According to WeChat, search ads will support six promotion goals, including WeChat Official Account promotion, sales lead collection, products promotion, branding events promotion, app promotion, and WeChat Mini Games promotion.

It supports three landing page types, namely, native promotion page, WeChat Mini Program, and custom link. And, based on the search ability of WeChat, WeChat search advertising can support the sale of brand keywords, keywords words, generic keywords, and generic keywords.

At present, Tencent’s mobile search advertising scenarios mainly include WeChat Search and QQ Browser search. In these scenarios, advertisers can do brand and performance marketing.

Since the launch of search feature on WeChat in 2017, it has been at the top of the main interface.

However, after five years of iteration, it has now become a “global search” that includes WeChat Moments, Official Account, and Mini Programs from the early days when it could only search local chat records and contacts.

At the same time, the search scope has also expanded to all content and services related to search queries in WeChat.

WeChat Mini Programs Insights

Sogou achieved solid results in Q2 2018 with revenue increasing 43% year-on-year to US$301.4 million and non-GAAP net income up by 58% to US$38.2 million, according to its financial results. That was greatly driven by the twin growth engines – search and mobile keyboard – and AI-focused strategy.

Search and search-related revenues were $270.6 million, a 45% increase year-on-year. The increase was primarily due to the strong growth in auction-based pay-for-click services, driven by improved monetization and continued traffic growth in mobile search.

Auction-based pay-for-click services accounted for 84.7% of search and search-related revenues, compared to 83.0% in the corresponding period in 2017.

In search, Sogou differentiated services from Baidu in key verticals, such as healthcare. It also deepened its partnership with WeChat by providing more search services such as the encyclopedia and interactive Q&A platform.

Its AI-powered innovations drove broader adoption of the Sogou Mobile Keyboard, with DAU increasing by 36% year-on-year to 380 million in Q2 2018. Especially in June, Sogou Mobile Keyboard handled approximately 300 million voice inputs on average per day, up 54% year-on-year, and remained China’s largest voice mobile application.

Meanwhile, Sogou also applied its AI capabilities to enhance the competitiveness of the recently launched hardware products, such as Sogou Travel Translator and Sogou Smart Recording Translator.

Baidu also had a good quarter in Q2 2018. Check out China mobile internet market forecast 2018-2020 here.

WeChat boutique stores don’t have a direct entry path from the main menu and are triggered to display after the brand terms are searched.

So far, only 12 brands have launched their WeChat Boutique Store, including Cartier, Gucci, Lancome, Longchamp, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Montblanc, Nike, Starbucks, Swarovski, Tiffany, and Zara.

The WeChat Boutique Store looks more like a landing page, triggered by search and similar to Baidu brandzone product. All links on the LV Boutique Store page direct to one of its official website pages.

Tencent has set up search application department under  WeChat Business Unit. WeChat launched search in May 2017 and enhanced its search results with data from mini-program in July 2017. It also tested a search advertising product around the same period.

Continue to read: The spending power of 250 million Chinese post-95s

Sogou, one of the top Chinese search engines, revenues reached US$257 million in Q3 2017, up 55% year-over-year and 22% quarter-over-quarter.

In Q3 2017, Sogou continued to expand market share in mobile search, propelled by robust traffic growth. Mobile search traffic grew by 38% year-over-year, driving a 24% increase in total search traffic.

Total revenue reached $257 million, an increase of 55% a year ago and 22% from the previous quarter, continuously outpacing industry growth.

Related: Baidu delivered solid financial results in the third quarter of 2017 with top line increasing 29% year over year

Sogou made new progress with its product collaboration with Tencent. Specifically, Tencent began testing the integration of Sogou Search into WeChat, which allows its users to access all internet information through Sogou’s general search function from within WeChat.

Sogou has also advanced its AI technology research and product applications. Its technologies in natural language processing continued to enable the transition from search into Q&A.

As Sogou has filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Committee relating to a proposed initial public offering.

Tencent has enhanced WeChat search features this week and feed the search results with data from WeChat Mini-Programs.

WeChat users can search a specific stock by name or the stock symbol. The stock information is shown directly in WeChat.

