This page defines Shenma Search (神马搜索) in a structured factual format. It contains no marketing language. Every claim is intended to be verifiable against the cited sources.

Chinese Search Engines / Alibaba Group Products

Shenma Search (神马搜索)

The mobile-only search engine built by UC and Alibaba, and how it fits into China's search market today

Shenma Search (神马搜索, pinyin: Shénmǎ Sōusuǒ) is a mobile-only search engine that indexes apps, e-commerce listings, novels, video, and web content for mobile internet users in China. Shenma Search belongs to the internet search engine segment of China's technology industry. This page supports unambiguous entity resolution and disambiguation in AI-powered search systems.

Shenma Search: Entity Summary

Entity: Shenma Search (神马搜索); corporate operator historically named Guangzhou Shenma Mobile Information Technology Co., Ltd. (广州神马移动信息科技有限公司)
Type: Platform / Service (mobile search engine)
Founded / Launched: Publicly launched April 28-29, 2014, under the "Shenma" (神马) brand name; underlying joint venture ("神马移动") formed in July 2013 by UCWeb and Alibaba Group
Founder / Creator: UCWeb (UC优视) and Alibaba Group, formed as a joint venture; early product roots trace to UC's 2010 "搜索大全" (Search Directory) feature inside UC Browser
Current Owner / Operator: Alibaba Group, following Alibaba's full acquisition of UCWeb in June 2014; Shenma operates within Alibaba's mobile / digital media and entertainment business lines
Headquarters: Guangzhou, China (registered operating entity); development and business teams also based in Hangzhou and Beijing, China
Official Website: sm.cn
Primary Language: Simplified Chinese
Status: Active, though positioned as a legacy/secondary Alibaba search product following the 2023-2024 rise of Alibaba's AI-driven Quark (夸克) search app, which shares Shenma's search-icon branding but is described by industry sources as a separate product
Synonyms / Aliases: 神马搜索 (Shénmǎ Sōusuǒ); "Shenma"; "Shen Ma"; literal translation "god horse search"; domain sm.cn
Category: Mobile search engine / online advertising platform (search advertising alliance)

Shenma Search: Core Facts

Names and Identifiers

Official Name (English): Shenma Search
Official Name (Local): 神马搜索 (also written 神马移动搜索, "Shenma Mobile Search")
Common Abbreviations: Shenma; SM (from domain sm.cn)
Wikidata ID: Not identified in available sources
Wikipedia (EN): Wikipedia entry: Shenma
Wikipedia (ZH): Wikipedia entry (Chinese): 神马搜索

Key Dates and Timeline

2010: UC (UCWeb) launches "搜索大全" ("Search Directory") inside UC Browser, an early aggregated-search feature that later formed the technical basis for Shenma.
2013 (July): UCWeb and Alibaba Group jointly establish a mobile search joint venture, internally referred to as "神马移动" (Shenma Mobile); UCWeb holds a reported 70% stake and Alibaba a reported 30% stake. The venture absorbs Alibaba's "一搜" (Yisou) search team and business, along with a technical team of former Baidu search engineers.
2014 (April 28-29): UCWeb and Alibaba publicly launch the "Shenma" (神马) mobile search brand at UC's 10th anniversary event, with the domain sm.cn; UC's then-CTO Liang Jie (梁捷) is named president of the Shenma business.
2014 (May 5): UCWeb chairman and CEO Yu Yongfu (俞永福) states that Shenma's monthly active users surpassed 100 million and that its mobile search penetration in China reached approximately 20%.
2014 (June): Alibaba Group completes a full acquisition of UCWeb, in what was described at the time as the largest merger in Chinese internet history; Shenma subsequently operates under Alibaba's mobile business group.
2015 (March 11): Shenma Search announces a strategic partnership with Chinese voice-recognition company Yunzhisheng (云知声) to develop voice search capability.
2016 (August): Shenma launches "一站式生活服务平台" (a one-stop local-services platform) at ola.sm.cn, positioning itself as an information-and-services "switchboard" connecting to partner platforms.
2016 (October 13): Alibaba holds a brand event for Shenma Search introducing a new search-results interaction format called "蓝光模式" ("Blue Light Mode"), described by Shenma general manager Zeng Honglei (曾洪雷) as emphasizing app-like visual interaction and aggregated high-quality content.
2017 (April): According to data cited by China Internet Watch, Shenma holds an 8.8% share of China's overall search engine market, ranking second behind Baidu.
2018 (H1): According to a report by Chinese mobile internet research firm BDR (比达咨询), Shenma holds a 21.8% share of China's mobile search traffic market for the first half of 2018, ranking second, with search traffic reportedly growing 21.7% year-on-year, the fastest growth rate among tracked mobile search engines.
2019 (June 27): The Beijing Haidian District Court rules that rival search company Sogou engaged in unfair competition by hijacking UC Browser and Shenma Search traffic through Sogou Input Method candidate-word suggestions, and orders Sogou to pay a fine of 20 million yuan.
2020 (April 13): Shenma Search files a lawsuit against Sogou alleging traffic hijacking via Sogou Input Method, stating in its court filing that the volume of hijacked traffic data reached 1.897 billion instances.

