What is the bast search engine?

[Beamerboy]

is baidu the best search engine to check for the number of hits returned for simple chinese, or is google.cn more appropriate?

[touchring]

is baidu the best search engine to check for the number of hits returned for simple chinese, or is google.cn more appropriate?

Try not to rely on the 'number of hits returned'.

Chinese is a language without spacing, so all words/characters join together, if you base on number of hits, you are likely to get an unreliable/hugely inflated figure since similar words share the same characters.

Instead, use US OVT/TW OVT or count the number of Google ads.

[alpha]

I am totally confused by all this.

I recently bought a simple chinese name on this forum
http://www.idnforums.com/forums/1309-portable-in-chinese-trad-and-simp.html?highlight=portable

and it was quoted as having so many google and yahoo hits.

Not all generic words are going to have an overture or ads, so how does one portray it's popularity then?

someone please give me a simple (excuse the pun) definitive answer.. :confused:

[Rubber Duck]

I am totally confused by all this.

I recently bought a simple chinese name on this forum
http://www.idnforums.com/forums/1309-portable-in-chinese-trad-and-simp.html?highlight=portable

and it was quoted as having so many google and yahoo hits.

Not all generic words are going to have an overture or ads, so how does one portray it's popularity then?

someone please give me a simple (excuse the pun) definitive answer.. :confused:

This term obviously works in Simplified and gives 4 Adwords at Google.cn

If you want your money back I am sure Bram would willing refund you (must have hurt to see it go at that price!). I'll give you 30 Bucks for it anytime!

[alpha]

This term obviously works in Simplified and gives 4 Adwords at Google.cn

If you want your money back I am sure Bram would willing refund you (must have hurt to see it go at that price!). I'll give you 30 Bucks for it anytime!

lol

I'm not complaining :) , i'm just looking for an answer as to what is a reliable measure of popularity for a generic term that doesn't have any ads or bids.

Clearly this one does, but my point was it was measured using search engine hits - yet in a reply above, search engine hits for simple chinese were stated as being unreliable.

Maybe the answer is that there isn't an answer.

.. and one final thought, if the chinese don't use any breaks between letters or words, how the heck can they search for anything in a search engine, and expect any meaningful results ..?

[Rubber Duck]

lol

I'm not complaining :) , i'm just looking for an answer as to what is a reliable measure of popularity for a generic term that doesn't have any ads or bids.

Clearly this one does, but my point was it was measured using search engine hits - yet in a reply above, search engine hits for simple chinese were stated as being unreliable.

Maybe the answer is that there isn't an answer.

.. and one final thought, if the chinese don't use any breaks between letters or words, how the heck can they search for anything in a search engine, and expect any meaningful results ..?

No there are no definitive answers for IDN at the moment. Until IE 7.0 is rolled out nobody knows exactly how much they are worth. The situation in China is both critical and confusing. This going to be the most valuable market and at present we have very poor information from here. The only language that is more baffling than Simplified Chinese is Hindi. That too is going to be a huge market and still we rely on unreliable Google Scores. My domains with most traffic get virtually no Google. All we can do it make intelligent guess and cling on until the fog clears.

I have had experience of this in other languages, so I am confident that when the dust settles it will glisten a rich yellow colour!