Chinese Internet portal operator Sina Corp. has dropped Google Inc.’s search service from its website and is now using its own search technology, ending another of Google’s deals in China after the U.S. company said earlier it would phase out its censored search contracts in the country.

Baidu will continue to make gains in the search market in China thanks to Google’s withdrawal. Google’s loss is Baidu and others’ gain. In the last three months of 2009, Google was responsible for 35.6% of the search market in China, now they represent only 19.6%. Baidu now has over 75% of the market captured–pretty impressive in a massive country like China.

Have any of my Louisiana readers found out why Baidu is so popular? I’d be interested to know.

For the last 6-8 years web search hasn’t fundamentally changed a whole lot. Many forget that when Google entered the space, that there were already thoroughly entrenched players, and true innovation (and market dominance) seemed like a long shot. However, Google’s introduction of PageRank proved to be a significant seachange and ultimately changed the way we searched for information on the web — and where we went to perform searches.

Lycos, Altavista, and Yahoo were the dominant search engines and the “entrenched players” the author refers to when Google entered the market. People have short memories, but the author is spot on–Google has not always been top dog, and it likely will not always be top dog in the future.

It is predicted that UK households will spend more than 22% of their Christmas budget online this year, totalling £11.5bn over the festive season. While 2011 is shaping up to be a tough year for retailers, it is predicted that the online market will continue to grow.

One of the ways that U.K. business, and businesses anywhere (including in emerging online shopping markets like Louisiana), can give themselves the edge is by using Search Engine Optimization to increase the online visibility of their website or online store.

Make sure to include your desired keywords in passages that are bold or within header tags. Though you shouldn’t do this for every instance of a keyword, putting the text in a stronger font once or twice is a direct indication to the search engines which phrases and keywords you find are the most important in the article. That, in turn, will cause the search engines to give them greater weight.

Other tips include linking often, including and tagging images, fixing URL issues, and setting up a sitemap. Each of these tips is explained in greater detail, as above, and should be considered carefully. Website owners here in Louisiana, and everywhere else, would be wise to use the tips outlined in the article above.