Users can also check exchange rates, flights information, mobile phone number location, and the meaning of an English word on WeChat by searching.

The search results are directly shown on WeChat; and, users don’t need to open another page, which is very similar to the top Chinese search engine Baidu:

WeChat included external sources in in-app search results pages (SERP) this April while it previously only searches chats, WeChat Moments, and Official Accounts. And, it launched a search section on WeChat in May 2017 and started testing search ads for mini-programs in June 2017.

China smartphone shipments overview Q1 2017

WeChat team announced a new feature over the weekend that makes WeChat Mini-Program discoverable by keywords searching.

WeChat Mini-Program started with its discoverability limited to QR code scans (both online and offline) and the names of mini-programs; and, it expanded to WeChat Official Account integrations.

The new feature allows Mini-Program developers to submit up to 10 keywords for approval for each mini-program with which the WeChat users can discover it by conducting searches, effective from 9 June 2017. Developers can make the changes up to three times per month.

Keywords must be related to the features or brands of submitted mini-programs.The ranking algorithm includes factors such as the relevance of the keyword, the quality of the mini-program, user usage, and etc.

However, this search keywords feature is not applicable to Store Mini-Programs.

Developers can also check the performance of the keywords (visits in the last 7 days) in the admin area.

WeChat launched WeChat Search section last month, arousing speculations of its potential threat to Baidu in China’s mobile search market. The new “search keywords” feature will likely drive more search queries on WeChat.

WeChat Mini-Program has high penetrations in mobile payment, online videos, maps and navigation, e-commerce, online music, group buying, and Weibo according to data from QuestMobile.

WeChat launched Search and Top Stories sections in the updated WeChat iOS 6.5.8. These two sections are not yet available for Android smartphone users.

The search results include articles from WeChat Official Accounts and WeChat Moments. However, some keywords could trigger “Current Events” category, which includes external news sources. According to WeChat, these external news sources are articles shared on WeChat.

Tencent set up a search application department under WeChat Business Unit last month. This new feature is the latest outcome. And, that’s not all. WeChat users can also now search the conversations inside the chats and filter by dates, images and video, file, URL, music, and group members.

This is a very useful feature as many users share files, images, and URLs with each other on WeChat, which can be more easily accessed with this new feature. The bad news is that it’s right now only available on the recently updated WeChat iOS version.

WeChat Top Stories is a section for personalized article recommendations. The algorithm includes factors such as followed Official Accounts, friends’ sharing in Moments, geographic locations, content quality, user experience, and etc.

Both Search and Top Stories are not really new features but an indication of the importance of search and content on WeChat. WeChat Search is not ready to take on Baidu in China’s mobile search market. But, it shows more potential what WeChat could bring to Tencent’s revenue growth in the future with its 938 million MAU and developing AI technologies.

A quick & easy retail solution on WeChat Mini-Program

Baidu has 78.2% share of China’s mobile search market by the total number of mobile search queries in the first quarter of 2017.

Sogou had 7.9% mobile search market share, followed by Easou (4.9%).

China search engine market overview Q1 2017

Baidu had about 23% less active online marketing customers (451,000) in Q1 2017 compared to Q1 2016. But, its revenue per online marketing customer increased by 27% to 32,200 yuan ($4,678).

WeChat, launched by Sogou in 2014, is testing with external sources in its search results. Is it going to be a threat in China’s mobile search market? Share your thoughts in the comments.

StatCounter data shows Baidu’s market share was 76.05% in China search engines market in April 2017, followed by Shenma (8.78%), 360 Search (7.87%), Sogou (3.31%), and Google (1.84%).

Baidu is more dominant in China’s mobile search market with over 82% market share, followed by Shenma (13.79%) according to StatCounter.

China search engine market overview Q1 2017

Shenma search was a co-founded mobile search engine by UCWeb and Alibaba in 2013; and, Alibaba acquired UCWeb in 2014.

WeChat has included external sources in in-app search results pages (SERP) while it previously only searches chats, WeChat Moments, and Official Accounts. Some users start to see a “news” section in the WeChat SERP which includes external news sources.

