworthy. But if you're an existing global company with an online presence, you may keep the same corporate site and add a Japanese version, so for example https://www.datachai.com/ja/

If you use a generic top-level domain (.com, .net, .info, etc.) you can use the country targeting tool in Google Search Console to tell Google that you are targeting Japan.

URL Structure

From an SEO perspective it's fine to use either Japanese characters or Roman alphabets. I would recommend using Roman alphabets though, because it's easier to share the link via email or social media. URLs that contain Japanese characters could have encoding issues when they are copied and shared.

Google Search Central's John Mueller has confirmed that you can include Japanese keywords in the URL with Romaji (Roman alphabets to spell Japanese words). For example, https://www.datachai.com/nihongo

Japanese Search Engine

If you're coming from English SEO, the good news is that you probably don't need to learn a new search engine. The main search engines used in Japan are Google and Yahoo. These days Google is more popular, and generally young and tech-savvy people are using it. From a Japanese SEO perspective, you can just focus on optimizing for Google, because Yahoo is also powered by Google's algorithm.

SEO Tools

ahrefs, SEMrush, and keyword planner in Google ads are all useful for Japanese keyword research. The SEO data is not quite as accurate as for English, but I've found it to be good enough. In my experience, SEMrush tends to be better for technical and competitive metrics of Japanese sites, while ahrefs is more reliable for search volume.

As far as I know, there isn't a Japanese equivalent to the well-loved platforms like ahrefs and SEMrush in English. There is one called mieru-ca but even the cheapest plan is around $1,000 monthly. Some Japanese marketers prefer mieru-ca because the UI is more intuitive for them. However, that is simply an issue of the website design, not related to the accuracy of SEO data provided.

Keyword Research

The fundamentals of English keyword research generally translate to Japanese, but there are some cultural nuances to be aware of. For example, while English speakers often use "near me" searches (ex. "digital marketing meet up near me", "best ramen near me"), English, the Japanese people tend to search for their actual location (ex. "SEO agency in Tokyo", "cafe in Osaka"). In addition, native Japanese speakers often use abbreviated words, such as konbini for convenience store, sutaba for Starbucks, and DX for digital transformation.

Written Japanese uses a combination of 3 different alphabets (hiragana, katakana, and kanji) so there's multiple ways of spelling out the same search query. For example, ありがとうございます, 有難うございます, and 有難う御座います can all be read as "arigato gozaimasu" which means thank you in Japanese. Fortunately, Google's algorithm can usually interpret these different spellings as synonymous. So while there's no need to go overkill and list out every spelling variation in the page title or meta description, it may help to use a natural blend of the 2 or 3 most common spellings throughout the body text.

Title and Meta Description

Google counts pixel length, not characters. Regardless of the language, the maximum title length is 560px, and meta description is 990px. You may know that for English, that's approximately 60 characters for the title and 160 characters for the meta description.

Japanese full-width characters are 20 pixels, so the recommended maximum title length would be 28 characters, and meta description would be 49.5 characters, if everything is in Japanese. However, Japanese websites sometimes mix in English words like brand names and loanwords, creating a combination of full and half-width characters that makes manual counting a hassle. In any case, my SEO Meta Length Tag Checker tool makes it easy to check the display length.

Japanese Localization

English proficiency in Japan is not as widespread as in other major economies. All business in Japan is done in Japanese. Simply translating your website is insufficient; you must build trust through genuine localization. Japanese consumers place a high value on credibility and commitment to the Japan market, and one way to demonstrate this is through perfect Japanese localization. 

For example, the company page (kaisha gaiyou) is fundamental and should be adapted to local expectations. See the screenshot of Family Mart's company page above. Instead of values and mission statement, it includes foundational information like the establishment date, corporate address, and capital stock. 

Web Design

You'll immediately notice that the Japanese (left) and American (right) websites of Starbucks have a totally different look and feel. Traditionally, local Japanese websites have displayed as much information as possible on the homepage. However, more and more web developers nowadays are favoring simplistic and minimalist designs. This trend is especially growing among younger generations.

Link Building

If you have extensive resources or connections in digital PR, you may try link building through feature articles or interviews in online media. Cold outreach for backlink exchanges isn't a common practice, so your efforts may not pay off as much as they did for English-speaking markets. Otherwise, try blogging platforms. At the time of writing, links from note, Qiita, and Wantedly count as dofollow.

Japanese SEO Services

Japanese business culture has traditionally valued in-person and phone interactions, and in some industries, it's still uncommon for companies to have sophisticated digital marketing teams. So there's a chance for foreign companies to swoop in and perhaps even get an advantage over the local competition for Japanese SEO.

Although English and Japanese SEO share some similarities, Japanese SEO requires knowing the local nuances to implement it effectively. Finding the right keywords can be especially tricky, due to the Japanese language having 3 different alphabets, along with unique abbreviations and slang.

As a native born and raised in Japan, I have supported numerous businesses in their Japanese SEO strategies —from website development and keyword research to content writing and lead funnel generation. If you are looking to enter the Japan market and require a local expert, feel free to reach out to me.