Why Google Lost to Baidu in China

Author: Kang Guoping, Source: Global Brand Network, Editor: Sun Yuange,

July 15, 2008, 18:38

Baidu easily surpassed Google in China's market share, and many people have been looking for reasons. Some defend Baidu, saying it is more innovative, more localized, faster, and provides better results than Google.

Baidu easily surpassed Google in China's market share, and many people have been looking for reasons. Some defend Baidu, saying it is more innovative, more localized, faster, and provides better results. Others defend Google, attributing the loss to missing snapshots or frequent inaccessibility. In fact, finding out why Google lost to Baidu is simple, but finding a solution is difficult.

Let's first discuss the reasons favoring Baidu. Are there solutions? Then we'll analyze from Google's perspective and see if there are any solutions.

Why Baidu is strong:

1) Excellent localization. More technical staff are Chinese, and both product development and technology are driven by Chinese professionals. Therefore, products and services are designed with Chinese users in mind.

2) Speed. Indeed, the early Google presented results at an impressive speed of 0.0001 seconds, and Baidu quickly learned this technique. The perception of speed made many people think highly of Baidu.

3) Better results. After Liang Dong joined Baidu, he led a public relations campaign emphasizing that Baidu understands Chinese better. Whether Baidu's machines and systems truly understand Chinese better is not as important as making users associate Baidu with better understanding of Chinese.

4) Product innovation. From music and MP3 searches to Baidu Knows, Baidu Encyclopedia, and Baidu Tieba, these innovations started when Baidu transformed into a search portal and haven't stopped since. Thus, Baidu (Global Brand Network) has cultivated a large number of young users who enjoy searching for MP3s. This group further stimulated the development of products like Baidu Encyclopedia and Baidu Knows through the unrestricted expression provided by Baidu Tieba, including recent offerings like Baidu Hi.

Why Google is weak:

1) Late entry into China. Although Google entered China early, its reach was narrow, used only by some IT and research personnel. Many mass internet users did not use it.

2) Missing snapshots make users feel deceived by Google.

3) Frequent inaccessibility gives the impression of slow speed.

4) Too many English results make users feel Google is too messy.

5) Google reacts slowly; any attempt to localize in China often fails to pass the review of the U.S. headquarters.

6) Google doesn't understand Chinese as well as Baidu.

After all this discussion, have you noticed? Actually, all of this boils down to Baidu's far superior PR and marketing efforts compared to Google, leaving Google unable to gain traction.

Why Google lost to Baidu: Technology is not the key factor, market promotion plays a significant role. Google's user base has been growing, but unfortunately not fast enough. This is because the demand for information search lags significantly behind the growth in music MP3 searches. Therefore, new users of search (mostly those who have been using computers for a short time, entertainment-oriented, game-focused users who naturally resist English content) are unfamiliar with Google's long domain name and often mistype it. They are satisfied with Baidu's adequate search results and spend most of their time searching for MP3-related information. Consequently, their habits for information search have been shaped by MP3 searches.

Using a few simple numbers to roughly illustrate this relationship:

Before 2001, the proportion of internet users using search engines was about 30%. Assuming there were 3 million users at the time, then up to 1 million users were using the search function. Most went to Yahoo, while more gradually began using Google.

By 2003, Google's usage had risen to 60%, but Baidu had become independent and started offering MP3 searches. The number of internet users had grown to 60 million, a possible 20-fold increase. The proportion using search increased to 50%, or 30 million users. The overall number of search users was already ten times what it was in 2001.

Among these, 80% of new users focused primarily on entertainment-related searches. Baidu effectively met this demand, especially between 2002-2003 when Google's disconnection rate skyrocketed from 0% to over 70%. At this point, the vast majority of new users turned to Baidu and never even touched Google.

In 2004, Baidu began promoting "Baidu understands Chinese better," causing many Google users to switch to Baidu due to accessibility and speed issues.

By 2005, Baidu had already marginalized Google, prompting Google to bring back Kai-Fu Lee to officially challenge Baidu. At this time, lower-end users (business users, non-students, non-IT and academic searchers, but commercial searchers) became Baidu's "signed clients." They not only searched for their own rankings on Baidu but also checked competitors' and industry peers' rankings. The filtered results further strengthened these users' trust in Baidu, presenting a formidable challenge for Google.

At this point, we realize that the aforementioned apparent strengths and weaknesses of Baidu and Google cannot determine their market shares.

For Google to reclaim its market, it must not be led astray by Baidu but instead gain deeper insights into user needs and identify Baidu's weaknesses, taking its time.

Looking again at Google's refusal to engage in MP3 searches and ignoring lower-level users, this clearly was a losing move. And blindly following Baidu’s products like Hao123, ZhiDao, and Tieba by launching similar products like Tianya Answers without understanding why Baidu leads still misses the point.

Finding the reasons is simple, but finding solutions is hard. If one seeks solutions without analyzing intrinsic causes and only looks at surface-level factors, these solutions will ultimately waste time and miss opportunities for catching up.

Of course, I am starting from my personal understanding, and many will surely say I am talking nonsense or writing randomly. Well, I might just admit I'm writing randomly then.