The search box is on top of WeChat main user interfaces (Chats; Contacts; Discover); I conducted a search for “Jay Chou”, a very famous Taiwanese celebrity, and saw the following results:

WeChat groups search results in sections (left): emoji, WeChat Moments, music (songs shared in WeChat Moments in the last 30 days), and related articles (center). The related articles have now included external sources other than official accounts articles such as the one on the right of the screen capture.

Related: Use WeChat Index to monitor the trend on WeChat

Most are articles from Official Accounts; and, I found two external sources Zhihu and Sogou Baike. It can’t be certain whether they are included previously not part of ongoing update as Tencent merged its search engine Soso with Sogou in 2013 and funded the Q&A platform Zhihu.

Currently, not all users see external sources or the new “news” section in the search results on WeChat. Even one can see that section with one keyword, not all search terms can trigger the display of the news section. This feature seems still under testing.

WeChat opens external web pages directly; and, in most cases, the loading speed and user experience are not as good as those from Official Accounts. If Tencent is to include external sources to WeChat search, it could benefit by adopting a similar approach as Facebook’s Instant Articles, Google’s AMP, or Baidu’s MIP.

Tencent reported 889 million monthly active (MAU) users on WeChat in Q4 2016, which makes WeChat potentially a serious player and a challenger to Baidu in China’s mobile search market.

Baidu has 78% market share by total revenues in China’s search engine market in 2016. This market will grow from 76.1 billion yuan (US$11.05 bn) to 113.4 billion yuan (US$16.47 bn) in 2019. A huge MAU doesn’t necessarily equal to a good deal of search volumes.

Can WeChat seriously challenge Baidu’s mobile search? Not in the near future. A huge WeChat MAU doesn’t necessarily equal to a good deal of search volumes. And, the quality of the mobile search algorithm and experiences are not something Tencent can easily beat.

Update (24 Apr 2017): Tencent has set up search application department under  WeChat Business Unit, according to Leiphone and confirmed by Tencent. The search application department is responsible for WeChat’s search business, reading recommendation business, AI technology realization, WeChat data platform development, and data capabilities.

Continue to read→ Top WeChat stats and trends 2016

Mobile users are sometimes forced to initiate or download an app to continue viewing further content while visiting a web page via search engine, which can be quite annoying to users. 

Take one of the popular audio sharing platform Ximalaya as an example:

When a user enters the website via mobile search, it interrupts the user journey and forces the users to download or use the mobile app. Baidu mobile search will significantly lower the rankings of such pages; so, companies should avoid implementing such practices.

Optimizing for Baidu Mobile Search

Domains and servers. Baidu recommends simple and short domain names as they are easier for remember. Businesses should select stable and good performing servers. Baidu also recommends fully-responsive HTML5 designs to build websites. Keep in mind that page loading speed is a very important ranking factor.

Machine readable. Baidu crawls, processes, and indexes mobile web pages via Baiduspider2.0. Currently, Baiduspider can only understand text content and may have difficulty extracting content and links from flash, images, ajax, iframe, and javascript. Use “alt” tag on images.

Flat structure. Baidu recommends mobile sites should have a clear structure and shallow link depth, which allow users to quickly obtain useful information and search engines to quickly understand the structure level. Tree structures are recommended in three levels: homepage » category » details page.

Linking. The ideal site structure is flat tree structure, from the home page to the content page level as little depth as possible. Every page should link to the upper-level page, the next level page, and pages with related content. Important web pages should be near the home page.

In addition, breadcrumb navigation is also important to have for mobile websites.

External links are important for mobile page rankings, including links from PC only pages to mobile pages. Be reminded poor quality external links have a negative impact on your Baidu rankings. You can use Baidu Webmasters to analyze the external links.

URL structure. If your website designs different pages specifically for mobile users, Baidu recommends the use of mobile home page with m.a.com/3g.a.com/wap.a.com (the use of subdirectory such as www.a.com/m/ is not recommended), category pages with m.a.com/n1/、m.a.com/n2/ (it’s better if n1 and n2 can be directly accessed). Details pages should have simple and shorter URLs with few parameters. Different pages with the same content should use 301 Redirect to one unique URL.

Anchor text. The simpler the description of the anchor text is written, the easier it is for the user to understand the purpose of the page. The user discovers that your page is a link from other pages, and the anchor text is the only introduction Baiduspider understands the page.

