Google vs. Seznam in Czechia: The Data-Backed Answer

Why this question trips up foreign advertisers

Almost every company entering Czechia arrives with a Google-shaped playbook, and almost every one hears the same warning from a local: “But what about Seznam?” Czechia is one of only a handful of markets in the world with a homegrown search engine that never got flattened by Google. That makes the channel decision genuinely local, and it is the first place a global media plan goes wrong.

This guide gives you the current numbers and explains what they hide, then turns all of it into a decision you can defend to a headquarters that has never heard of Seznam.

The numbers, current and sourced

StatCounter’s June 2026 figures put Google at 81.17% and Seznam at 13.51% of the overall Czech search market, with Bing third at 3.97%. Look at desktop alone and Seznam is stronger: StatCounter’s August 2026 desktop reading shows Google at 74.66% and Seznam at 15.64%. The gap between those two views (overall vs. desktop) is the first clue that headline share is not the whole story.

Headline share hides the real story

A flat “14% of search” makes Seznam easy to cut from a media plan. That is a mistake, for three reasons.

First, Seznam is an ecosystem that reaches well beyond search. Its inventory spans Seznam Search, the Seznam.cz homepage, Novinky.cz (one of the country’s biggest news sites), Mapy.cz, Seznam Email, plus partner sites. Seznam’s own advertising materials claim Sklik, its ad system, reaches 95% of the Czech internet across more than 3,000 websites. Treat that as a vendor reach claim rather than an audited share; the direction still looks credible, since Seznam clearly touches far more Czech attention than 14% suggests.

Second, share of search is not share of your customers. A national average blends a 22-year-old looking for sneakers with a 58-year-old comparing insurance. Those two people do not use the same engine, which brings us to the decisive factor.

Who actually uses Seznam

Seznam skews older and more desktop-oriented than Google, and that single fact should drive most of your decision. In the same November 2024 interview, Seznam’s commercial director reported that of its roughly 7.6 million monthly users measured by NetMonitor, 61% were aged 19–48, which means a substantial share sits above that, in exactly the demographic global brands tend to under-serve.

Independent Czech practitioners describe Seznam’s core strength as users aged 40+, strongest around 45–65, with a high share of desktop activity. Treat those as directional field observations rather than audited statistics. Even so, they match what advertisers repeatedly see: if your buyer is a Czech homeowner in their fifties, Seznam is a primary channel.

When Sklik earns its budget

Here is the decision, by who you are trying to reach. This is a starting framework; your own week-one demand data overrides it.

What about the cost?

You will read that Sklik is cheaper than Google. It often is (lower advertiser competition tends to mean lower cost per click), but there is no published, like-for-like CPC benchmark for Czechia that holds across categories, and a low CPC on an audience that never converts is not a saving. SPIR’s market data confirms only the macro trend: Czech search-ad investment grew about 10% in 2025 to CZK 18.2 billion, so competition for attention is rising on both engines.

Cost is decided the same way as channel: per campaign, from your own account data. Anyone quoting you a national “average Czech CPC” is selling you a number without the data to back it up.

How to actually decide, in week one

• Check search demand on both engines for your real Czech keywords rather than translations. Google Keyword Planner plus Sklik’s own keyword tool. If Seznam shows meaningful volume in your category, that settles the argument.
• Match to your buyer’s age. Skew young and mobile? Lead heavily with Google. Selling to the 45+ Czech household? Budget Seznam properly from the start.
• Start with Google, then test Seznam based on local demand. Prove your offer converts on Google first, then bring Seznam in as a measured test rather than an afterthought bolted on at the end of the quarter.
• Track them separately. Seznam conversions must land in your analytics with consent mode working, or you will “discover” Seznam does not convert when in fact you never measured it.

Three mistakes to avoid

1. Cutting Seznam on headline share alone. Fourteen percent of national search can be sixty percent of a specific older, local audience. Decide based on your segment; the country average rarely reflects it.

2. Running Seznam on translated Google copy. Sklik needs Czech keywords in their real grammatical forms and native ad copy. Ported Google campaigns underperform and get blamed on the platform.

3. Judging Seznam without proper tracking. A consent banner that blocks tags, or conversions that never reach analytics, produces a false “Seznam doesn’t work” verdict. Fix measurement before you judge the channel.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

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