With “Baidu Statistics”, you can track and analyze the site user behaviors on site, which data can be very useful to improve the marketing activities online. The function includes, traffic analyzer, source analyzer, conversion analyzer and site analyzer, and it gives 20+ reports with graphs. The tool also work with the advertising campaigns running on Baidu,com, tracking each keyword and each ad’s traffic and conversion data.
Baidu.com released a marketing platform called “My Sales Center” in June 2008 to support its clients’ marketing campaigns. With “Baidu Statistics”, site owners can further refine the search campaigns.

It looks that the tool is only available in Chinese at the moment. Let’s hope that Japanese version and English version will become available soon.

Baidu.com is the biggest search engine in China*, and 3rd largest search engine in the world**, providing search and online advertising services (per *iResearch Feb ’08 report, **ComScore Aug ’07 report). According to Baidu’s 2008 financial report, they had 284,000 clients in 2008.

Q1. How long have you worked in the search marketing industry?   What’s the biggest changes you’ve seen over the years related to the industry?

I have worked in the technology industry for 18 years, specially in Search for about  the last 8 of those. The landscape in this time has seen a lot of consolidation of company’s, the cleaning up of black hat practices (in some mature markets) and the evolving of Search into a legitimate digital channel by marketers (and agency’s)

Q2. What’s your description of the SEO/SEM industry in China? I’m sure that each Chinese speaking market (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, etc.) has its own characteristics, such as popular search engines. What are some of the differences?

I have heard some call Search in China, “The wild west” … I dont think it is that bad but would say the Search market in China is still in it’s infancy. Given this, SinoTech Group spends a lot of time educating marketers about the merits of Search.

We have continued to see our largest search engine, Baidu dominate the market (still holds 62% market share) and they are bringing a lot of new products to bear over the past few years. Google also has managed to slowly increase market share (now about 21%) but the likes of Yahoo! and Souguo are very much being squeezed.

The SEM approaches (and search strategies) are different for Baidu and Google- this needs a completely separate blog posting on this topic. Baidu is refining this as we speak and only released an API for agencies to use for automated keyword buying earlier this year.

Q3. Has SEO/SEM become one of the main stream marketing means in China, or does it still have a limited market? Are local businesses, especially the mid-small businesses using SEO/SEM to market their businesses, too?

There is a lot of SME’s using Baidu SEM, although most would not know it. A large network of Baidu keyword resellers work this SME channel and do the keyword purchasing on the behalf of small business (dry cleaners, flower shops etc). The SME’s may only get 1-10 keywords and there is little understanding of the more complex areas of targeting, quality scores etc. There needs to be a huge education to the agencies selling keywords about how to improve conversion and visibility to their clients. I suggest doing this will bring more awareness of upside and grow a real ROI approach to SEM.

Q4. What do you think need to be changed or improved in order for SEO/SEM to grow the usage and the market in China?

Stop black hat practices as it sets unreal expectations and will result in a downturn. Educate, Educate and Educate.

Q5. Should Western businesses be concerned about the censorship in developing SEO/SEM campaigns targeting Chinese market?

No. Of course there are going to be keywords that are sensitive but given their are issues around searching for them, I would not be bidding them.

Q6. In general, what are some of the challenges you face when doing business in China?

This is a very good question.  I had developed a number of companies in many regions before coming to China so expected  common issues/differences in language, business culture and business incorporation/tax setup etc.

However, the areas that has been most challenging is staffing – not simply the lack of talent but for me the lack of strong middle managers. We have found very strong executives, mostly returnees from US that have worked in US or attended grad school. These folks either come back to China and build their own start-up or become executives in established or emerging companies. The others in the team need a lot of mentoring to develop work processes and practices that are
measurable and aligned to team goals. For a successful rapidly growing company in China, personal development programs are critical.

Q7. What does make Chinese market so unique, and attractive to you?

Since I came to China almost 6 years ago, I have developed a love for the country and an appreciation for the history, culture and of course the food. It is embarrassing to say that now when I visit my home country of Australia, I find myself drawn to the China town area to ‘listen’ to chinese being spoken and get some food…although never as good as back in Beijing.

Q8. What’s the biggest myth that Western market has about Chinese search market?

Many myths…. The one I fear most is the one where Western company’s still think doing business in China is about transplanting the US or European business/marketing plan onto a local manager and expecting it to be equally effective in this market. Doing business in China (as other countries in Asia) is about localizing and adapting.

1. What is the focus of your presentation at SES San Jose?

There are so many interesting things happening internationally that the challenge for the speakers on this panel is choosing a select few!

I think there are a few key topics to this presentation: namely what is happening online in China, some of the key companies and trends, and how is search different in China, discussing some of the unique differences about Chinese search vs. other markets.

While some aspects of Search are generally universal, each market and particularly the Asian markets like China, Japan (as I learned from Motoko) and Korea have both language and cultural differences that Search expresses in unique ways as compared to the West.

