Baidu vs. Google: Who's the #1 Country-Specific Search Engine?

Recent data measuring search query volumes in China and the Untied States indicates that Baidu has now passed Google to become the most popular country specific search engine on the planet. 

Comscore data for the United States shows Google conducting 7.398 billion searches in August 08. A separate Comscore report shows Baidu conducting 7.406 billion searches in July 08 in the Asia Pacific region. Granted, this large region includes 10 different countries including Japan, where Baidu launched its first and only non-Chinese focused search engine earlier this year and likely conducts approximately 30 million searches a month.

If you back these searches out of Baidu’s search volume provided by Comscore you will see that these two search heavyweights are almost equal in their respected home countries. The one major caveat to the Asia Pacific study is how Comscore does not include search queries from Internet cafes. Internet cafes are incredibly popular in China and Baidu is easily the most popular search engine within these 120,000+ Internet addict hot zones. Comscore’s inability to measure Internet cafe search traffic leaves Baidu’s search volumes significantly underrepresented.

Furthermore, Baidu themselves recently advertised in their new beta ecommerce signup area that they now receive a massive 196 million daily web users and 400 million daily web searches, pegging their monthly total at closer to 12 billion search queries. All in all, it is clear that Baidu China has now passed Google USA as the most popular country specific search engine. Baidu may have also surpassed Yahoo to become the 2^nd most popular search service on the planet based on total global search query volumes and if they haven’t already they may accomplish this feat soon. Baidu’s global market share continues to grow at a blistering pace and Yahoo’s continues to shrink. Perhaps Microsoft should consider purchasing Baidu instead of Yahoo if they really want to acquire a fast growing search leader? 

Baidu’s growth is not limited to just search. Their Baidu Union ad network now claims more than 1 billion daily ad impressions or around 30 billion a month. This 14 month old product has grown exponentially since its start last summer and has become an important part of Baidu’s revenue growth. Just imagine how big this ad network could be in a few years.

Baidu will also be entering into the ecommerce and online payment business in China soon by leveraging their massive user base and search traffic. Over 40% of ecommerce purchases start with a search engine query and Baidu is looking to capitalize on this tremendous advantage. More than 40,000 businesses have already signed up for the beta test of their new ecommerce platform. When Google emerged as a power in the United States the eBay’s and Amazon’s of the world were already entrenched leaders, which prevented Google Shopping and Google Base from really becoming mainstream shopping services. China is at a much earlier stage in their development of ecommerce and Baidu is well positioned to dominate this search based business as well. Last week news broke of the name of their new online payment service called Baifubao, ending speculation about whether they would decide to partner with another PayPal like service in China or just start their own. They already have over 180,000 search marketing clients, which this new payment service will obviously be rolled out to, along with the tens of thousands of businesses signing up for their ecommerce platform. Not a bad start.

The growth of the Internet in China has been staggering over the past year and Baidu has been the major beneficiary. According to the China Internet Network Information Center, China has added some 91 million web users over the past year reaching a total 253 million by the end of June 08. Based on recent growth trends you can expect China to now have over 270 million web users as of today. This is far more than the 230 million total web users in the United States. Furthermore, over 12 million domains have now been registered in China making the .cn domain the most popular domain suffix in the world. China is clearly an emerging Internet superpower and Baidu is the leader in the world’s most populous country.

Disclosure: The author is both a Baidu and Google shareholder.

Comments

[Deep Throat:]

Shane, where is the balance in this article? You neglect to mention that a large proportion of Baidu's traffic is driven by its illegal mp3 search. Indications are that they are hosting the music files themselves and The Register has an extensive report on it here: www.theregister.co.uk/.../
As a Baidu shareholder it almost seems that you have a vested interest to talk up this company no matter what despicable acts Baidu has been engaging in, especially it's alleged role in the baby-killing tainted milk scandal. Your article shows a great deal of research and statistics to inflate Baidu's superiority yet surely with that kind of detailed research its surprising that you have instead chosen to conveniently neglect to mention that a significant portion of its traffic is brought about by its legally-challenged music search.
Your ignorance is laughable in suggesting that Microsoft should consider buying Baidu - can you imagine the can of worms that MS would inherit? You have no idea how some of these Chinese search companies work do you? You're simply just an armchair advisor who is clueless on the real workings of Baidu and yet wants to exhort others to jump into it.
David Wolf has written a much more balanced article on Baidu here on Seeking Alpha itself seekingalpha.com/artic...
The last I checked, greed is no longer good in Wall Street, and Baidu's actions will one day bring them the karma they are sowing now...

