Naver drops FAQ search block after five years, doubling down on AI

Naver is discontinuing its collapsible FAQ search block, a feature that let users preview answers before visiting a website. The move, following a similar decision by Google, signals a broader shift in the search market toward AI-driven results.

Naver stopped displaying the FAQ block in its search results Thursday, according to industry sources. The feature had launched in November 2022, giving it a run of just under five years.

The FAQ block was a collapsible question-and-answer format that appeared after a user entered a search query, letting them scan answers without clicking through to a website. It focused on fields where accuracy and reliability matter most, such as finance and law.

Naver said it removed the block as part of a broader restructuring of its search service around AI. The company plans to build on the functionality the FAQ block provided by enhancing AI-powered search services such as AI Briefing.

Naver has been rolling out AI search features in quick succession. It introduced AI Briefing, an AI-based search and summarization service, in March last year, then officially launched AI Tab — a generative AI-powered conversational search service — to all users last month.

"We introduced a follow-up question suggestion feature to AI Briefing, similar to what the FAQ block offered, and as usage of that feature expanded, we decided to retire the FAQ block," a Naver official said. "We also plan to introduce additional services that allow users to continue exploring through AI."

Naver is not alone in pulling the feature. Google also retired its FAQ rich results — a similar question-and-answer format in search — in May.

Both companies have been clearing out traditional Q&A-style search displays as they push AI search services to the fore. Google officially launched AI Overviews, which places AI-generated summary answers at the top of search results, in May 2024. It also expanded its separate AI Mode search experience last month.

The twin moves have reinforced a view that the center of gravity in the global search market is shifting decisively toward AI. The experience of users manually comparing multiple search results is shrinking, analysts say, as AI takes over synthesizing answers tailored to search intent.

As major search portals like Naver and Google undergo sweeping transformations, the strategies of businesses and other content providers are changing rapidly alongside those of ordinary users. The sector feeling the pressure most acutely is marketing. Companies have concluded that existing marketing strategies are no longer sufficient to drive business as portals change how content surfaces in search results.

A survey of about 200 marketing professionals conducted by data consultancy Plus Zero found that 67.2 percent of respondents identified "AI answer optimization" as the area most in need of improvement — a sign that generative engine optimization, or GEO, has overtaken traditional search engine optimization, or SEO, in importance. SEO refers to marketing techniques designed to push a company's content toward the top of portal search results, while GEO is the strategy of getting generative AI to cite a company's content as a source when answering user queries.