It begs a question, will Bing overtake Google in China?  Time will certainly tell but currently the overwhelming leader in China is Baidu.  But Google’s recent issues with the Chinese Government have caused tension between the search giant and the world’s most populous country.  Now to that point about censorship, I think Google stands on high moral ground and I think it’s difficult for companies to make a decision that they know will negatively effect their bottom line.  So I say kudos to them, and on the other side Microsoft made a business decision to continue to filter search results based on the feelings of the Chinese Government.

Search engines: Could China be a boon for Bing?

As Google pulls out, Microsoft faces a delicate challenge in a red-hot market.

Microsoft’s Bing search engine has gained little traction in China since launching last year. In fact, there was even a slight hiccup before launch, as the company was forced to alter the search engine’s branding for the Chinese market: “Bing” can translate to either “cold” or “sick.” Now it seems the ongoing feud between rival Google and the Chinese government could provide an opportunity for Bing to gain share, but it won’t be easy.

In March, after a cyber attack on its servers, Google shut down its Chinese site and refused to continue censoring search results in accordance with local law, as it had done since 2006. The company now redirects traffic to its Hong Kong site where the search results are unfiltered, although Google acknowledged the Chinese government could still block access for mainlanders.

That would leave roughly 30% of the Chinese search market up for grabs. Microsoft declined to comment on its plans for Bing in China, other than pointing to a blog post written by CEO Steve Ballmer in January. Ballmer both reaffirmed the company’s commitment to “protecting and advancing free expression” in the world while simultaneously abiding by local laws, such as those in China that require censorship.

More. . .

Search Engine Marketing is the hottest, most efficient marketing and advertising medium today. According to SEMPO study, State of Search Marketing 2009, the spending for Search Engine Marketing is predicted to grow to $26.1 billion by 2013. Frequently referred to as “pull marketing,” Search captures an individual at the moment they view a search engine results, creating profound and immediate opportunities.

Search engines are the #1 way Internet users find websites.  Search engine marketing has proven to deliver the highest pre-qualified audience online, and is one of the most cost effective methods of advertising.

Search engines such as Google boast demographics of adults with an average net income of $75,000+.  See stats below (as stated on the Google website):

Male (52%), female (48%)
High education (61% have at least a BA/BS)
High income (average income is $75,000)
Online experience of 3+ years (79%)
Online everyday (55%)
Online shopping in the last 6 months (91.9%)
Online purchase in the last 6 months (78.3%)

The leading search engines are Google, Yahoo, and Bing.  Do you know where your site is ranked?  We can help you improve your search engine rankings, call us today!  You can contact us via email as well.

If you don’t get it quickly, you’ll regret it later.  Local Search Marketing has been paying dividends for a long time now.  It is starting to become more mainstream because when times are tough we look a little more outside the box to stay within our means.  MSNBC purchased EveryBlock in  a multi-million dollar deal, terms not disclosed.

Internet Marketing is starting to become more personal by geo-targeting ads.  The marketing message can even be tailored based on websites the user has visited.  You need to take advantage of the opportunity that exists in the market.  Start reaching your target marketing with Local Search marketing.  There is also opportunity for nationwide companies to get a chunk of this market.  Catch the wave while there is still time.

According to the reasearch firm ComScore, Bing gained .5% in July 2009.  Currently, Bing has an 8.9% marketshare compared to Google’s 64.7%.  It is noteworthy to point out that Bing had 8% of the marketshare when it was reintroduced to the masses in June.

When(/if) the Yahoo Microsoft Search deal goes through my question is, how much money will Microsoft spend to gain marketshare?  Is there a price?  Once the marger goes through Microsoft won’t be able to hide behind Yahoo any longer, it will be time to play the game.

Here is an article from Tech Crunch:

Bing’s Marketshare Continued To Creep Upwards In July

by Jason Kincaid on August 17, 2009

Another month, another report that Bing is chiming slightly louder. Analytics firm comScore has just released its latest figures on search market share, and once again Microsoft’s search engine has managed to grow while its competitors have seen modest losses.

