• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 16, 2010

Kenshoo said Sunday it has integrated the ability to mange search campaigns on Baidu.com, the Chinese search engine, through its technology platform. Analysts report the Chinese search engine's business has flourished since Google made a decision to relocate the search engine from China to Hong Kong.

Ctrip, a travel service provider in China, became the first to use the platform to automate and optimize its paid search campaigns. The company implemented Kenshoo Search in an effort to simplify campaign management, synchronize online ads with real-time inventory updates, and track activity across multiple search engines and channels including social media sites.

"Baidu reported significant GAAP earnings upside of $2.02 on $189.6m revenue vs. the Street at $1.50 on $180m," wrote Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster in a research note published April 29. "The upside in revenue came from the continued success of the Phoenix Nest transition and changes to the search marketplace surrounding Google."

During Google's investor meeting last week, chief executive officer Eric Schmidt explained Google's decision to move search services to Hong Kong where a "firewall censorship barrier between Hong Kong and mainland China" exists. That barrier provides the censorship so Google doesn't have to censor its own searches under Chinese law.

Schmidt called the situation "stable" and said Google has maintained business relationships with the Chinese governments, and engineering centers remain in China, but if the Chinese government becomes "further upset with us they have the ability to change the outcome."