2008 Sep 23 12:26 PM

[Shane Farley:]

Your right, Baidu does have issues with liking to mp3 tracks that are copyrighted. Google also has problems with the same thing, and they have issues with people posting copyrighted material on Youtube. Thus far the Chinese court system hasn't punished sites too badly for this, instead electing to focus on shutting down the sites that actual host the copyrighted material. This is how Baidu prefers to have this enforced as they dont want to be responsible for checking copyrights on the billions of pages they index as its a massive feat. Lawsuits against Baidu are for small amounts of money and the judgment against Yahoo China was for less than $30k. Alexa.com and ChinaRank.com only show Baidu's MP3 channel getting 6% of their total traffic so switching to fully ad supported might hurt traffic a little but wont kill them by any means. It will probably just give them another great revenue stream. Baidu recently put out a press release in Japan about how they are partnering with 70 music labels and their cfo was interviewed on CFO.com recently about their music model and made strong comments about their ad supported music system that they want to go forward with. The article I wrote was simply meant to point out how Baidu gets more search queries in China than Google does in the USA. I own more money in Google shares than Baidu fyi but can't help but be impressed with the growth of the Chinese web and Baidu's opportunities.

BNP Paribas put out and sec filing today taking a 7.8% stake in baidu. Morgan Stanley owns around 9%, etc. Baidu is attracting major money.

2008 Sep 25 04:41 PM

[Deep Throat:]

@SMF...Shane, you elect to ignore the fact that Baidu is ACTUALLY HOSTING these unlicensed music files and have been deviously masking it via technological means. As I have said before, you really need to do more homework on this instead of spouting the party line blindly. Otherwise, being in a position of influence as a columnist, you have to refrain from endorsing what you don't know enough of. And quoting the unreliable Alexa that only 6% of Baidu traffic is for music search is grossly incorrect and is a convenient crutch for Baidu apologists like yourself to use. Most in China are aware that it accounts for between 30-40% and even Baidu staff concede this too.
I may have been a little harsh on you earlier in stating that you have a vested interest in pushing Baidu, but please, please do the right thing and see it for what it really is.
Pointing out that BNP and Morgan Stanley have major stakes in Baidu means jackshit - the Wall Street meltdown has shown what a morally bankrupt group a great number of financial companies really are. And the Sanlu tainted milk scandal also implicated New Zealand's Fonterra which had a 43% stake in Sanlu...major money indeed!!
I do understand that the main thrust of your article was to highlight the fact that Baidu has "more search queries in China than Google does in the USA", but at the same time, it needs to be told how/ why they are achieving this - hosting and disseminating mp3 files illegally. For the benefit of other readers, I suggest you also read this on CNet:
asia.cnet.com/blogs/li...

2008 Sep 28 12:54 AM

[Shane Farley:]

Thanks for the feedback. I will look into it. The reason I believe the baidu MP3 search area only does around 6% of their traffic is because both Alexa.com and ChinaRank.com show this same exact measurement and they are totally independent.

Their CFO Jennifer Li was asked about the music issue recently and she said they are working on it, forming partnerships, going for ad supported.

from Interview:

Q) How big of a threat are the legal challenges from music companies over illegal downloads?

A) We have been resolving a couple of issues in that area. Baidu respects intellectual property rights and takes the matter seriously. We believe in advertiser-supported digital music and have worked with record companies to promote their artists online. For instance, we work with major record companies like Rock Music and EMI, we run music promotions, and share the advertising revenue associated with the songs that are downloaded.

www.cfo.com/article.cf...

Also, if you go to Baidu.jp and use the Google translation tool you will find a press release put out this summer about how they have partnered with 70+ music companies and are going for fully ad supported. I suspect baidu is likely working on this more than you think.

I bet their new ecommerce business will drive 10% of their growing traffic and they will start rolling ad supported music and music sales more into the mix. I believe Baidu will start eliminating copyrighted mp3's when the courts tell them to do so. Up until now Baidu has won their lawsuits regarding this.

Thanks for the feedback though.

2008 Sep 28 09:37 AM

[SDjones:]

nobody should listen to message board posters. Listen to the pro's who overwhelmingly say to "Buy" Baidu. Baidu is $260 today.


