China Search Engine User Behavior Research Report 2009 - Summary

• By the end of June 2009, the number of Chinese search engine users had reached 235 million, which is an increase of 54.49 million (34%) over the past year. Search engine usage in China has been on an upward trend since 2007. 69.4% of Chinese internet users now use search engines, which is an increase of 1.4% over 2008. It is predicted that there will be 260 million Chinese search engine users by the end of 2009.
• The proportion of urban to rural search engine users is 76.6 to 23.4. There are currently about 180 million urban search engine users and 55 million rural search engine users.
• By the end of June 2009, there were approximately 155 million mobile internet users in China, and their 26.2% used search engines on their mobile devices. That is, there are approximately 40.74 million Chinese mobile search engine users, which accounts for 17.4% of total search engine users.
• According to a user survey, approximately 56.77 million people plan on using a 3G mobile device over the next year. The search engine usage rate on 3G mobile devices is approximately 38.3%. This means that over the coming half-year, 21.74 million people will probably use a search service on a 3G mobile device.
• The proportion of male to female search engine users is approximately 52.4 to 47.6. The gender composition of search engine users has further improved and is slowly approaching the gender composition of the total population of Chinese internet users.
• There are clear discrepancies in age, level of education and income amongst search engine users. The search engine usage rate gradually decreases as age increases, but is positively correlated with education and income levels.
• 37.1% of search engine users are students. That is, there are 87 million students that use search engines, accounting for 81.2% of total student internet users. There is also a relatively high proportion of search engine users that are “party and government organization employees,” “white-collar employees and managers of businesses,” “technical and research employees” and “self-employed individuals.”
• The number of search engine users increased by 59.49 million from the end of June 2008 to the end of June 2009, 43.4 million of which were new internet users. With over 70% of new search engine users also being new internet users, new internet users are the primary force behind the growth of search engine usage.
• Search engine users are avid users of online applications. Compared to the overall population of internet users, they have a higher usage rate for all online applications. As an information portal and information gathering platform, search engines complement all other types of online applications.
• 29.5% of search engine users fall into the heavy search usage category, 50.6% fall into the medium usage category and 19.9% fall into the light usage category. Compared to 2008, the proportion of heavy users decreased 8.6% and the proportion of medium and light users increased. The overall rate of reliance on search engines decreased.
• Search engine rank by penetration rate: Baidu (92.9%), Google (32.7%), Sogou (26.9%), Yahoo (22.0%), Soso (13.0%), Bing (6.3%), Youdao (5.1%).
• Search engine rank by share of “users’ first choice”: Baidu (77.2%), Google (12.7%), Soso (3.1%), Sogou (2.4%), Yahoo (1.6%). In 2009, domestic and international search engines started to introduce new features that have gradually become more influential. Competition in the search engine market in China will become even fiercer in the future.
• As user dependence on search engine increases, their choice of search engines becomes more concentrated.
• 69.8% of “high-end” users choose Baidu as their first choice search engine, and 22.0% choose Google. Compared with 2008, 10% more high-end users use Baidu as their first choice, but there was a notable drop in the proportion of high-end users that use Google as their first choice. Other search engines showed subpar performance in the “high-end user” market.
• While searching, 88.8% of search engine users will use more than two search engines. Compared to 2007, there are 17.6% more users that use a second search engine. Search engine users’ preferences are becoming more diverse.
• Of users that only use one search engine, 73.2% choose Baidu and 11.0% choose Google. Both of these rates are lower than these search engines’ total share of users’ first choice, which shows that Baidu and Google still have room to improve. Also, the rate that other search engines are used exclusively is greater than their total share of users’ first choice, which shows that the user satisfaction rate for these search engines is relatively high.
• Users that choose Baidu as their first choice use Baidu much more than their other choices, but users that choose Google or other search engines as their first choice, use their first and second choice search engines about the same amount.
• Search engines are primarily used for entertainment. Of entertainment-related searches, 39.5% of searches are for music. The rate with which users are searching for videos and games is also increasing quickly.
• Compared to 2008, the proportion of searches for “life information,” “business information,” “professional tools” and “intellectual information” and other valuable information has decreased. The quality and quantity of valuable searches must be further improved, and the search industry’s public image is the key to influencing user behavior. The industry awaits further increases in government and industry regulations.
• Compared with 2008, the proportion of users that give up after failing on their first search has decreased. Users’ reliance on search engines has further increased. On the other hand, users are willing to try more search engines. This promotes the development of search engine technology.
• 94.8% of Baidu users use it as their first choice and 80.0% of Google users use it as their first choice. Although the two lead the other search engines in loyalty, their loyalty rates have dropped in comparison to 2008. Besides Google and Baidu, the other search engines’ loyalty rates increased to varying degrees. Competition in the search engine market will be extremely fierce.
• In 2009, the number of users using Sogou as their first choice increased by 41.2%, which is the biggest increase of all search engines. The percentage increase in the number of users using the other search engines as their first choice in order of highest to lowest: Soso, Google, Yahoo, Baidu.
• Users’ ability to differentiate between search results and advertisements within search results has remained about the same as it was in 2008. 74.9% of search engine users say they can differentiate between search results and advertisements. However, search engine users’ advertisement click rate has increased slightly. Of users that say they can differentiate between results and advertisements, 31.4% of users have clicked on ads.

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