China’s search services include conventional web results, search tools within content platforms and AI-generated answers. Baidu, Douyin Search and Tencent’s Weixin Search illustrate different ways information can be found, extending the subject of search engine optimization, or SEO, beyond a website’s position in web results.
Generative AI adoption provides context for this landscape. The China Internet Network Information Center said in its 57th statistical report that China had 602 million generative AI users by December 2025, up 141.7% from the end of 2024. That figure measures generative AI use overall, rather than use specifically for search.
Baidu and search within platforms
Baidu has described an AI search upgrade that accepts natural-language queries exceeding 1,000 words, including multipart questions. The company demonstrated responses combining product recommendations and videos, and said its search service could present figures, charts and analysis rather than only links.
Chen Yingmei, a manager with Baidu search, described the company’s intended role for its search box: “It cannot be simply an input box, but an AI assistant that can understand, make judgments and generate answers.”
Douyin Search represents a different approach: finding short-video content published on Douyin. Developed by Beijing Douyin Technology, the app combines a search bar with trending topics and video feeds.
Search within major apps also predates the recent expansion of generative AI. At its 2022 Weixin Open Class PRO event, Tencent said Weixin Search had exceeded 700 million monthly active users at the end of 2021. Tencent separately described Weixin Mini Programs as providing access to enterprise services. The search audience figure is historical, rather than a measure of usage in 2026.
Tencent acquired Sogou in 2021, and Sogou’s mobile app closed the following year. That history is relevant to the original article’s discussion of Tencent’s search ecosystem, but does not establish the present reach of individual Sogou services.
Access to content is another distinction between search systems. Fang Kecheng, an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who researches media literacy, argued that useful information within Xiaohongshu and Douyin was inaccessible to Baidu. He also criticized Baidu’s emphasis on keeping users within its own content services. These are Fang’s assessments of the platforms and Baidu’s strategy.
AI answers depend on retrieval arrangements
Developer documentation provides specific examples of connections between search services and AI-generated responses. Volcano Engine says its web-search offering for DeepSeek includes access to Toutiao articles and Douyin Baike content.
Alibaba Cloud’s Model API documentation describes a configurable web-search function using the Quark search engine. Its documented options include the number of returned results, query time ranges and whether responses display references.
These services describe retrieving online information for use in an answer. Retrieval is distinct from using material to train a model; access through a particular service does not establish that every assistant uses the same sources.
Websites remain within Baidu’s content framework
Baidu’s published content-quality guide covers PC websites, H5 sites, smart mini programs and Baijiahao content. Its stated assessment dimensions include the credibility of the producer, page loading and presentation, the completeness and professional depth of the content, and users’ interest in sharing or interacting with it.
The guide calls for clear titles, coherent writing and information that addresses the subject in depth. For service pages, it says functions should work and information should be detailed and understandable. These are Baidu’s stated content standards, rather than evidence of guaranteed rankings, traffic or inclusion in AI answers.
