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List of search engines in China
16
Aug
Aug
Here is a list of popular search engines in China:
Baidu is by far the leading Chinese search engine for websites, audio files and images. It was established in 2000 by co-founders, Robin Li and Eric Xu.
Founded in 2005, Google China ranks as the No. 2 search engine in China. In March 2010, it decided to redirect all queries from Chinese users to Google Hong Kong.
Sogou is a search engine which can search text, images, music, and maps. Launched in 2004, it is owned by China's No. 2 Internet portal Sohu but Alibaba Group is going to buy shares. Sogou means "Search Dog" in Chinese.
Soso is a Chinese search engine owned by Tencent which is well known for its IM QQ.
China Yahoo! is one of the leading Chinese-language portals offering search, email and an enhanced focus on entertainment content. Alibaba Group acquired China Yahoo! in 2005.
Bing is Microsoft's search engine. Bing's official Chinese name is "bì yìng" which literally means "very certain to respond" or "very certain to answer".
Youdao is a search engine released by Chinese Internet company NetEase in 2007. It is the featured search engine of its parent company's web portal, 163.com, and lets users search for web pages, images, news, music, blogs, etc. Youdao roughly translates as “there's a way”.
Do you know other search engines used in China?
Baidu takes full advantage of Google’s pull out of China
25
May
May
In March 2010, Google decided to stop censoring its search results in China, the Chinese version of Google now redirecting all queries to its Hong Kong version.
What are the consequences of Google’s move in the Chinese Internet search area ?
Baidu gains market share, Google loses positions
Google’s decision to pull out of China results in giving a boost to Baidu. Baidu was already leading the Chinese Internet search market even before Google’s announcement ; this decision has given a more dominant position to Google’s rival.
In the end of 2009, Baidu’s market share was 58% while Google held 36% of the market. The figures provided by Analysys International, a Beijing-based market researcher, show interesting results. For the first quarter of 2010, there has been a significant increase in Baidu’s market share (now at 64%) while Google’s went down at a level of 31%.
| Search engine | Q4 2009 | Q1 2010 | Growth |
| Baidu | 58.4% | 64% | +9.6% |
| 35.6% | 30.9% | -15.2% | |
| Sogou | 1% | 0.7% | -42.3% |
| Soso | 0.7% | 0.4% | -75% |
| Others | 4.3% | 4% | -1.9% |
Source : Analysys International
Other search engines in China do not take advantage of Google's announcement
One could have guessed that Google’s decision would have a negative impact on its market share. One would have been right. Nevertheless, more surprisingly, not all other actors took advantage of Google’s withdrawal : only Baidu has actually gained market shares in Q1 2010 compared to Q4 2009. Other competitors, including domestic companies such as Sogou and Soso, have dramatically lost positions.
Baidu announces excellent financial results
From a financial point of view, Baidu also took advantage of the situation. The Chinese firm reported that its revenue rose 59.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to 1.29 billion Chinese yuan and that its forecast for the second quarter would break a new record.
Where are Yahoo and Bing ?
I am wondering what Yahoo and Bing (Microsoft’s search engine) are doing. They have stayed rather discreet till now, but it is certain that a rival’s withdrawal is a good opportunity for both of them. I am sure they will strive to take advantage of the situation : China remains the biggest market with a population of 384 million users connected to the Internet, as of December 2009. Thus, even 1% market share represents almost 4 million of potential customers…
