Chinese Market Data Trends for Baidu and 360

Looking at data in Baidu’s Index and 360’s So Index is one of the best ways for online marketers to understand Chinese market trends and Chinese search engine user behavior.

iPhone Search

Let’s check out mobile phone searches. On Baidu, iPhone searches are most popular in the following geographic regions: Zhejiang Province (number one), Guangdong Province (number two), and Beijing (number three).

The below diagram shows:

• iPhone 6s and iPhone6 Plus are the most relevant searches for iPhone. In the second half of 2014 they were the most popular mobile devices on demand. While the search volume to these mobile phone models is gradually decreasing, other related searches like mobile ringtones and alarm ringtones are on the rise.
• Other searches that are related to iPhone include Hong Kong (a place local Chinese people go to buy iPhones), import (when people change their mobile phones, they import their data and/or contact list to new phones), and photos (using an iPhone as a camera).

Baidu Search

A search on Baidu within Baidu’s Index shows most of the products or services that are related to Baidu. This gives an idea of which of Baidu’s products or services are in high demand.

• The list on the left shows the keywords related to Baidu which have the highest search volume. The searches include Baidu’s cloud, Baidu’s Maps, Baidu’s Translate, Baidu’s Drive, and so on.
• The list on the right contains the uprising keywords with the highest and most recent search increase. The searches include Baidu’s Web browser, Baidu’s account registration, and more.

Virtual Drives

For the technology enthusiasts:

• Baidu’s Drive ranks number one on the list of top searches for virtual drives.
• Other brands of less popular virtual drives also came up the list, such as 115 Drive, Huawei Drive, QQ Drive, and 360 Drive.
• Generic searches on drives such as “drive search,” “Baidu Drive login,” “drive,” and “drive search engines” also came up on the list.

The gender pie shows the majority of the “drive” searches are performed by males.

Users’ major concerns about “drives” can be reflected on their searches such as drive search, resources, accounts, login, search engines, download speed, file download, upload, large storage, and gifts.

Buying Properties 

After searching for “buy properties” on Baidu’s Index and 360’s So Index, you would notice the audience groups on the two search engines are different by age groups. Baidu’s audience who are most active in property buying searches are in the age group of 30-39 years old at just more than 50 percent. 360’s on the other hand, are in the 20- to 29-year-old age group at 40 percent.

The bar chart below is from Baidu’s Index.

The bar chart below is from 360’s So Index.

Audience Demographics for Baidu and 360

Searches on iPhone and virtual drive, 360’s So Index would show Guangdong being by far the top province in terms of search volume. Jiangsu province came second. In both cases, Beijing came in the eighth position. This indicates for these products, 360 search engine’s users are mostly located in Guangdong province, and fewer are from Beijing. But for Baidu, users are from Zhejiang (top 1), Guangdong (top 2), and Beijing (top 3).