A survey of China's online search market showed that Nasdaq-listed Baidu has reinforced its dominance in China with an increase of more than 10 percent in market share in one year.

A report in Tuesday's China Youth Daily said the survey showed that Baidu's market share had risen sharply over the past year to 62.1 percent, leaving main rival Google far behind with 25.3 percent.

Compared with a similar survey last year, Baidu's market share in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou had increased by 13 to 14 percentage points.

However, the report also cited a research finding that Baidu seemed to be more popular with students, while Google was favored by China's white-collar workers.

The report said students and Internet users below the age of 23 accounted for 52.7 percent of Baidu users and company staff with higher education made up 48.5 percent of Google users.

Google, the international search engine giant, took the biggest share of the Chinese market in 2003 with 34.8 percent.

The survey was conducted by a newly founded research house called China IntelliCounsulting Corporation. It compiled 1,250 random responses in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou through computer assisted phone interviews.

It is estimated that China's search engine users reached 97.06 million last year, accounting for 87.4 percent of all the Internet users in the country. The number of search engine users is expected to exceed 100 million this year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2006)