Baidu and Google are both focusing on information flow. What is the difference between them?

Almost at the same time, the two major search giants, Baidu and Google , revised their search apps. Baidu Mobile 9.0 has completely adjusted the navigation page and the bottom menu, turning the entire Baidu Mobile into basically a news client. The Google Search App also adds a news feed function below the classic search box.

The two search giants have come to the same conclusion through different paths, focusing their changes on content information flow. Since Baidu made the change before Google, many media interpreted this as "Google imitating Baidu." However, if we look closely, we can still see the difference in the directions of the two companies.

Baidu and Google face different threats in their efforts to improve information flow

At such a critical juncture, the two giants have also turned their attention to information flow products.

To a large extent, this is mainly because mobile search is facing a change in form. In the past, traditional search was about people looking for information, but now it is gradually evolving into information looking for people. In addition, the development of artificial intelligence also requires more data, so information flow products are naturally closely integrated with artificial intelligence. However, Baidu and Google have different starting points for developing information flow products.

Baidu’s efforts in information flow are largely due to a sense of anxiety that it has to do so. As mobile Internet traffic surpasses that of PC, more and more content producers are giving up updating content on websites and turning to new media platforms such as Toutiao and Tiantian Kuaibao to produce content. The foundation of everything Baidu indexed was broken, and there was no chance to rebuild it.

This creates a vicious cycle, where platforms that own content occupy more and more users' time, and the frequency and willingness of ordinary users to search slowly declines. Finally, after a series of "connection" attempts, Baidu, which is accustomed to users looking for information, began to understand that matching content with precise users is the real shortcoming that needs to be made up.

Artificial intelligence is Baidu's future, but information flow is Baidu's present. The growth in revenue of content platforms such as Toutiao and Tiantian Kuaibao is basically equivalent to "robbing money" from Baidu's pocket. Therefore, since the second half of 2016, Baidu began to lay out its content strategy and made huge investments in it as the highlight of 2017. In Baidu CEO Robin Li ’s 2017 New Year’s speech, a key message was: “Information flow is Baidu’s future growth point.”

Google, which also started out as a search engine like Baidu, has a similar core business to Baidu, but Google is not as anxious as Baidu about developing information flow.

Since Google has the Android smartphone operating system with the highest market share on the mobile side, it is not troubled by information islands. By establishing in-app search, Google can still index everything. In addition, a large part of Google's revenue comes from overseas markets, so the company also has enough buffer space and time to make different attempts.

Judging from the development in the past two years, Google is constantly climbing to new heights, while Baidu is at a low point. Today, Baidu's market value is US$67.085 billion, while Google's market value is US$669.680 billion. The gap between the two search giants is widening.

The two companies' different development trajectories can also be seen from their Q1 financial reports. Google's parent company Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was $24.75 billion, far exceeding Wall Street analysts' forecast of $24.22 billion, and increased 22% from the same period last year, with net profit up 29%. Alphabet's market value reached a new historical high after the release of the financial report.

Baidu's total revenue was US$2.454 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%, but its net profit fell 10.6% from the same period last year. Baidu was also caught up in an embarrassing controversy over whether its market value would be surpassed by JD.com .

From this perspective, Google's efforts in information flow products are not because it is in a dilemma of transformation, but more of a reflection on the future of mobile search. Google said in a statement recently:

"Facebook's information feed is already one of the most addictive ways to consume digital information on smartphones," so the logic behind Google's efforts in information feed products is basically the same as the "mutual penetration between Tencent and Alibaba's businesses," and it is mainly a strategic layout.

As we all know, Facebook has become Google's biggest potential competitor. Now Google and Facebook have started a "protracted war". Facebook has always wanted to open up a new world in the search engine field, but has never made a big breakthrough. Google has never given up on social networking , but several attempts have failed.

Google's YouTube has become the dominant web video site, while Facebook has been working hard to weaken YouTube's influence. Google and Facebook are also investing heavily in connecting the world. Facebook relies on drones, lasers, and satellites, while Google plans to use hot air balloons. Of course, there is also competition in various fields such as artificial intelligence, cloud services, AR / VR , etc.

