How China’s fragmented search ecosystem is reshaping SEO in 2026
Baidu still drives B2B demand, while AI and ecommerce platforms reshape discovery. Here’s how to stay visible across both.
Topic: Internet real-name system in China
Baidu vs. Google: Navigating the SEO landscape in 2024
Learn the similarities and differences between Baidu and Google SEO and how to boost your presence in the Chinese search landscape.
Google Still Dominant, But Baidu Benefitting From Google Ban In China Says eMarketer
As China's search revenue share continues to grow, Google will largely be missing out while its sites are blocked on the mainland.
Baidu Reseller Opens US Office, Aims To Lower Barriers For US Advertisers
China’s dominant search engine, Baidu, offers huge potential for marketers seeking to connect with Chinese consumers. Yet, for US companies, there are several barriers to entry that haven’t made it worth the hassle — for starters, all documentation is in Mandarin and ads and landing pages need to be written in Chinese to see any […]
Alibaba Creates Aliyun Search Engine To Challenge Baidu, Google In China
Chinese Internet company Alibaba has created a new search engine (Aliyun) to challenge Chinese market leader Baidu and more symbolically, Google. The new entity resides within Alibaba Group’s AliCloud subsidiary. It offers all the standard features of search: Internet, news, images and maps (via AutoNavi). The appearance and functionality of the SERP on Aliyun is more like […]
Google Is #4 In China As It Continues To Lose Market Share
Google continues to lose marketshare in China after pulling out of China years ago. New market share reports from Marbridge Consulting puts Google in forth place in terms of search market share. Google trails Baidu, Qihoo 360, and Sogou with only 4.72% share in China. Baidu has 72.97%, Qihoo 360 has 9.64% and Sogou has […]
Baidu Beats Estimates, Posts Impressive Revenue Growth
This afternoon Baidu released its second quarter financial results. The company made 5.46 billion yuan or $858.8 million, a nearly 60 percent increase from a year ago. Profit was 2.815 billion yuan or $443.1 million a roughly 52 percent increase from last year. The company also said that revenue per customer was roughly $2,440 against a […]
Baidu Squeezing Google Out On Chinese Android Phones
Open source is a double-edged thing. Whereas the free and “open” Android platform has been a boon to Google in most places around the globe, in China the story is apparently different. The Next Web reports (based on third party information) that the general manager of Baidu’s wireless unit claimed 80 percent of Android-based handsets […]
Deadline Threatens Google Maps’ Existence In China
Maybe the sequel to John Adams’ seminal modern opera “Nixon in China” should be called “Google in China.” Its on-again-off-again dance with the world’s largest and most strictly controlled internet market is the stuff of melodrama. Renewing Google Maps’ License The latest episode in the ongoing saga poses the question whether Google will be able […]
Sina Corp, Large Chinese Portal, Drops Google As Search Provider
Sina Replaces Google Search Engine On Portal from the Wall Street Journal reports Google has just lost a major search syndication deal with one of Chinese largest portals. In 2007, Sina Corp partnered with Google, where Google would power the news, ads and search results for the huge Chinese portal. That deal has ended and […]
Google Makes Modest Comeback In China
Google is making a slow comeback in China — in more ways that one. Earlier this month Google CFO Patrick Pichette was quoted in The Times of London suggesting that Google would “return” to China in a more forceful way in the not-too-distant future. The company stopped censoring its results last year and started redirecting […]
Google Can’t Seem to Quit China
Google doesn’t really want to be out of China it appears. Despite a principled stand against censorship and the subsequent revelation that Chinese government surrogates were behind GMail hacking the company is contemplating a “return” to the Chinese market. In fact it’s still there but in a half-hearted way. Google CFO Patrick Pichette told the […]
Live Blogging Baidu CEO Robin Li At Web 2.0 Summit
Baidu CEO & Chairman Robin Li will be speaking today at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. I’m here and will be live blogging his remarks, when the session begins. Li is set to speak at 5:15pm Pacific, and he’ll be interviewed on stage by John Battelle. Live blogging to start shortly. There’s also […]
Untangling The Confusing Search Scene In Asia
A raft of recent search engine developments in the Far East means the picture is not so wonderfully clear anymore. In Japan, Korea and China there have been signficant search engine market changes. Let's try and figure out what's going on?
Google Resumes China Talks Despite Evidence Of Govt-Hacking Connection
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google has re-engaged with China around its ability to continue operating its number two search engine in the country in an “unfiltered” way. The Chinese have given no public indications that they will permit this in the country, which is ruled by state control of speech and media. The […]
Chinese Gov’t Offers Bland Statement On Google, Google.cn Employees Given Indefinite Holiday
It’s an open secret that the Chinese government and related Chinese companies conduct espionage against Western governments and companies operating both in and outside China. The Google GMail attacks represent a kind of “last straw” scenario. And it’s all but certain that this episode was either initiated by the government or done with government knowledge […]
Getting To Know International PPC Markets
We’re all pretty familiar with the well reported search landscape of the US/UK. But, in other parts of the world, the search engine landscape is very different. In this article, I’ll focus on China, Japan and Russia. The goal of this article is to present PPC opportunities in counties that are not Google-centric and provide […]
Report From The Field: Search In China 2008
We’re wrapping up SMX China in Nanjing this afternoon. By all measures, the show was a success, with about 300 attendees and a dozen exhibitors, with people from China as well as many other Asian countries, India, Israel and even Africa in attendance. Search in China is thriving, seemingly impervious to the economic turbulence that’s […]
China Now Number One Internet Market, Surpassing US
The Chinese Internet has surpassed the US in terms of overall users. According to BDA China (reported in USAToday), there are more than 220 million Chinese Internet users (17 percent of the population) compared with 216 in the US (71 percent). This is simply a function of the huge scale of the Chinese market, with […]
Google To Fight Baidu In China With Legal Music Downloads?
One of the key weaknesses Google has seemed to face in growing market share in China has been the fact that many people turn to Baidu to download music. Now the company may be fixing this, reports the Wall Street Journal:
An Inside Look At China’s Internet Population
Deborah Fallows, Senior Research Fellow, Pew Internet & American Life Project, has just published a fascinating report detailing the demographics of Chinese internet users. Deb, an American currently living in Shanghai, notes that “there are now an estimated 137 million internet users in China, second in number only to the United States, where estimates of […]
Google To Open R&D Office In Shanghai
Google to Open Research Center In Shanghai from the Wall Street Journal reports Google is planning on opening a research and development center in Shanghai, China in an effort to gain market share from Baidu. The R&D center is expected to open on June 25, 2007, with a focus on researching Chinese-language Internet searches. Previously, […]
Report From The Field: Search Engine Strategies China
SES China is always a fascinating experience. Although the content is similar to other SES shows around the world, there are notable differences ranging from unique perspectives on the Chinese and Asian markets to a variable “schedule” that seems to work fine for locals but is guaranteed to drive anyone from a western culture accustomed […]
Google To Sell Ads On China Telecom’s Business Directory Sites
Google to Sell Online Ads on China Telecom Web Sites from Bloomberg reports that Google has won the right to sell ads on 400 local business directory sites owned by China Telecom, China’s biggest internet service provider. This deal is expected to help Google close in on Baidu and Microsoft’s share in online ad revenue […]
Report: Google Gaining, But Baidu Still Dominates In China
Reporting from the Fourth Annual Piper China Growth Conference, analyst Safa Rashtchy says that China-based search engine Baudu continues to dominate in market share for both organic and paid listings, but apparently Google’s increased investments in China are paying off. Baidu also believes the opportunity in Japan will be significant longer term and they believe […]