Baidu KO Microsoft - could Google be next?
According to a BBC News article out today, Google powered 37 billion of 61 billion searches in August - over half of ALL global search requests.
Unless you’ve been otherwise engaged for the better part of the last decade, Google’s dominance of search will come as no surprise to you. What might come as a surprise to some will be to see that a company called Baidu accounted for an impressive 52% more search requests than the $500+ billion Microsoft Corporation and its related search engines (MSN / Live Search).
Here’s the list of August’s Top 5 most popular search engines worldwide:
(as per comScore)
Google - 37 billion searches
Yahoo - 8.5 billion
Baidu (China) - 3.2 billion
Microsoft - 2.1 billion
NHN (Korea) - 2 billion
Baidu: The Heir Apparent?
Baidu, China’s homegrown search engine, along with several other Asian search engines are now outranking many names more familiar to Westerners (Ask or Lycos anyone?). Granted, they’re still a long way behind Google, but who isn’t?
The difference between the Baidus and NHNs (Korea) of the list and the reigning champion Google is that they still have plenty of potential for growth, and that’s exactly what they’re doing.
In the USA, Internet usage now runs at a world leading 68% - a high user penetration and one that isn’t set to grow a great deal in the near future.
By contrast, China’s Internet usage is currently running at just over 10% but increasing rapidly year on year. The potential of Baidu, and the other search engines currently doing well in the emerging search markets, is absolutely massive. Google might look unassailable today, but when China and India inevitably take their place as the world’s biggest online arenas expect things to look a little different. After all, it wasn’t too long ago that Yahoo was King of Search.
Battle for the emerging markets
Seeing the Google machine continually growing, constantly rolling out new services and eating other Internet big-players like YouTube for breakfast, their progress seems unstoppable. In reality though, there are still several markets where they don’t get their own way.
Google’s problems trying to crack the Chinese market are fairly well documented. Despite large investment and plenty of persistence, Baidu remains the search engine of choice in China. In fact, Baidu is as popular for search in China as Google is in the West.
The question is: Can they stay No.1 as Google continue to intensify their efforts in targeting Baidu’s market share? A number of important factors suggest they can.
Baidu are blessed with unparalleled connections in China. Their ready compliance with the Chinese government’s censors appears to have paid dividends, with Baidu’s site often being more easily accessible than those of its foreign rivals. This close working relationship also helps Baidu when it comes to rolling out new services, which generally require government granted licences in China.
The strong Chinese preference for native companies should also not be forgotten. There is real support for the ’local boy made good’ over a foreign giant that has repeatedly failed to properly understand their market. Of course, Baidu do everything they can to play on this perception in their marketing, casting Google, with some success, as the oafish foreign intruder.
Future of world search
Baidu have not only continued to hold firm in their home market; earlier this year they made their first overseas foray and moved into the Japanese market. In addition, rumours of a new European service refuse to go away…
Having captured over half of the global search market, has Google’s dominance reached a plateau? If the likes of Baidu and NHN can continue to challenge them, Google’s undisputed status just might not be as secure as it seems.
Related Links:
Search Marketing in China - SEOmoz.org
China Search Marketing service from Backbone IT Group
Multilingual Search: China Edition
by Gavin Mitchell
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