Baidu Accused of Publishing False Search Data

[mulligan]

Baidu Accused of Publishing False Search Data
December 6, 2006

An unnamed website administrator has disclosed on an online blog that Chinese search engine Baidu.com (BIDU) is exaggerating its search power by providing false search results to users.

Chinese technology websites ChinaByte and eNet both report that Baidu.com overstates its search results by 10-30 times of the actual figure, which Wang Nan, a senior consultant from Internet Lab, believes is caused either by technical inefficiency or intentional misleading of consumers.

In the past, some netizens have expressed their incredulity at Baidu's search power. But Internet analysts also quoted in local media suggest that the real reason behind this result should be investigated before a final judgment of Baidu's behavior is made.

Despite the criticism, Baidu has announced plans enter the Japanese market next year.

10-30 times, thats a lot of false returns! So should Baidu results now be divided by 10-30 times for a more accurate reflection of search results?

[Rubber Duck]

It is not unusual for Google result to go up 5 to 10 times and then back again. Basically the top ones are pulled out and the remainder are just guessed. This doesn't seem to be specific to Baidu. Google is probably being used as a control. Are they more accurate? Who knows?

[sramuk]

From what I have noticed, MSN Live shows total result numbers closest to actual results it has (but they show results only till 1000)