Anchor text must be accurate; and, incorrect descriptions could get your page penalized.

Tools. You can use Baidu Webmasters to submit a mobile sitemap, check mobile indexing status, and submit 404 removed pages.

If Baidu could not locate proper mobile pages, it will create a transformed mobile page for better user experience. However, it’s not as good as fully responsive HTML5 designed web pages.

Page Title. You should have unique and relevant title for each mobile page, limited to 17 Chinese characters. If more than 17 characters in title, it will be forced to two rows or removed when it’s over 24 characters. Keep the most important words in the beginning of the title. If your brand is well known in China, keep your brand in the title.

Meta data.

Having a unique “description” tag for each page is important. You should also use “applicable-device” tag to inform Baidu of your website mobile adaption status:

• If your web pages are only good for desktop browsing, add <meta name=”applicable-device” content=”pc”>
• If your web pages are only good for mobile devices, add <meta name=”applicable-device” content=”mobile”>
• If your website uses fully-responsive design, add <meta name=”applicable-device” content=”pc,mobile”>

For local content, you can use geo meta tag; for example, if your website targets users in Beijing, you can use “location” meta tag:

<meta name=”location” content=”province=北京;city=北京; coord=116.306522891,40.0555055968″>

Coord is the latitude and longitude coordinates of the page information.

Content design. Baidu recommends 14pt font size for main content (no smaller than 10px), and line spacing of (0.42~0.6)*font size (no lower than 0.2*font size).

If the main content contains multiple images, the images should be set to uniform width and positions. When the content contains multiple text links, the recommended font size is 14px and 13px for the vertical spacing. If the font size is 16px, the vertical spacing recommended is 14px. The clickable text links area is no smaller than 40px

Related post: Baidu version of Google AMP

The number of mobile search users in China reached 628 million in Q3 2016, an increase of 1.29% QoQ according to iiMedia Research.

Baidu still led mobile search market in China with 44.5% usage ratio, followed by Shenma (sm.cn; 20.8%), Sogou (16.2%), 360 (11.8%). Shenma search is a joint venture set up by Alibaba and UC in 2013.

66.8% China online users conducted mobile search on mobile browsers; 24.6% on mobile search apps according to iiMedia. 35.3% and 33.9% users are interested in voice search and image search respectively.

The number of China mobile search engine users reached 590 million in Q3 2015 and the ratio of lower educated users have increased.

China mobile search engine users reached 590 million, a YoY increase of 19.9% and QoQ increase of 3.9% according to iiMedia Research.

The penetration rate of smartphone search users in China reached 88.3%.

With high penetration of smartphones and different mobile categories of apps among the young generation, 26 years old to 35 years old users account for 56.8% of the total, followed by users between 18 to 25 years old (16.5%).

Junior high school and college graduates account for the majority of mobile search engines users. Junior high school students account for 26.3%; and users of primary school and below 10.4%. Mobile search users with low education are gradually increasing, due to the growing popularity of smartphones, integrated functions of the mobile search and simpler operation.

About 76.5% users search on mobile phones every day, of which 65.0% of users search once to five times each day and 21.7% search six to ten times.

Search engines on the mobile end help users get whatever they need any time and any place which provides convenience. Increasing functions and interfaces of the mobile search engine are also main factors for many users. Mobile web browser remains the primary search entry point as adopted by 58.8% mobile search users.

Most users have a specific brand preference when searching on mobile. Baidu still has the largest share, accounting for 44.1%; Shenma, with strong traffic from UC browser, accounts for 17.4%, followed by Easou, Sogou and Haosou. About 40.7% users wouldn’t use other search engines.

71.6% users search for news through smartphones. Local affairs, novels, websites, Question & Answer are also frequently-searched content.

Scanning the QR code to search for information is a widely used mobile search method that 56.8% of users used once due to high accuracy and convenience. 32.1% of users still search by inputting words.

Ads, less optimized websites, slow network and low integration between search words and search content are major existing problems against better user experience.

The rapid development of China mobile search engine industry has formed a relatively complete industrial structure. The popularity of smartphones and technology further promotes the development of mobile search market. How to meet the needs of individual users and properly manage ads placement become main problems of mobile search engine providers.

