Why is Google being beaten in China?

Google China has a Problem

We are so used to seeing Google win in Search marketing that it comes as a bit of a shock when they don’t.

This is a big market, with 130 million current web users representing just over 10% of the market.

Google China has only a Third of Baidu’s searches

And make no mistake, Google are being trounced.  18.7% of the Chinese searches were carried out on Google, while their local rival, Baidu, got 57% of the market.  Google only has a third of the searchers that Baidu has. 

Google China comes nowhere in Alexa

The figure looks even worse when you look at Alexa rankings, which show – with disputed accuracy – which websites (and not just search engines) people check.  There Baidu comes in top, while Google comes in at number seven.

Does Google suffer from Chinese Nationalism?

It is often assumed that Google has been beaten purely by a preference for the home grown rival.  The argument can be characterised by saying that the Chinese are deliberately choosing a worse searching experience to stick it to those hairy Americans.  That’s not what the pundits actually say, but that’s what a pure nationalism argument implies.

Baidu is perceived as being better at Chinese     

The Chinese may be being nationalistic, but not by cutting off their own nose to spite their face.  There seems to be a general perception in China that Westerners have trouble with the intricacies of the Chinese language. 

The Baidu v Google video

This is summed up by a fascinating video from Baidu.  It is done in the format of a television advertisement, although it lasts for almost two minutes and has apparently not been seen on Chinese TV. 

At first it seems to confirm the nationalist thesis.  Google is represented as a louche, western and bearded cowboy.  He comes in with an entourage (in particular a pretty, Chinese moll dressed in Western clothes) and scares the villagers.  He is met by a Chinese action hero, they have an argument which becomes a fight and the cowboy dies.

But the message is more subtle.  It is a vast minefield of wordplay and grammar.  The cowboy essentially keeps drawling “I know” while the Chinese hero corrects his pronunciation, intonation and grammar while at the same time using puns to say things like “you don’t know, you think you know”. 

Baidu’s message to the Chinese is that while Google may be good for a simple language with a Roman alphabet, Chinese is a different proposition.  And it’s an appeal that has resonated with Chinese internet users.

Baidu’s Historical Legacy

The Great Firewall of China

Google also suffered from being effectively absent when many Chinese internet users were getting online.  Because Google was based in America, not China, the Chinese government would hold up internet traffic as it entered.  It could also block Google (which it did for two weeks) and intermittently deny service – as it did in about 10% of cases even after the ban had been lifted

Google is now in China, in return for agreeing not to show results that are political or to show too much pornography, so users now have fast access.  However, although they know about Google they still go to Baidu.

Baidu’s Musical Advantage

One thing that Baidu has that Google can’t dare to touch is its MP3 search service.  There are very few bits of English on Baidu’s home page, but one of these few islands of English is a little bit of text saying “MP3”.  There you can find just about any MP3 track, and it is so popular that the Baidu 500 haw the same status as the Billboard chart.  An eye-tracking study that when Chinese users were simply asked to go where they liked on either Google or Baidu, there was little in common regarding their search on Google, but almost every one would go to Baidu’s MP3 service.

Baidu is here to stay