China Search Engines and Directories

Most China search engines use Chinese with two version, simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese. The Simplified Chinese is used in mainland China and Singapore search engines, while the traditional Chinese is used in Hong Kong, Taiwan search engines.

In mainland China, almost all search engines only accept Simplified Chinese. In Taiwan, most of the search engines like to accept Chinese Traditional Chinese. Singapore' search engines would prefer your web page submission in English. Hong Kong's search engines vary.

You can submit your URLs (webpages) manually according to local China search engines' official language.

The followings are some of China popular search engines.

Search Engines vs. Directories

A Search Engine - is a database that has been built by "spiders" or "robots"or "crawlers".These cyber spiders crawl the Internet and then return the information to a database where it is stored. Theoretically, the web site should show up in the search results the next time the engine updates. The delay can be from a few days to months.

Search engine spiders can crawl hundreds of thousands of pages a day. And they will also follow the links on a page to continue their crawl futher. Thus, it is possible for your page to be indexed by a spider even if you have not submitted the page to the search engine.

A Directory - is also a database of web sites. However, directories (such as Yahoo) don't rely on spiders. Instead, human editors review and categorize the web sites that have been submitted for inclusion, and decide if the listing will be accepted. In contrast to search engines, which may list every page on a site, most frequently a directory will only list one page. Additionally, once a site is listed in a directory, getting a human editor to change your listing or move you to another category can be almost impossible.

You will find that most of time, we are referring to both search engines and directories as "search engines" as we taling about Chinese search engines, that's because to most of the people they both provide the same service.

Top Seven of Most Popular China Search Engines on China Internet

Other Chinese Search Engines

Baidu is a leading Internet technology company in China, one of the world's fastest growing Internet search engines.

Baidu's technology makes surfing the Internet in Chinese a lot easier. Using software that can deliver Chinese-language content over low-bandwidth networks, Baidu can differentiate between two- and three-character Chinese names, for example, giving it an advantage over foreign search engines like Google's Chinese version, used by Yahoo Asia. Jixun Foo, senior associate at Draper Fisher Jurvetson in Singapore, says there is "great opportunity" for information search-and-delivery companies like Baidu, which "has mastered the use of link analysis, achieved good traction with leading Chinese portals like Sina and Sohu, and understands the Chinese- language characteristics better than foreign competitors, thereby deriving higher relevancy for its search." New funding will be used for product development and expansion of Baidu's sales and marketing efforts, says president Robin Li, who cofounded Baidu -- which means "hundred times" in Chinese, from a poem about searching 100 times to find someone -- with Eric Xu in December 1999.

Baidu.com is now cooperating with lots of portal sites and directories, join Baid PPC bid and you will be shown at the top of lots of Chinese search engines and directoies.

Yahoo! Inc.(NASD:YHOO) is a global Internet communications, commerce, and media company that offers a branded network of services to millions of users daily. For the 9 months ended 9/30/02, revenues rose 26% to $667.3M. Net income before accntg. change totaled $60.7M, vs. a loss of $84.1M. Revenues reflect the HotJobs acquisition and increased revenue from fee-and-listings-based services. Net income also reflects the absence of $40.7M in restructuring costs.

Yahoo! The first search site on the Web to gain worldwide attention. Yahoo! differs from most search sites, because its indexes are created manually. Instead of sending out automated spiders that roam the Web and index everything in sight, people decide what categories a Web page belongs in. As a result, Yahoo! belongs to a category called a "directory," rather than just a search engine. Yahoo! has become a major portal on the Web. See Yahoo! Store and Web search sites.

The largest portal site on the web, Yahoo! was launched in 1994 as the first directory on the Internet. Yahoo! has recently shifted their search feature to provide results directly from Google, but their directory is still a popular spot for browsers to locate sites.

Commercial sites must pay a yearly review fee for a listing in Yahoo!, but non-profit, informational and personal sites can still be reviewed and listed for free.

There are two primary methods of gaining a listing in the Yahoo! directory:

Paid Review: Commercial sites are charged an annual review fee of $299. Non- commercial sites are given the option of paying an initial $299 for an expedited review. Adult sites are charged an annual review fee of $600. Review fees are not a guarantee of inclusion and are non-refundable, so webmasters should carefully consider their application before sending it.

Free Review: Non-commercial sites should browse through the directory to find the

most appropriate location for their web site. Use the "suggest a site" link at the bottom of the page and use the "Free!" submission option. Take the time to read the submission guidelines before you submit a web site.


SINA Corporation, formerly known as SINA.com, is an online media company and value-added information service provider for China and the global Chinese communities. With a branded network of localized Websites targeting greater China and overseas Chinese, the Company provides an array of services to its users, including region-focused online portals, search and directory, interest-based and community-building channels, free and premium e-mail, wireless short messaging, online games, virtual ISP (Internet service provider), classified listings, e- commerce, e-learning and enterprise e-solutions. Sina had 53.3 million registered users worldwide and over three million active paid users for a variety of its fee-based services, as of June 30, 2002.

