Chinese Internet search giant Baidu Inc. hopes to leverage software used to input Japanese characters on computers and smartphones to expand in the Japanese search market.
The company's top priority in Japan is to increase users. Having entered this market relatively late, in 2008, Baidu is not as well known as the established players such as Yahoo Japan Corp. (4689) and Google Japan Inc.
Baidu will reach new users with its input software to expand users of its search service, said Haiteng Chen, Baidu's representative in Japan. The company will offer IMEs (input method editors) that not only allow the correct inputting of Japanese but are also fun to use, he added.
lorax
1:29 pm on Jan 30, 2012 (gmt 0)
I saw that. I was trying to access the source to read more but it was subscription based. This also leads me to the question of what are the top Search Engines in Japan? Are they also pay for placement?
bill
2:33 am on Jan 31, 2012 (gmt 0)
The top search site in Japan is Yahoo Japan, but it is now powered by Google, so the big G gets the nod for the title.
lorax
10:56 am on Jan 31, 2012 (gmt 0)
Ah. So Google and Yahoo only split ways in the US market?
bill
6:02 am on Feb 1, 2012 (gmt 0)
Yahoo Japan roughly mirrored the backend SE choices of Yahoo elsewhere, although there was usually a lag between them. The decision of Yahoo Japan to go with Google for a backend came with the Yahoo/Bing tie-up. Microsoft didn't have a good enough PPC engine compared to Overture for Japanese. That probably played a big factor.
Olney
7:36 am on Feb 1, 2012 (gmt 0)
There are actually several engines that people actually use that they would have to compete with.
Goo Excite MSN Bing Naver Ask.jp
Even though Yahoo! Japan uses the Google technology all ads on Yahoo are managed & sold on a separate platform.
lorax
12:29 pm on Feb 1, 2012 (gmt 0)
Thanks for the follow ups.
>> all ads on Yahoo are managed & sold on a separate platform
Which I assume is Yahoo!s
Olney
1:14 am on Feb 2, 2012 (gmt 0)
Which I assume is Yahoo!s
The new platform is owned & managed by Yahoo! Japan but it was built by Google. I've been trying to write about it on my blog because I realize there's not many of us foreigners in SEM in Japan.