Also read: China Mobile Apps Market Insights in H1 2015

Sogou, one of the top three search engines in China, revenues were US$116 million, up 66% YoY and down 3% QoQ according to Sohu’s financial results.

Mobile search made a greater contribution to Sogou’s revenue, and Sogou expects to grow substantially faster than the overall search industry in China.

Mr. Xiaochuan Wang, CEO of Sogou, commented,

In the first quarter, Sogou maintained its solid growth momentum. Our in-depth cooperation with Tencent, in particular with Weixin, has brought unique capabilities to our mobile search and further enhanced our competitiveness.

Aggregate search traffic rose by 60% year-over-year while mobile search traffic jumped 130%. It’s expected that mobile search traffic will surpass PC traffic at some point of 2015. Our financial performance was impressive as well. Quarterly revenues were $116 million, up 66% year-on-year, and we achieved non-GAAP net income of $16 million.

Sogou revenues are expected to be between US$135 million and US$145 million in Q2 2015; this implies a sequential increase of 16% to 25% and an annual growth of 48% to 59%.

Read more: Baidu, Sogou among Top 5 Biggest Search Engines in the World

The number of indexed mobile websites by Baidu increased by 105% as of the end of 2014 according to Baidu. Baidu mbile search revenue surpassed that of desktop computers in Dec 2014.
The main problems of mobile websites from search engine friendliness perspective in 2014 found by Baidu are:

1. Browser detection using the user agent is not appropriately set
2. Title and meta description didn’t meet the requirement
3. Geo-redirection targeting Baidu spider
4. Inappropriate website information architecture
5. The important content can not be accessed

Read more: Utilize Baidu Image Network for More Traffic

According to data of EnfoDesk, the total transaction value of China mobile marketing market was RMB47.22 billion (US$7.67 billion) in 2014 with an increase of 251.7% from the same period of 2013.

Driven by the popularity of smartphones, devaluation of online traffic, increasing number of China netizens as well as increasing usage time on mobile device, China mobile marketing market is developing rapidly nowadays.

EnfoDesk estimates that in 2017, total transaction value of China mobile marketing market will exceed RMB188.19 billion (US$30.57 billion). Having been through the early stage from 2013 to 2014, China mobile marketing market is showing good tendency and then advertisers will invest more in mobile marketing.

Also read: PwC Recommending Video and Coupon for China Mobile Advertising

Sohu total revenues were US$477 million, up 24% year-over-year and 11% quarter-over-quarter while Sogou, part of Sohu, revenues were US$119 million, up 70% year-over-year and 12% quarter-over-quarter according to Sohu announced financial results.

Sogou’s mobile keyboard is the top Chinese input application on both iPhones and Android phones while mobile search also showed strong momentum.

In 2014, Sogou continued on its rapid growth trajectory upon the smooth integration with Soso, Tencent’s search brand. Sogou now provides a full range of search services for the vast number of Tencent users.

Sogou have deepened  cooperation with Tencent’s WeChat. Following the launch of a unique function that allows Sogou users to search content published by WeChat official accounts, in their latest version of our mobile search App, they added a new feature called “WeChat Headlines“, which surfaces the most popular and breaking news stories being shared on WeChat.

Sogou have seen robust search traffic growth with mobile traffic growing over 150% in the past twelve months.

Sohu Performance Highlights in 2014

• Total revenues were US$1.7 billion, up 19% year-over-year.
• Brand advertising revenues were US$541 million, up 26% year-over-year. Of this, revenues of Sohu Media Portal were US$198 million, up 9% year-over-year. Revenues of Sohu Video were US$176 million, up 61% year-over-year.
• Sogou revenues were US$386 million, up 79% year-over-year.
• Online game revenues were US$652 million, down 3% year-over-year.
• GAAP net loss attributable to Sohu.com Inc. was US$171 million or US$4.43 loss per fully-diluted share. Non-GAAP net loss attributable toSohu.com Inc. was US$120 million or US$3.11 loss per fully-diluted share

Total revenues for 2014 were US$1.7 billion, up 19% compared with 2013.

