BEIJING, CHINA, November 30, 2005 – Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU), China's
leading online media, communications, search, mobile value-added services and
commerce company, today announced the launch of Sogou Version 2.5, a new product
upgrade for Sohu's proprietary search engine, Sogou.
Sohu's all-inclusive, proprietary search engine, Sogou, which means ‘Search
Dog’ in Chinese, was initially launched in August 2004. The Company then
launched an upgraded version, Sogou 2.0, in February 2005, which allowed for
more than one billion retrieved Chinese language pages, higher updating speed
and shorter search time.
The newly upgraded Sogou 2.5 is an even more sophisticated version with
advanced spider technology which will increase the search database to two
billion retrieved pages and 800 million indexed pages after three weeks
following the launch. As a result, Sogou 2.5 will have the largest Chinese
language search database in the world. Sogou 2.5’s advanced technology also
triples page crawling speed and improves the speed of page updates to 100
million per day.
In addition, Sogou 2.5 is a more intelligent version in terms of crawling,
selecting and ranking the search results, thus providing users with more
relevant, accurate and up-to-date web pages via our search engine. Sogou 2.5
improves analysis capability to more effectively minimize dead links and
repetitive information links. Sogou 2.5 will also integrate the content strength
of Sohu's comprehensive Internet platform and its community based product
offerings, from which we are able to gain knowledge of our users’ online habits
and interests, thus maximizing the overall search experience for our users. This
is a unique advantage for Sohu as an Internet portal to operate a successful
search engine.
Charles Zhang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Sogou 2.5
accomplished another successful upgrade of Sogou’s entire technology system.
With the enhanced page crawling speed and increased search database capacity as
well as the combination with Sohu’s portal matrix strength, Sogou 2.5 can find
users the most up-to-date and relevant information online, greatly improving the
overall user experience. Our focus remains on enhancing our search technology
and interaction with users via continuous product upgrades and we believe
Sogou’s momentum will continue to strengthen going forward.”
Sogou has the largest Chinese language search database in the world and has
seen a continuous increase in search traffic. According to Sohu's internal
reports, Sogou traffic grew 50% in the third quarter ended September 30, 2005
over the previous quarter. In addition to web page search, Sogou’s mapping
search, news search, music search and BBS search all enjoy strong popularity
among our users.
About Sohu.com Sohu.com Inc.
(NASDAQ: SOHU) is China's premier online brand and indispensable to the daily
life of millions of Chinese who use the portal network for their news, search,
e-mail, wireless messaging, instant messaging, browsing, games and shopping.
Sohu has built one of the most comprehensive matrices of Chinese language web
properties and proprietary search engines, consisting of the mass portal and
leading online media destination www.sohu.com; interactive search engine
www.sogou.com; #1 online alumni club www.chinaren.com; #1 games information
portal www.17173.com; the top real estate website www.focus.cn; wireless
value-added services provider www.goodfeel.com.cn; and leading online mapping
service provider www.go2map.com. This network of web properties offers vast Sohu
user community very broad choices regarding information, entertainment,
communication and commerce.
Sohu corporate services consist of brand advertising on its matrix of
websites as well as paid listing and bidding listing on its in-house developed
search directory and engines. Sohu also offers three types of consumer services.
Sohu offers wireless value-added services such as news, information, ringtone
and picture content sent over mobile phones. The company also operates two
massively multi-player online role-playing games as well as a casual game
platform, and manages an e-commerce platform. Sohu.com, established by Dr.
Charles Zhang, one of China's Internet pioneers, is in its ninth year of
operation.
Safe Harbor Statement This announcement contains
forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including
statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements.
These statements are based on current plans, estimates and projections, and
therefore you should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking
statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution you that a
number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from
those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the uncertain regulatory
landscape in the People's Republic of China, fluctuations in Sohu’s quarterly
operating results, Sohu's historical and possible future losses and limited
operating history, and the company's reliance on online advertising sales,
wireless services (most wireless revenues are collected from a few mobile
telecom operators), online games and e-commerce for its revenues. Further
information regarding these and other risks is included in Sohu's annual report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q
for the quarter ended September 30, 2005, and other filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
For further information: Dahlia Wei Sohu.com Investor Relations and
Corporate Communications Tel: +86 10 6272 6598 E-mail:
ir@contact.sohu.com http://corp.sohu.com
|