Sina Corporation is a Chinese-focused Internet company, bringing a comprehensive online experience to Chinese users worldwide. For the three months ended 9/30/02, revenues increased 71% to $10.3 million. Net loss decreased 89% to $559 thousand. Revenues reflect increased advertising sales in the United States, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Lower loss also reflects a decrease in stock-based compensation expenses.

To be listed in Sohu.com is a must to reach your Chinese clients.Simply like you have to be listed in MSN if you're targetting USA.

For the second year in a row the Sinomonitor International survey - the largest Internet Survey in the country- ranked SOHU.COM as the most visited portal in China.

SOHU.COM (NASDAQ: SOHU) is China's premier online brand and indispensable to the daily life of millions of Chinese who use the portal for their e-mail,SMS messaging, news, search, browsing and shopping. As China's most comprehensive web site, SOHU offers its users the broadest possible choices regarding information, commerce and community, and, equally important, how they access these products and services. Through its pioneering roll-out of wireless products since 2000, SOHU has become a frontrunner in making the Internet ubiquitously available, whether in the office, at home or on the road.

SOHU.COM posted 160 million average daily page views and had over 50 million registered users by the end of September 2002. SOHU.COM successfully completed an initial public offering on the Nasdaq national market in July 2000. In September 2000, SOHU.COM acquired ChinaRen.com, a leading youth destination, creating the most popular Internet portal in Mainland China as evidenced by the company's top ranking in the surveys of Sinomonitor International - the largest Internet Survey in the country, for both 2000 and 2001.

Chinadotcom corporation (NASDAQ: CHINA; Website: www.corp.china.com) is a leading integrated enterprise solutions and software company offering technology, marketing, mobile and media services for companies throughout Greater China and the Asia-Pacific region, the US and the UK. With operations in 10 markets, with over 1,000 employees - the companies under the chinadotcom group have extensive experience in several industry groups including finance, travel and manufacturing, and in key business areas, including e-business strategy, packaged software implementation and development, precision marketing and supply chain management. chinadotcom leverages this expertise with alliances and partnerships to help drive innovative client solutions.

A separate software unit, CDC Software, spearheads the company's strategy to move up the value curve in the software services and products area. It focuses on building up the company's IP asset base, establishing partnerships with software vendors and broadening its overall software product offerings in the areas of enterprise solutions and application integration. It currently has over 1,000 installations and more than 600 customers in the Asia Pacific region.

In our Mobile and Portals unit, the company operates popular news, email and consumer service portal websites in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Through the recent acquisition of Newpalm Technologies, the company now offers consumer-based and enterprise-based SMS(short message service) and mobile application software development services. As of April 2003, Newpalm has over 3.25 million paid subscribers in China on a platform that works on both the CDMA and GSM systems, with connectivity and service agreements with local mobile network operators in 26 provinces.

The company has also established CDC Outsourcing, which allows for elements of workflow such as client and project management to be provided in the contracted country (e.g. UK, US or Australia), with technology and applications sourced from either of the company's low-cost, CMM-certified(Capacity Maturity Model) outsourcing centers in China or India.

In January 2003, chinadotcom announced the acquisition of Praxa Limited ("Praxa"), an Australian IT outsourcing and professional services organization, focusing on the development of relationships with large organizations that have a need for outsourced application development, management and maintenance. Since Praxa's incorporation, it has established a solid client base consisting mainly of large enterprises and government agencies in Australia. In addition, it is anticipated that Praxa will provide a distribution platform for chinadotcom's self-developed software products as well as for the range of software solutions that chinadotcom currently delivers across the Asia Pacific region.
In May 2003, CDC Outsourcing announced a 51/49 joint venture with vMoksha Technologies ("vMoksha"), a rapidly growing offshore IT outsourcing company headquartered in Bangalore, India. The JV aims to provide a broad range of outsourcing related services to major software vendors and enterprises in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific region. It has sales and marketing offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia while its offshore development will be focused on India and China.

Inter China Network Software Co. Ltd (aka 3721 ) is the pioneer and market leader for providing Chinese Keyword services in China. Founded in late 1998, the Company officially launched Chinese Keyword service in June 1999 and has since then experience tremendous growth. The privately held company is headquartered in Beijing, China, and currently has over 100 employees.

