In March 2021, the number of active users of Baidu app reached 558 million, with daily login users accounting for more than 75%, according to Baidu’s announcement at Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Chinese Search Engine Market Trends and Insights
The revenues of Chinese search engine companies were estimated to reach 135.76 billion yuan (US$19.74 bn) in 2018, with an increase of 20.8% YoY.
China’s search engine companies revenue is estimated to reach 158.08 billion yuan (US$22.98 bn) in 2019 and 183.17 billion yuan (US$26.63 bn) next year.
The user base of mobile search in China grows to be near 685 million as of Q4 2018, an increase of 3.79% as compared with 660 million in the prior-year period.
Top Chinese Search Engines in China
The top Chinese search engines in China are Baidu search, Sogou, Qihoo 360, Shenma.
Google China's search engine is not accessible without a VPN. However, Bing is still accessible in China with both Chinese version and international version in English; some Chinese use Bing search to conduct global research.
Baidu remains the dominant search engine in China on both desktop and mobile devices with about 70-80% market share. It offers Google Ads (AdWords) similar SEM and display advertising opportunities. In recent years, newsfeed ads are driving its revenue growth.
Despite the lack of presence in the China market, Google is the preferred search engine among many Chinese. Over 70% would choose it over Baidu in an online surveys.
You can follow the link to visit the top Chinese search engines websites: Baidu, Sogou, Qihoo 360 search, Shenma (mobile search; JV by Alibaba and UCWeb).
Mobile Search. Smartphone built-in browsers are the first choice for most users (59.6% ) when they search for information on mobile devices. 28.2% of users tent to search for information on search engines installed on their mobile devices or tablet. More on mobile search segment here.
Popular Search Channels in China
In additional to traditional search engines, there are several other channels with popular search queries.
Shopping Searches
Many China internet users would directly visit online shopping and e-commerce websites and apps such as Taobao, Tmall, Jingdong, or Pinduoduo to search for product information.
Search engines like Baidu still account for some proportion of product searches. And, Baidu has launched e-commerce ads accordingly.
News Searches
In addition to Baidu, users conduct searches on WeChat and Weibo for trending news too. Weibo is often a place for breaking news; many users go to Weibo to look for trending information that is not yet in the mainstream news media. And the deep analysis on a topic is often available on WeChat.
Statistics: WeChat users & platform insights in 2021
330 million of WeChat’s (known as Weixin in China) 1.242 billion monthly active users use video calling. 780 million users are on the social networking section WeChat Moments and 120 million publish updates. The content network WeChat Official Account has 360 million users.
Top search trends in China in 2020
The most searched 10 keywords on Baidu related to technology in 2020 are mask facial recognition, quantum computing, virtual human, brain-computer interface, driverless taxi, industrial Internet of Things, cloud server, industrial intelligence, artificial neural networks, smart traffic lights.
Baidu won the bid for the largest domestic intelligent transportation project
Apollo intelligent travel technology (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Baidu Apollo, won the bid of “new infrastructure project of intelligent transportation for automatic driving and vehicle road coordination” in Guangzhou Development Zone, Huangpu District, Guangzhou.
Chinese search engine Sogou reported $31.6 million loss in Q1 2020
Sogou (NYSE: SOGO), China’s second-largest search engine, reported total revenues of $257.3 million, a 2% increase year-over-year, or a 5% increase in RMB terms according to its unaudited financial results.
China’s mobile search market overview 2020
The number of mobile search users grew to 705 million in 2019 in China, according to a Chinese research company iiMedia. Baidu has the largest market share reaching over 70% mobile users in China, followed by Shenma and Sogou. The actual spending on search advertisements in China was 1.13 times higher than the budget. Over […]
Education trends in China amid COVID-19; K12 demand fastest growth
During the period of epidemic, the Internet has become the main source for people to acquire knowledge. Over the 30-day period from mid-Feb to mid-March, the average number of daily searches for knowledge content related to education on Baidu is over 350 million, an increase of 86% year over year. K12 and foreign languages are […]
Sogou Mobile Keyboard DAU grew by 9% YoY to 464 million in Q4 2019
The daily active users of Sogou Mobile Keyboard grew by 9% YoY to 464 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. It processed up to 802 million daily voice requests, according to Sogou’s announced financial results.
China second largest search engine Sogou revenues up 14% in Q3 2019
China’s second-largest search engine Sogou announced total revenues of $314.9 million in the third quarter, a 14% increase year-over-year, or a 17% increase in RMB terms.
China search engine users overview; PC vs. Mobile
The number of search engine users reached 498 million on PC, down 2.4% YoY, and 528 million on mobile with an increase of 6.7% YoY, according to data from iResearch. The average time spent per user on search engines dropped to 9.12 minutes in June 2019 from 9.15 minutes in May 2019 and increased to […]
Sogou revenues up 1% in Q2 2019; Input app DAU grewed to 453 million
Chinese search engine Sogou’s search-related revenues totaled $276 million in Q2 2019, accounting for 91% of total revenues according to its announced financial results.
China search engine revenues to reach US$23 bn in 2019
The revenues of Chinese search engine companies were estimated to reach 135.76 billion yuan (US$19.74 bn) in 2018, with an increase of 20.8% YoY according to iResearch.
China internet users snapshot 2019
98.6% of internet users accessed the internet through mobile devices in China. Internet penetration in urban areas rose from 71% to 74.6%. The 10- to 39-year-olds represented 67.8% of all internet users in China. The largest user group were students (25.4%). 610 million users shopped online in 2018, 14.4% more than a year ago. And, […]
China mobile search market overview Q4 2018; 60% chose smartphone built-in browsers
The user base of mobile search in China grew by 3.79% year-on-year to 685 million in Q4 2018. Baidu was still the first choice for users searching for information (42.5% in proportion). Nearly 60% of users tent to choose smartphone built-in browsers across mobile devices. The user base of mobile search in China grows to […]
China search engine market to reach US$20 bn in 2018
There are 656.88 million search engine users in China as of June 2018, 637.4 million among which were using search engine via mobile devices. China’s search engine market is expected to reach US$20 billion in 2018. And, search advertising market is expected to reach US$14 billion in 2018. China’s search advertising market totaled 85.23 billion yuan […]