2. Should Western companies consider doing SNS and/or mobile integration projects?

As search at some level is a reflection of what online users are saying and doing, one of the early topics of my presentation focuses on Social Media in China and the incredible story of TenCent, a Chinese company that that leveraged instant messenger (IM) as the core focus of its strategy to become…

…a leading portal,
…the leading blog site,
…the leading casual games site,
…and one of the few existing Chinese companies with the potential to become a future player in Search.

What is particularly interesting for Western companies is that not many of them even found a way to monetize IM yet TenCent ($524M ‘07) is much further down the road to success than a comparable social network like Facebook (roughly $37M ’07) at this point.

Tapping into social trends and understanding culture is not easy.  If your company is considering this, be prepared to face some really strong, well-financed and savvy local competitors.  There are still opportunities but in many ways China is ahead of (and different from) the West on this trend.

3. What do you hope that attendees will go home with from the session?

I hope that the audience will learn a few things about China’s online market, primarily the key differences and opportunities that we see from a search perspective and even how those business opportunities reach beyond search.  Mobile search and web surfing in China are interesting but not there yet.

4. You’ve been on the panel of Search Around the World session at some of the SESs in past. Have you noticed any differences in audience’s interests in China/Asia over time or by region?

The only thing that is consistent in China at this point is change .

The leaders in terms of market share within a vertical (i.e. Portals) are relatively unchanged; however, what we are seeing overall is a growing shift in dollars from display to search (37% in ’07 to 51% predicted by ’10) and a likewise shift in dollars from traditional to digital media.

The latter shift in the market is primarily driven by larger advertising agencies, both global giants and large, local players.  Based on publicly announced digital advertising target growth rates in China, if agencies come close to their targets it should have a material impact on the entire online advertising value chain in the next couple years.

5. What are some of the typical mistakes that Western companies make when trying to enter Chinese market?

Many of the Western failures we’ve witnessed in China are the result of applying strategies that led to market success in the West would naturally lead to success in China.

The Chinese are not impressed that you are #1 in Germany or the U.S.  If you build a big size company in mainland China, they are relatively impressed; however, buying the present China local market leader is no guarantee for future business success in China.

As Yahoo and eBay China learned through their respective acquisition strategies.  Being #1 and staying #1 in a rapidly developing market is no easy task and it needs to be managed locally, not from the international headquarters.

6. What are the challenges that Western companies would face in doing SEO/SEM in Chinese market?  – Any advice to people or companies considering to do business with China?

The China is a market is developing too fast to be managed internationally.  That strategy has often failed in recent years.

Like Japan, China is not a market you can easily enter with just a few meetings, a handshake or an acquisition and then centralize decision making back to the company’s headquarters abroad.

If the Chinese are not sure if you are going to be in China long term, they will not believe it is worth investing the time to develop a relationship with you.  Relationships are developed more carefully in China and other Asian cultures relative to the West.

Instead, we recommend Western companies try to identify potential local partners who have a history of success, understand the unique ways that business is done locally, and have enough international business practices and shared culture that they can communicate effectively with you.

Working with a local partner(s) that has strong local knowledge and with whom you share a trusted intermediary is highly advisable.  You will need to trust your local Chinese partners to make decisions.  Given the speed of the market, the decision making process needs to be pushed out to the local decision makers.

7. What is your view of Search market in China in 2 years?

What I like about Search in China is that a number of key growth drivers appear likely to remain strong in the years ahead.

Access to new desirable content (i.e. latest peer to peer product recommendations) should be a key driver.  Related to my earlier comments on Chinese users habits of publishing more relative to other markets, new content will be a key driver for search as more content needs both organization and visibility.

The last and probably pretty obvious driver is the sheer number of online users potential (1.3B) and relatively small penetration (<20%, 230M) means that on the back of just new online users, unless we witness.

One key factor is the growth just within the online user population with more than 70% of those users able to access with broadband.  Broadband enables both more rich experiences but just as importantly for regular search users a broadband connection will also provide faster access to content that search users seek.

The increased user base, significant growth in websites and web pages, high search adoption and activity among user base.

8. I know that you live in China now, but what did bring you to there at first?

First was curiosity.  I’d read a few books in high school by author James Clavell, whose stories focused on different parts of Asia.  I always thought the culture and societies of the East were most interesting.

Second was opportunity.  After University, one of my roommates moved directly to Beijing in ’93.  I went to visit him the following summer in ’94.  I saw Shanghai when there was only the Pearl Tower in Pudong, a far cry from today’s skyscraper filled skyline of China’s and the world’s leading financial institutions.

9. What do you miss most about things back home?

For Hearts and Minds, People first.  Technology simply cannot replace being in someones presence that is of great importance be it family or friend.

For Body, Cheese steaks, Soft Pretzels and Burritos.   Food is home on many different levels.

10. What are you looking forward most from SES San Jose?

Primarily I really look forward to being surrounded by some really talented and passionate people who like to share knowledge.

As a close second to that, I ALWAYS look forward to whether Kevin Ryan will comment on my ‘shooting’ glasses if he gets a chance to introduce me.

I’d like to thank TR for sharing very interesting insights about Chinese market. I think many issues he pointed out are very informative to not only SEO/SEM businesses, but also to anyone who consider doing business with China.

See you in San Jose, TR!