Susquehanna Financial "Buy" rating and $444 target

Piper Jaffray "Buy" rating and $468 target

Citigroup "Buy" rating and $415 target

Sterne Agee "Buy" rating and no price target given

RBC Capital "Outperform" rating and $361 target

Pacific Crest "Outperform" rating and $350 target

2008 Sep 28 04:46 PM

[Deep Throat:]

@SMF, I see that you've done some online searches to back up your claims.
1) Alexa is a grossly incompetent measurement tool that is frequently gamed especially by Chinese internet companies - there have been numerous Chinese companies that have had their Alexa rankings deleted totally. The Chinese CNNIC internet organization itself had stated that mp3 search is the key factor for Baidu's traffic
2) That Baidu's CFO Jennifer Li is claiming that they have a few deals with a selected number of labels is true, but so what if they have a few of these while they steal from the majority? Even the EMI deal they claim to have possibly excludes most of their international repertoire. Baidu has done these deals as a cover to deflect criticism of their methods, and writers like you have fallen for it.
As I have stated before, Baidu is illegally HOSTING MUSIC FILES, and whatever else they say in order to justify their actions, this is fradulent behaviour that is not in keeping with a NASDAQ listed company.

None of the investment companies that push a 'Buy' or 'Outperform' rating have done any proper homework on Baidu's fraudulent practices and expediently want to simply chase a quick buck while sitting in their ivory towers.

Shane, I challenge you to read the Register article at www.theregister.co.uk/... and still state that Baidu is doing the right thing. It's all too easy to say that you will let the courts decide but ethically, you do have a responsibility when you write and promote a company whose ethical practices have been damningly questioned.

2008 Sep 29 01:03 AM

[SEO in China:]

Saying that the majority of Baidu traffic results from illegal MP3 searches is simply not true. We are a Shanghai-based search marketing company and we deal with Baidu on a daily basis as part of our work. We manage over 30 advertising campaigns on behalf of local and foreign-based companies. Baidu is simply more known and used by Chinese for ALL searches, especially when you live first-tier cities (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen). Plus you have to take into account that Baidu has gone beyond the simple search engine model and have become a network of its own, not just the independent sites that show its ads, but also its self-operated online properties: blog system (blogger equivalent), ecommerce, b2b (to be launched soon), finance etc. which are all relevant in the Chinese internet industry.
Patrick A.
seo4china.com

2008 Sep 29 07:22 AM

[Shane Farley:]

Patrick, thanks. Can you give us any insight into the ppc bid prices on Baidu? Back 6-7 years ago bids for many 1st tier terms on Google were less than $.10 and most 2nd and 3rd tier terms were $.05 and within 24-36 months or something they all skyrocketed to avg more than $.40 and Google became the cash machine it is. Any feedback on ppc bid and general ad prices on Baidu and how they have been impacted by their growing advertiser base and popularity? The way I see it, Chinese people can click away just as easily as Americans and if their bid prices get up to even $.20 or more on avg then Baidu's earnings and revenue will be incredible. Baidu might even be monetizing search queries better than Google with more ads being clicked on a % basis.

2008 Sep 29 10:11 AM

[Shane Farley:]

Baidu wins WSJ's China's Annual 'Most Innovative' Award and comes in 5th for 'Most Admired' in all of China with over 2400 executives voting.


online.wsj.com/article...


Excerpts that mention baidu:

In this survey's featured category, "Innovative in Responding to Customer Needs," readers gave first place to Baidu.com Inc., a Beijing search-engine company that claims to out-Google Google Inc. Baidu cites research showing it conducts more than 60% of China's Internet searches by doing a better job looking up information in Chinese, the second-most-popular language on the Web.

In this survey's featured category, "Innovative in Responding to Customer Needs," readers gave first place to Baidu.com Inc., a Beijing search-engine company that claims to out-Google Google Inc. Baidu cites research showing it conducts more than 60% of China's Internet searches by doing a better job looking up information in Chinese, the second-most-popular language on the Web. Some 427 million people surf the Internet in English, compared with 233 million in Chinese, according to research published by Internetworldstats.com...

Baidu Chairman and founder Robin Li named his company for a Song Dynasty poem. The Baidu Internet homepage has the look and feel of Google, a company named for a play on "Googol," the mathematical term for 1 followed by 100 zeros. But Baidu rejects the copycat label, noting that Mr. Li got his first patent on Internet search in 1995, the same year Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin met as computer-science students at Stanford University.

A spokeswoman for Baidu says at least three functions on the Baidu.com homepage "distinguish us from our competitors in the Chinese search market." The company says its Baidu Knows system offers user-generated answers to questions and is the largest online question-and-answer system in the world.

To tap the Web-engineering potential in China, Baidu holds an annual programming competition that asks users to create, for instance, a martial-arts character using the fewest lines of computer code to maximized effect. One hiccup that limits the competition's usefulness as a recruiting tool: Many of the best engineers it locates are high-school students, too young to hire. At an average age of 26, Baidu's own employees aren't much older.

Baidu is structured differently than Google. About 60% of Baidu's more than 6,700 employees are in sales and marketing. At Google, only about 40% of 16,805 employees last year were in sales and marketing, while 34% were in research and development.

