Google wriggles into China with Web ad service

MUMBAI: In an attempt to tap the potentially huge Chinese-language search market, search giant Google announced yesterday that advertisers now can sign up and manage keyword-advertising campaigns in Chinese. Google rolled out new online advertising services and payment options for the same.

In a letter addressed to current Google AdWords clients, the company said advertisers can now show ads to users in People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and/or Singapore; target ads to specific languages: simplified Chinese or traditional Chinese and view related online AdWords help content in simplified or traditional Chinese. The company has also begun to accept payment in Hong Kong and Singapore dollars but not in China's currency, the Yuan.

Google already had Chinese-language advertisers, but they were forced to sign up in non-Chinese languages, usually English. The search company said Chinese-language support, done mostly through its California office, should make the ad program easier for native Chinese speakers.

Google director of international sales and operations Adam Freed was quoted in a media report saying, "What we want to do is make it easier for people who are native Chinese speakers. For the first time ever, sign-up and support processes are in Chinese."

Google's AdWords program now supports 16 languages in more than 180 countries. Google, which gets most of its revenues from its popular keyword advertising services, competes most directly with Yahoo Inc. and is expected to go public later this year.

The Chinese-language interface helps advertisers throughout Asia, including Chinese speakers in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Chinese-speaking communities worldwide. The big prize, however, remains mainland China.

Another media report said that China has 79.5 million Internet users, according to figures released in January by the China Internet Network Information Center. With a population of 1.3 billion and a reported 34.5 per cent Internet penetration growth rate last year, it has the potential to surpass the US as the world's largest Internet market.

In the past, Chinese Internet Service Providers had blocked access to Google.com for mainland netizens and currently Google's useful "cached page" feature is still unavailable to Chinese users. However Google is no longer blocked in China.