Keyword service enables Internet users to navigate the web and search for relevant on-line information using real world names and familiar identities in their native language, rather than having to remember cumbersome domain names/ URLs. There is a strong demand for keyword service in non-Roman alphabet language countries such as China. Chinese Keyword (CKW) service also enables businesses to extend their real world brand identities directly on-line by making it easy for their customers to find them on the Web using familiar names. CKW is an application service developed on top of the existing DNS infrastructure, it provides a human friendly Internet navigation interface as well as on-line directory search-like services. The service is widely available on client- software enabled browser as well as from most of the leading portal sites, search engines, and ISP portals throughout China. 3721's highly scalable keyword technology is based on proprietary, high performance data indexing and retrieving algorithm, and is fully compatible with the evolving technology standards such as XML and UNICODE. Focused on core technology development, our software won Killer Application of the Year award at Internet World Asia in 2000.

After over four years of market and technology development, 3721 has established itself as one of the most popular Internet brand in China. The CKW service is one of the most widely used service on the Internet in China, serving over 30 million keyword resolutions everyday and reaching over 99% of Chinese Internet users. 3721 has formed broad strategic partnerships with leading portals, search engines and close to 300 local ISPs through out China. As a result, in addition to enjoying direct navigation and keyword search in the browser address line, Internet users in China can access the Chinese Keyword service from China's leading portals and ISPs.

At the international level, 3721 works closely with leading international companies, notably our collaboration with MSN enhances the users' search and navigation experience on the IE browser in China; our strategic partnership with Verisign also aim to provide better user experience for internationalized domain names. 3721 works closely with major Keyword service vendors around the world and actively contributes to technology standard bodies such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) regarding the technology standardization and inter-operatability discussions of the natural-language based "keyword navigation technology".

3721 is dedicated to the vision of promoting truly human-friendly Internet navigation and search service and to helping millions of Chinese businesses and their prospective customers to interface more easily with each other on the Web. Going forwards, 3721 will continue its focus on keyword and related service development and to provide better and more human-friendly Internet navigation and search services for Internet users and businesses in China.

NetEase.com, Inc. is a leading China-based Internet technology company that has pioneered the development of applications, services and other technologies for the Internet in China. Our mission is to deliver "Power to the People" by using the latest Internet technologies to enhance meaningful information sharing and exchange.

NetEase Web sites offer Chinese Internet users Chinese language-based online content, community and electronic commerce services. NetEase's average daily page views exceeded 349 million for the month of February, 2003. As of February, 2003, NetEase Web sites had more than 107 million registered members, 55476 simultaneous chat room participants.

NetEase Web sites provide an intimate community setting where users can enjoy access to free Web-based e-mail, online auctions, online chat rooms, personalized Web sites, instant messaging, Web hosting, and e-commerce services. Our online interactive community services offer 1,800 community forums. The comprehensive NetEase search engine facilitates users' access to everything the World Wide Web has to offer. NetEase has twice been pinpointed by CNNIC as the number one preferred Internet server in China.

NetEase Web sites organize and provide access to 18 separate channels of online content through distribution arrangements with over one hundred international and domestic content providers. These channels put our users in instant contact with current news and online media on a wide variety of topics, ranging from local and international current events, to environmental concerns, to sports coverage and advances in health care. NetEase Web sites put the latest in fashion, music, film, and television at your fingertips.

In the midst of China's technological revolution, NetEase has achieved a number of firsts in the Internet industry. William Ding, founder of NetEase, is a pioneer in the Internet field and the first to conceptualize e-mail, a virtual community, online auctions, free Web hosting, and e-commerce in China. These innovative services have led NetEase to gain a substantial lead over our competitors in an industry where speed and quality are as important as content. We like to call it the "NetEase Advantage". Capitalizing on the "NetEase Advantage" is what will continue to set NetEase.com, Inc. apart from the crowd in the rapidly expanding Chinese Internet market.

As the Internet becomes more pervasive in China, the opportunities for online advertising and e-commerce will also grow. The NetEase community is in a prime position to attract e-commerce retailers and online advertisers.

As the leading Web site in China, NetEase is committed to the continued development of e-commerce and the IT industry, and the further digitalization of Chinese society. The NetEase mission is to reach, touch, and inform each and every Chinese Internet user. Our goal of bringing together millions of Chinese citizens through an extensive virtual community is quickly being realized, and NetEase will continue to develop cutting-edge technology to provide even better services to our users to enhance their online experience.

Google is not the largest search provider nor is it a Chinese portal, but it is polular for its relevancy and gained its fame.

How to add a site to the Open Directory

The Open Directory Project is a web directory of Internet resources. A web directory is something akin to a huge reference library. The directory is hierarchically arranged by subject ¡§C from broad to specific. The ODP is maintained by community editors who evaluate sites for inclusion in the directory. They are our experts, and all submissions are subject to editor evaluation.

We care a great deal about the quality of the ODP. We aren't a search engine and pride ourselves on being highly selective. We don't accept all sites, so please don't take it personally should your site not be accepted. Our goal is to make the directory as useful as possible for our users, not to have the directory include all (or even most) of the sites that could possibly be listed or serve as a promotional tool for the entities listed.

