China Search Engine Market Share: 1st Qtr 2009

It looks like Google has broken the 30% search engine market share in China. As reported by Analysys International via ChinaTechNews, Google has achieved a market share of 30.6%, a historic high for the search engine giant.

As expected, Baidu is still on top with 59% market share. This is slightly lower than its reported share by last quarter of 2007. By introducing the MP3 search service, Google somehow attracted a portion of Baidu’s loyal users, the Analysys report said.

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Geo-Targeted LCD Screens for HK Taxis

Media reports that Mantise Media, a digital out of home company will now provide geo-targeted advertising solutions via taxi cabs.

Now, move over crab and airplane models.

LCD screens will be attached to taxi tops and each is equipped with a GPS technology that allows alteration of LCD display based on current location of a taxicab equipped with such facility. Think of it as similar to Google AdWords geographical preference feature, only that you are not staring at your computer or smartphone screen.

When my taxi passes by Wan Chai, its LCD screen might displays ads by Burger King in Wan Chai or Optical 88′s Queensway shop when it reaches Admiralty. People near my taxi will see the ads.

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New Google Suggest Features

Google has released an update on its Google Suggest service. To the uninformed and unaware, Google Suggest is the application that provides suggested keyword queries once we start typing the first few letters of your search query. To some, it helps save time typing (and retyping when making mistakes). To others it allows them to pick a more appropriate term. So in general, this is a helpful application to use.

But Google has took it to another level and fine-tuned Google Suggest.

1. Google Suggest Based on Search Results Page
   
   Refining your search query because you didn’t find any suitable search result? By taking cue from your current search results page and/or previous search phrase, Google Suggest hopes to serve more accurate search results based on refined suggested terms.

Effective Online Display Ads Attract Search Activity

A study by iProspect revealed that there are as many Internet users who respond to online display ads by performing search as those who directly click on the ad. This means that ads are not only meant to be clicked. They also influence netizens on how they behave when using search engines.

Key findings of the study indicate that while online display is an effective marketing channel on its own, it’s effectiveness does not end there; its power is substantially improved when it is paired with search engine marketing. So based on the results of this study, online banner marketers should leverage on the power of search marketing to yield better ROI numbers.

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Singapore Search Engine Market Share in February 2009

According to comScore qSearch, 221 million searches were conducted in Singapore in February, a 43-percent increase versus year ago. This represents a 43% hike compared to last year. Are Singaporeans now more reliant on search engines?