In terms of revenue, Google achieved revenue of US$90.2 billion last year and Facebook recorded revenue of US$27.6 billion - both of which mainly come from advertising business. Together, the two companies account for approximately 65% ​​of the digital advertising market and contribute 90% of its growth.

As more advertising budgets shift from television and print media to online media, Facebook and Google will gain more revenue, their duopoly position will be further consolidated, but competition between them will also become more intense.

In the field of mobile advertising , Facebook's rapid revenue growth is largely due to the development of information flow advertising , while Google's is due to the expansion of market share and the growth of video business. For Google, if it wants to stay competitive, it cannot miss any possibility, and the emergence of information flow products is a natural progression.

As content information flows, what are the important differences between Google and Baidu?

Information flow can provide users with endless content, which will greatly increase the time users stay on search engines. The recommendation engine based on user interests is also a new form of search on mobile devices. On the surface, the information flows of the two giants are very similar, but their cores are very different.

1. Baidu's radical transformation, Google's gradual progress

Before launching its information flow products, Baidu had actually always been using the traditional content distribution model. However, after its main search business declined and its O2O layout was hindered, Baidu directly jumped from the information distribution 1.0 era to the 2.0 era. Although Baidu had a large amount of user search behavior data at that time, the accuracy of its content recommendations was very poor. This is largely because Baidu did not have a long-term accumulation of user behavior and interest data, so Baidu's changes this time are actually quite radical.

But the emergence of Google Feed is not the first time the company has provided information flow services. Google has long been interested in making search more personal and proactive. When we log in to our Google account, the search results are already very personalized.

Google Feed is in some ways an upgraded version of Google Now, which long ago tried to provide relevant information before users made queries, such as sports scores and driving directions. As users had further demands for information, Google Feed came into being naturally.

2. Baidu is more of a time stream, while Google is more of a service stream

A major change in Baidu Mobile 9.0 is that "content attributes are significantly strengthened, and products of content nature are exposed more." However, Baidu's information flow is not much different from the current mainstream information flow products in China. Both mainly display content in chronological order.

Google Feed is, to some extent, closer to a search service. It is well known that in many news information flow products, information that is not timely is not popular, but Google does not think so.

In Google's view, search services can capture a lot of in-depth content. These messages may not be the latest, but they are still valuable to users who have not read them. Therefore, content from 10 months ago may appear in Google Feed, which is different from Facebook's priority recommendation of the latest content. Google pays more attention to the relevance of information to users.

The biggest difference is the difference in search results. Although Baidu Mobile 9.0 has made certain adjustments to the search results and connected the search results with the content ecosystem, Baidu does not have a mechanism to follow interest tags, which does not bring out the greatest advantage of Baidu as a search engine portal.

Google will not only provide relevant information based on the user's search history, but also prompt relevant topics for attention in the search results when the user searches. For example, for the TV series "Stranger Things", Google will push the new developments and news of this TV series to you. It can be said that Google Feed truly combines recommendation and search in an organic way.

3. Baidu lacks an account system, but this is Google's advantage

In the article "After chatting with my friends about UC Toutiao and Baijiahao , I came to three controversial conclusions", I mentioned this point of view: Baidu Mobile is a product with extremely strong tool attributes, and users will basically leave after using it. Although the platform has a large amount of user behavior data, Baijiahao claims to have more than 2 million user interest tags.

However, due to the lack of an account system, the analysis of a specific user is often very embarrassing. Because every time a user changes a mobile phone or even reinstalls the App, all the previously accumulated data may be lost.

This is the most embarrassing problem in the process of hundreds of companies developing information flow products, but Google has a very complete account system.

In the overseas Internet world, the email product is a universal ID, and Google's account is centered on Gmail. Google accounts are not only universally used on the entire site, but can even be authorized to be called by external websites. It is an open account that is used by a very wide range of people, which means that Google's user data is far more comprehensive than Baidu's.

The different positioning of Baidu and Google in information flow may trigger a new round of changes in feed flow . At a critical juncture in the future, perhaps when we use content distribution platforms, more service information that is more in line with demand will frequently appear in the information flow. At this time, the recommendation engine can be said to be truly equivalent to a search engine on the mobile terminal.