Total online advertising revenues, which include revenues from the brand advertising and search and Web directory businesses for 2014, were US$899 million, up 43% compared with 2013.

Brand advertising revenues for 2014 were US$541 million, up 26% compared with 2013. The year-over-year increase was mainly due to increases in revenues from the online video and real estate advertising businesses. Of this, revenues of Sohu Media Portal were US$198 million, up 9% year-over-year. Revenues of Sohu Video were US$176 million, up 61% year-over-year.

Search and Web directory revenues for 2014 were US$358 million, up 80% compared with 2013. The year-over-year increase was mainly driven by the search business as a result of increases in the number of paid clicks and higher average cost per click.

Online game revenues for 2014 were US$652 million, down 3% compared with 2013. The decrease reflected a decline in revenues from TLBB, following the strategic decision to simplify its gameplay, and from Wartune and DDTank, as both games have now entered a mature phase in China. The decreases were partially offset by the successful launch of a new mobile game, TLBB 3D, and a new MMO, Fantasy Frontier Online.

Read more: China E-commerce Market in 2014

Qihoo 360 launched its new search brand “Haosou” this week. Haosou.com is online now and its previous search engine domain so.com is now redirecting traffic to haosou.com.

360 changed its search engine brand name and its logo trying to help users easily remember and understand. One insider believed that Haosou is more applicable in mobile internet market and Haosou could be sub-brand of Qihoo 360 which can make it an independent search brand.

Qi Xiangdong also said that Haosou.com can provide more opportunities for 360 search business, which made 360 search business adapt to mobile internet’s development.

According to China Mobile gateway traffic data recently leaked on Weibo, Shen Ma Search (m.sm.cn) was the second largest mobile search engine in June after Baidu. 360 Search had a target of gaining a market share of 35% by the end of 2014, which seemed achievable if the CNZZ data is solid.

Search engines’ revenue from mobile search was the key driving force for China search engine market in Q3 2014. The revenue from mobile search increased RMB5.53 billion ($0.9 billion) representing 59.9% of total growth from same period of prior year.

“Sou” in Chinese means search while “Hao” means good; Haosou brand’s own explanation is that, it’s a good search engine and does not do bad things seeming to insinuate scams that the leading search engine Baidu faced in the past year.

Qihoo 360 Technology has launched its own ad network in July 2014 which at the moment is more an affiliate network for its own products as it pays when a conversion is counted.

Also read: China Mobile Search User Behaviors in H1 2014

In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China search engine market was RMB16.45 billion ($2.67 billion) with increase of 11.7% quarter on quarter and 50.6% year on year according to data from iResearch.

China search engine market was keeping its stable growth in consecutive three quarters in 2014 and it is still performing well. In Q3 2014, Baidu accounted for 82.2% market share in China search engine market by revenue, ranking top, followed by Google China, Sougou and 360 search.

Search engines’ revenue from mobile search was the key driving force for China search engine market in Q3 2014. The revenue from mobile search increased RMB5.53 billion ($0.9 billion) representing 59.9% of total growth from same period of prior year.

Sogou’s search and others revenues for the third quarter of 2014 were US$98 million, up 88% YoY and 16% QoQ, mainly due to increases in the number of paid clicks and higher average cost per click according to Sohu’s released financial results for Q3 2014.

As shown above, according another Chinese research company Analysis’s EnfoDesk data, Baidu accounted for 79.45% market share by revenue in Q3 2014 including revenue from overseas but excluding revenue from channels, ranking top, followed by Google China (12.04%) and Sougou (including Soso) (5.53%) in Q3 2014 in China.

Including revenue from overseas and channels, Baidu had 77.31% market share, followed by Google China (10.41%) and Sougou (8.27%).

Excluding revenue from overseas, Baidu had 85.63% market share by revenue, followed by Sougou (6.24%) and Google China (4.78%) in Q3 2014.

Google China’s market share was decreasing continuously as it only accounted for 4.78% in China search engine providers market by revenue not counting revenue from overseas.

Sogou cooperated with social platform to strengthen its status in Q3 2014. It provided mobile search service on Wechat official platform and had access to hundreds of Wechat official accounts to establish database.

Also read: China Mobile Search User Behaviors in H1 2014