Baidu Map search results under fire: report

(ECNS) -- Follow the search results for hospitals on the mapping service of Chinese search engine Baidu.com, and you might get into trouble, Chengdu Economic Daily reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper said a search for "The Second People's Hospital of Chengdu City" on Baidu Map produced 10 results on the first webpage, but none were the one located on the city's Qingyun South Road.

Despite using an accurate full name of the hospital, Baidu Map's highlighted results were confusing to netizens -- their names had the same characters only partially and the hospital's were mostly private ones.

An online advertising company said all locations can be marked freely on Baidu Map but owners of some sites, such as dumpling restaurants, can bump up search result listings with a payment of 300 yuan ($45) in the first month and 200 yuan in the following months.

A manager from Baidu said the mapping service was free of paid search ads and the results appeared in accordance with the relativity of key search words, location and other elements.

A new search of the hospital has turned up a correct result after a reporter asked for response from Baidu, said the newspaper.

In the past, most of Baidu's first page results have been paid search ads and the service received complaints and pressure from users because of this. In response to public outcry over the death of Wei Zexi, a student who died of a rare cancer after receiving a treatment he learned about through a Baidu search, the government has ordered Baidu not to rank results solely based on the amount of money paid.