Chinese Web portal, Sina, has switched from Google’s search technology to its own search engine after its contract with the U.S. giant came to an end, according to a report.
In a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, Sina made the move this month due to the end of its contract with Google, according to the Chinese company’s marketing department vice general manager, Liu Qi.
Sina CEO Charles Chao last November also hinted that the company was considering other options to power its portal’s search.
According to the report, a Google representative did not confirm the switch but reiterated the U.S. company’s announcement last year that it would not be offering censored search results to its partners in China after the end of contractual agreements.
The Internet search giant has had a rocky ride in the Asian economic giant, particularly following allegations that the Chinese government had participated in cyber attacks against several U.S. companies including Google. The search giant announced it would stop censoring search results in mainland China, pulled its search operations out of the mainland and moved to Hong Kong where it offered uncensored search results. The Chinese government also warned Google partners to look for alternatives.
Before its exit from China, the U.S. search company had only a small share of the Chinese search market pie. According to research firm Greenlight, Chinese search engine Baidu accounted for more than 60 percent of the market share last year.
The Chinese search engine market saw a new entrant last month when state news agency Xinhua and telco China Mobile launched Panguso.
I think in case Google does not continue their contract, bing will take it over, as its recently bought yahoo search results for 10 years.
But I like to have this contract renewed by Google.
what would you say?
Usman,
I am sorry it took so long to respond. WordPress had my own comments in the spam inbox!!! Good thing I review them. Thanks for reading. Bing, as you may have seen in other posts I have written here is slowly becoming a powerhouse with their diverse new features. I am a devoted Google user and will always maintain that they (currently) are the best search engine.
Bryan
Google is still the best in my opinion, but it would’ve had a hard time in taking over Baidu.
Baidu is in China like Yandex is in Russia, with over 60% market share. And Russia has no problem with Google like China has, they just choose to use another browser. Why that is i have no idea.
Hi Maria,
Agreed…Google is who I focus my SEO firm’s work on. I don’t even take into consideration the others to be honest with you.
Bryan
As for me, Google maintains as the # 1 search engine for me. What can a user like me can ask for them if they are offering too many useful stuffs for my online activities, right?