Bing launched to the public on May 31, when Microsoft held 8.0% search marketshare. Over the course of June and July, the site has gained nearly a full percentage point — it’s up to 8.9%, and growth was actually higher for July than for June, when the site was getting all of its launch attention. Of course, Bing’s marketshare still pales in comparison to Google’s dominant 64.7%, but at least Microsoft is heading in the right direction.

Once again, it looks like Bing’s gain comes at Yahoo’s expense, at least to some extent. Since May, Yahoo has dropped from 20.1% to 19.3%. Google has dropped a more modest .3%, from 65% to 64.7%. We saw a similar pattern last month, when we pointed out that Yahoo was losing marketshare both from below (Bing) and above (Google).

The rest of the story . . .

Both Microsoft and Yahoo maintain their own Map, Yellow Pages, and Local listings.  The following is a great article from Matt McGee at SearchEngineLand.com:

What Micro-Hoo Might Mean For Local Search

Jul 31, 2009 at 1:19pm ET by Matt McGee

As the dust begins to settle on the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal, we’re finding that this week’s announcement raised as many questions as it answered. The companies told Danny and Greg that the agreement covers “web, image, and video search.” But what about the many search verticals that Yahoo and Microsoft are involved in? These are areas that, if not technically covered by the “web, image, and video search” label, are certainly highly connected to those products. And they’re likely to feel the impact of Micro-Hoo’s plans in some way, at some point.

One of those verticals is the Local/Maps space. Below are my thoughts on what the Microsoft-Yahoo deal could mean for local search, but first something of a disclaimer: I have no insider knowledge on what will happen, only speculation and even a wish list of what I’d like to see happen. At the same time, I think it might be fair to say that many inside the walls at Microsoft and Yahoo also don’t know what will happen with local and other search verticals. The two companies only referred to having “options” on Wednesday, which suggests that many details are still TBD.

What We Know

As explained on Wednesday, Yahoo’s crawled search results will come from Bing (assuming the deal goes through), but Yahoo will “own the user experience” and can present those search results however it wants on Yahoo search. But, to answer a local search query, search engines rely on a lot more than just crawled search results. They use maps, business listings (their own and from other sources), ratings and reviews (ditto), and more. When Danny and Greg asked about local and mobile, Yahoo EVP Hilary Schneider said that Yahoo has an option to use Microsoft technology/products beyond crawled search results, but isn’t required to do so.  More . . . .

Analytics and reasearch firm StatCounter has compiled and released their search number for the month of July.  According to the report Bing gained nearly 1.24% market share as Google lost about 1% in market share.

Bing looks like it has the right foundation to start to compete with Google.  With their recent partnership with Yahoo, Microsoft also announced that they will be hiring 400 of Yahoo’s employees that worked on the search platform at Yahoo.  I think that in a very short period of time we’ll see the Bing engine begin to refine and produce more relevant search results.

Here is the source article from Mashable.

According to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Microsoft has been spending a lot of money to increase the brand awareness of Bing.  Microsoft has been criticized in many circles for spending a lot of money to launch Bing.  They did such a poor job with their previous search products they really had to get the word out somehow.  It wasn’t like there was a whole lot of traffic going to Live.com.

Having used the new format and technology in Bing, I have to say I’m really surprised at how much I like it.  Currently it does not provide relevant results with the consistency of Google but I think the potential is there for serious market share gain.  Google doesn’t see a current or near future loss in market share but I think they have to be a little worried.  Here’s an excerpt from a Bloomberg article about Search Engine market share:

While Google isn’t losing many users to Bing, Microsoft’s product shows that the search market is competitive, Schmidt said today at the annual Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Microsoft unveiled Bing on May 28 and released it the following week, bolstered by a television and Internet ad campaign. The company increased its share of the U.S. Web-search market to 12.1 percent in the week ended June 12 from 8 percent in May, according to researcher ComScore Inc. Market leader Google had a 65 percent share in May, followed by 20 percent for Yahoo! Inc.

“They are spending a lot of money getting awareness,” Schmidt said, adding that any search-market share losses for Google are “not much so far.”

Get the rest of the article here.