To keep the ODP running smoothly and to assist us in exercising our editorial discretion, we have set up policies for submitting sites for our consideration. We may reject, delete, or edit submissions that violate these policies or that we otherwise believe, in our sole discretion, should not be included in the directory. We may also reject, delete, or block other sites that we believe to be associated with a user who has violated these policies.

You should take a few moments to understand these policies and the steps to submit a site before you begin. Failure to understand and follow these instructions generally will result in the rejection of a submission.

Step One

Determine whether a site is appropriate for submission to the ODP:

Do not submit mirror sites. Mirror sites are sites that contain identical content, but have altogether different URLs.
Do not submit URLs that contain only the same or similar content as other sites you may have listed in the directory. Sites with overlapping and repetitive content are not helpful to users of the directory. Multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites.
Do not disguise your submission and submit the same URL more than once. Example: http:// www.dmoz.org and http://www.dmoz.org/index.html.
Do not submit any site with an address that redirects to another address.
The Open Directory has a policy against the inclusion of sites with illegal content. Examples of illegal material include child pornography; libel; material that infringes any intellectual property right; and material that specifically advocates, solicits or abets illegal activity (such as fraud or violence).
Do not submit sites "under construction." Wait until a site is complete before submitting it. Sites that are incomplete, contain "Under Construction" notices, or contain broken graphics or links aren't good candidates for the directory.
Submit pornographic sites to the appropriate category under Adult.
Submit non-English sites to the appropriate category under World.
Don't submit sites consisting largely of affiliate links.

Step Two

Do a quick search in the directory at dmoz.org (the home of the Open Directory) to be sure your site isn't already listed. This saves everyone time.

Step Three

Identify the single best category for your site. The Open Directory has an enormous array of subjects to choose from. You should submit a site to the single most relevant category. Sites submitted to inappropriate or unrelated categories may be rejected or removed.
Note: Some categories do not have ?¡ãadd URL?¡À or ?¡ãupdate URL?¡À links. These categories don't accept submissions, so you should find a more specific category for your site.

Step Four

Once you've selected the best category for your site, go directly to that category on dmoz.org and then click "add URL." Follow the instructions on the submission form carefully. Descriptions of sites should describe the content of the site concisely and accurately. They should not be promotional in nature. Submitting a promotional description rather than an objective, well written description may significantly delay your site from being listed or prevent your site from being listed at all.

Procedure After Your Site is Submitted

An ODP editor will review your submission to determine whether to include it in the directory. Depending on factors such as the volume of submissions to the particular category, it may take several weeks or more before your submission is reviewed. Please only submit a URL to the Open Directory once. Again, multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites. Disguising your submission and submitting the same URL more than once is not permitted. If a site you submitted has not been listed after three weeks, you may submit it again or you may send an e-mail to an editor of the category for which the site was submitted.

Updating Your Site

If a site has been accepted for inclusion in the directory but you are dissatisfied with how the site is described or titled, you may go to the category where it is listed, and fill out the "update URL" form. If you are dissatisfied with the category in which your site is listed, you may send an e-mail to an editor for the category explaining your disagreement. Be polite and civil -- threatening or abusive behavior will not be tolerated.

If (but only if) you are dissatisfied with the editor's response, you may then use the ?¡ãFeedback?¡À link at the top of the page to ?¡ãappeal?¡À the editor's decision. Be specific concerning your disagreement (including why you believe the editor's response is inadequate). Comments made through the feedback link are reviewed by the ODP staff, who will make the final decision. Please do NOT send correspondence to Netscape, as that will only slow down and complicate the process. We take all feedback seriously and give it our thoughtful consideration. But please remember that we must exercise our discretion and make numerous judgment calls as to how to make the ODP as useful as possible -- no matter what decision we make, we may not always satisfy everyone.

Getting Your Site Into Portals and Search Engines Using ODP Data

If your site has been accepted into the Open Directory, it may take anywhere from 2 weeks to several months for your site to be listed on partner sites which use the Open Directory data, such as AOL Search, DirectHit, HotBot, Google, Lycos, Netscape Search, etc. We make updates of the data available weekly, but each partner has their own update schedule.

Editorial Discretion

Please recognize that making the ODP a useful resource requires us to exercise broad editorial discretion in determining the content and structure of the directory. That discretion extends (but is not limited) to what sites to include, where in the directory sites are placed, whether and when to include more than one link to a site, when deep linking is appropriate, and the content of the title and description of the site. In addition, a site's placement in the directory is subject to change or deletion at any time at our sole discretion. You should not rely on any aspect of a site's inclusion in the directory. Please understand that an editor's exercise of discretion may not always treat all submissions equally. You may not always agree with our choices, but we hope you recognize that we do our best to make fair and reasonable decisions.