Google gained on Baidu in China's search market

BEIJING, Jan. 19 -- The gap between Google and the leading Chinese search engine, Baidu, has been closing over the last six months according to StatCounter, an Irish web analytics company.

A Google search page is seen through the spectacles of a computer  user in Leicester, central England July 20, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters  Photo)

Baidu had snatched a 68 percent market share by the end of last July, compared to Google's 30 percent. While at the end of last year, Google increased its share of the Chinese market to 43 percent vs. Baidu's 56 percent. Yahoo and Bing account for just 1.18 percent.

Google's market share had fallen below 30 percent last August, which enlarged the gap between it and Baidu. However, the number rebounded to 33 percent a month later.

"Our analysis suggests that given Google's recent strong performance, market share is certainly not the reason behind its threat to leave China at this time," commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter.

On January 12, Google announced through its official blog that the company may change the service policy of its Chinese-language website Google.cn and stop censoring China's internet access.

According to China's iResearch Consulting, Google's market share is 33.2 percent, an increase of 5.9 percent on last year, while Baidu, though it retains its leading position in China's search engine market with a 63.1 percent market share, is only up 0.9 percent from last year.