Google China & Baidu

 Google China & Baidu

Search for the same task on Baidu and Google:

On Google, users found what they were looking for in literally half the time (30 seconds vs. 55). On Google, most users didn't scan behind the fourth listing, whereas on Baidu, they scanned right to the bottom of the page. It should also be noted in the Baidu example on the left. The Baidu results page is a pretty murky prospect. There's virtually no transparency on what's sponsored and what's not. There are "preferred listings" that are paid listings, pushing true organic listings down the page. And the preferred listings are cluttered with affiliates and spam. By North American standards, Baidu would be a horrible search experience. But the fact remains. They're still the preferred choice for the vast majority of Chinese users.

Other products:

They are both trying to leverage their network effects to promote other products. Google has many excellent products, but not every product has performed well in China. For example, Google Maps is widely used by American users. Unfortunately, Google Maps in China is unable to provide the same features due to unavailability of mapping data in China. Google's satellite map currently only covers the major Chinese cities. Should Google acquire better maps, it would have a clear advantage over Baidu, which doesn't offer the same degree of functionality and usability in its map tool.

Although music copyright is a controversial issue within China, the market reality is that millions of Chinese Internet users download free music online. Baidu understands this reality and its music search product – which presents a list of links for free music downloads when people search by song, singer, or label – is extremely popular. Google is unable to compete with Baidu in this regard due to its adherence to US copyright laws.

Another example is Baidu Post, an online forum allowing Internet user to create new topics based on search keywords and provide commentary. When people search online by keyword, they can also follow these keywords to Baidu Post, where they may find additional information – or at least find out what others think of the selected keywords.

Online forums are a very important medium in China for distributing information online. Baidu also offers a blog platform (Hi Baidu) while Google has localized Blogger into Chinese. Very few Chinese people currently use it. Local culture and consumer behavior are critical factors in determining whether a product will succeed in an overseas market or not. So far, Google products have not been as appealing as Baidu to Chinese users.

The battle between Google and Baidu:

Gaining share against a well-established, supermajority competitor is a difficult proposition. There are two critical elements that leave Google at a disadvantage to Baidu.com in this battle. The first is technological, the second is political.

Technologically, Google finds itself in the strange position of having an inferior search product in a market. As a Chinese-language search engine, Baidu.com is considered to be the leader with a more advanced algorithm that even allows users to search by phonetics – seemingly an arbitrary feature but actually quite important due to the difficulties of written Mandarin.

Politically, Google's well-known mantra of "do no evil" combined with its U.S. roots are significant disadvantages in the Chinese market. There are already well-covered cases of the Chinese government demanding search filtering or disclosures of user information as the admission price to China's huge Internet market. These pressures make it difficult for Google to keep face with its Western users, a problem Baidu.com doesn't