The importance of Qihoo 360 to promote your brands in China

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd., or Qihoo 360 is the country’s largest Internet security provider that includes several services such as antivirus software (360 Safeguard, 360 Mobile Safe), Web Browser (360 Browsers) serch engine, and Mobile Application Store (360 Mobile Assistant).  The company has more than 461 million monthly active users. The company was founded in 2005 by Zhou Hongyi and Qi Xiangdong.

Qihoo is the second largest search engine in China.

Besides its well-known security services, Qihoo is also very popular due to its mobile gaming service. At the end of 2013, the company had over 800 games on its platforms.

 

What is Qihoo 360?

Qihoo 360 launched its search engine in August 2012 to be a direct competitor with Baidu. Although so.com is not a rival to Baidu nowadays, in future years the battle for market share will become increasingly competitive.

Qihoo’s 360 Search, also called so.com, has rapidly become the second most popular search engine in China with more than 300 million users. Last year, So.com reached 30% market share. This is the reason why companies and brands in China have decided to integrate So.com in their marketing strategies for paid advertising.

The main reason why so.com is popular among marketers to promote their companies in China is because it has a lower cost per click than others search engines such as Baidu. However, So.com level of results is not at the equal to the task compared to Baidu and also in terms of conversion rates, so.com tends to be lower in comparison with the most popular search engine in China, Baidu.

Qihoo looks to expand its business, by building a better search advertising sales network and increasing its base of search advertising revenue. During the fourth quarter of 2013, the online ad revenue increased more than doubled compared to 2012, representing $142.4 million, as reported by Qihoo 360.

Recently, Qihoo 360 has renamed its search engine to Hausou.com. Haosou in Chinese means ‘good search’. At the same time, Qihoo launched the Haosou mobile search app that is only available for Android.

Qihoo is the second largest search engine used in China and therefore companies must keep in mind this tool in order to increase their presence and visibility in China.

However, the same as Baidu, companies must develop SEO and PPC strategies in order to improve their visibility in this search engine.

SEO:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a tool to improve the visibility of your site on the search engine result pages. In China, SEO plays an important role because there is a significantly correlation between the search of the consumers into the search engine and the result page. Websites with better visibility on the search engine will receive more visitors.

SEO is the best tool to climb in the ranking, ensuring your site is placed in front of potential customers who are actively searching for the products and services that you sell.

It is for this reason why SEO is an essential tool to improve your rankings and to increase your sales.

Pay per click (PPC):

Qihoo 360 offers to marketers PPC services. Pay-per-click is a form of paid advertising to improve the position of your website on search engines. PPC enables marketers get a good position quickly on the search engine. Marketers pay for each click on the company advert.

Using PPC, marketers are able to select the keywords for the ad and choose the prices they are willing to pay per click. However, more marketers can choose the same keyword as you and pay more.  For example, if a user types on the search engine the keyword that you have chosen and you have the highest bid for that keyword, your ad will appear in a better  position than your competitors.

Thank to SEO and PPC techniques, your website will be well situated on Qihoo 360 and users will be able to find your website, your products and services and therefore,  purchase them.

Qihoo 360 is not a tool that marketers should skip. The importance of this search engine is rapidly increasing among Chinese consumers and now is China’s second largest search engine.

Conclusion

SEO techniques, whether on Qihoo or on Baidu are paramount when you want to enter the Chinese market. Indeed, most Chinese companies will not do business with you if they do not know you. This is where SEO comes in. By increasing your ranking on any given keywords, you will position yourselve as a well-known company. Indeed, Chinese businessment assimilate a good ranking on a search engine with a good reputation. E-reputation in this case.

If you are interested to improve your sales in China, don’t hesitate to contact us.

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Sources:

• Differences between Chinese and Western SEO
• Learn more about us and our Baidu SEO/SEM Services
• Forbes