The company has had setbacks. Its well-regarded chief financial officer died in an accident late last year; he has since been succeeded by a former China financial chief of General Motors Corp. More recently, Baidu was accused by a group of domestic and foreign record companies as being "the largest and most incorrigible purveyor of pirated music in China." Baidu said it "believes in copyright protection" and "continues to work to fight piracy on the Internet by developing innovative business models."


A total of 2,477 executives and professionals participated in the survey, which was conducted in 2007, between May 11 and July 3. On behalf of The Wall Street Journal, market-research firm Colmar Brunton polled subscribers as well as other businesspeople in the 12 Asian-Pacific countries.

2008 Sep 29 04:34 PM

[Deep Throat:]

@Patrick,
I don't think anyone here has mentioned that "the majority of Baidu traffic results from illegal MP3 searches" BUT if you had access to yesterday's (29/9) Guardian, you would read that Baidu's associate director of entertainment stated their "MP3 search accounted for 40% of Baidu's traffic - roughly 100 million MP3 search inquiries per day".

@SMF,
I will state again that you are not qualified to push the Baidu case - your research of Baidu seems to consist of online searches for stories about Baidu. Go down to China and find out the real truth - it is laughable that you are still quoting the WSJ article with the Baidu quote stating "Baidu said it "believes in copyright protection" and "continues to work to fight piracy on the Internet by developing innovative business models."
As I have stated before and as confirmed by other reports I have pointed you to, Baidu is one of the main perpetrators of music piracy in China as it is HOSTING MUSIC FILES and that is an undeniable truth.
Note that I am not debating the merits of Baidu's other services, but that this fact about Baidu's music piracy needs to be highlighted. This shows the nature of the beast and their fradulent behaviour which does not befit a NASDAQ-listed company, and yet you insist on turning a blind eye to this ethical blemish in promoting Baidu further

2008 Sep 30 02:52 PM

[Michael44:]

I have been investing in China for 5 years and also consult on search marketing with companies in China. I know first hand a ton of things about Baidu and their traffic. Yes, Baidu does have MP3 issues but this is a minor part of their overall business. 3rd party traffic measurement from both Chinarank.com and Alexa seem very accurate in my opinion and its worth noting that the mp3 traffic has decreased as a percentage of baidu's overall traffic. I personally think BIDU stock would be much higher without this controversy but Baidu is simply waiting for the courts to tell them if linking to pages with illegal mp3's is their responsibility to filter or if its the responsibility of the copyright holder to go after the owner of that website. In China, giving away music is the NORM and artists make great money performing live for people, many of whom become fans from having easy access to music files. Thats just how it is. Just because you are from America do not think that the American way of doing business has to be the only way it works. Deep Throat obviously has skin in the game by being so negative about Baidu. Or he works for an artists that does not have the ability to perform live. Or, he works for TaoBao. TaoBao is the leading ecommerce marketplace in China. TaoBoa management is livid that baidu is launching their own B2C/C2C marketplace. They know that Baidu is going to really hurt and possibly destroy their business. baidu gets 4-6X's the traffic of Baidu, at least, and most people search for products to buy on baidu before they go to any site. baidu is going to own this industy as well, another huge reason to own baidu as they are going to be the Google, Wikipedia, Amazon, and ebay of China. not bad

Oh yeah, I bet Baidu launches a fully paid advertising based music service after their ecommerce marketplace launches. Any lost mp3 traffic will be more than offset by all the ecommerce shoppers on Baidu.

2008 Oct 07 08:43 AM

[Deep Throat:]

@Michael44
You are right in one of your assertions - I am involved with the music industry, as has been pretty obvious so far with my focus on music. And I do have reason to be negative about Baidu as you conveniently ignore the fact that Baidu is hosting music files instead of simply just linking to music files on 3rd party sites.
You have a simplistic view that giving away music is the norm but it does not justify Baidu's illegal methods - and simply doing what everyone else is purportedly doing is how we ended up with the financial mess in the US and the tainted milk scandal in China.

And note that mp3 traffic as part of Baidu's overall traffic is not as minor as you make it out to be - in China, even Baidu acknowledges the fact when you talk to them. They use this traffic to monetize other parts of their business - it is a devious exploitation.

It's fine to be bullish about Baidu, and if it is your preferred path to blood money, it's your personal choice, but realize that it engages in fradulent behavior with regards to its so-called music search and then make an informed decision - that's all I'm trying to do here. Too many people are promoting Baidu without having a full picture of the beast with its cunning use of technology.

2008 Oct 09 01:53 AM

[FatPat:]

Well, I do not know. But I do know that you can make a killing here with Baidu at 100 USD!

2008 Dec 09 10:27 PM