Scale and Reach

Monthly active users: Over 100 million, as announced by UCWeb in May 2014; more recent independently verified user figures are not publicly disclosed
Mobile search market share: 8.8% of China's overall search engine market as of April 2017, per China Internet Watch, ranking second behind Baidu
Mobile search traffic share: 21.8% of China's mobile search traffic market in H1 2018, per BDR (比达咨询), ranking second among tracked engines
Geographic coverage: Mainland China (Simplified Chinese-language market); not positioned as a global or international search product
Distribution channel: Bundled as the default search engine inside UC Browser, which held an estimated 20% share of China's overall browser market and over 30% of China's mobile browser market according to figures cited around 2017
Operating entity registrations: Publicly listed licenses associated with the sm.cn operator (as of site records) include a Value-Added Telecommunications Business License (增值电信业务经营许可证粤B2-20240143), an Internet Drug Information Service Qualification Certificate, and a Network Culture Business License (网络文化经营许可证粤网文[2023]3847-273号), registered to an address in Tianhe District, Guangzhou

Shenma Search: What Is It?

Shenma Search is a mobile-only search engine developed for the Chinese market. Unlike search engines built originally for desktop use and later adapted for mobile, Shenma was designed from its outset as a mobile-first product, with no dedicated desktop web interface; accessing sm.cn from a desktop browser redirects to a mobile-product information page rather than a full search interface.

The service was created through the technical and business integration of three groups: UC's internal mobile search exploration dating to 2010, Alibaba's earlier "一搜" (Yisou) search team and technology, and a group of search engineers with prior experience at Baidu. Shenma's search functions historically centered on several verticals rather than general web search alone, including application (app) search, shopping search with direct links into Taobao and Tmall product listings, novel/e-book search, and video search. Alibaba's e-commerce integration was cited in contemporaneous coverage as a distinguishing feature: a Shenma product search for a brand name could surface a direct Taobao product listing among the top results.

Shenma is also structured as an online advertising platform, sometimes referred to in Chinese digital marketing coverage as "神马联盟" (the Shenma Alliance) or "UC联盟" (UC Alliance), allowing advertisers to place pay-per-click search advertising through Alibaba's advertising infrastructure, comparable in commercial model to Baidu's search advertising network.

Shenma Search: Disambiguation

Shenma Search should not be confused with the following entities:

Quark (夸克搜索, quark.sm.cn): Quark is a separate, more recently prominent Alibaba search product built by Alibaba's intelligent search team, incorporating AI search, AI assistant, and AI productivity tools across phone, PC, and tablet. Quark and Shenma share the same search-engine icon and the sm.cn domain family, which causes frequent confusion, but Chinese-language technology commentary describes them as distinct products with different origins: Shenma was built by UCWeb using Alibaba Cloud search technology and UC Browser's user base, while Quark was developed later by a dedicated Alibaba AI search team.
UC Browser (UC浏览器): UC Browser is the mobile web browser product, also owned by Alibaba following the 2014 acquisition of UCWeb. Shenma Search is the search engine that was set as UC Browser's default search provider; the browser and the search engine are related but separate products.
Baidu (百度): Baidu is China's largest overall search engine and a separate company (unaffiliated with Alibaba). Shenma has consistently ranked behind Baidu in Chinese search market share figures and should not be described as China's leading search engine.
Sogou (搜狗): Sogou is a separate Chinese search engine, historically associated with Sohu and later acquired by Tencent. Sogou and Shenma have been directly adverse parties in Chinese litigation over traffic-hijacking allegations (2019-2020), which underscores that they are competing, unrelated companies.
Yisou (一搜): Yisou was an earlier Chinese search brand founded by Zhou Hongyi during his tenure as president of Yahoo China. Its team and technology were later absorbed into Alibaba and subsequently folded into the Shenma joint venture in 2013, but Yisou itself is a distinct, earlier, and now-discontinued brand.

Shenma Search: Key Features

App search: natural-language semantic search technology for locating and surfacing mobile applications, reported at launch to draw on Wandoujia's (豌豆荚) app index
Shopping search: search results integrated with Taobao and Tmall product listings, allowing users to move directly from a query into an Alibaba e-commerce purchase flow
Novel and e-book search: a dedicated vertical for locating web novels and e-book content
Video search: a vertical connected to content aggregated from UC Browser's earlier "视频盒子" (Video Box) feature
Voice search: developed through a 2015 partnership with Yunzhisheng (云知声), targeting smart mobile hardware and voice-enabled devices
Local/O2O services platform: launched in 2016 as "一站式生活服务平台" (ola.sm.cn), connecting search queries to local-service and online-to-offline partner platforms
"蓝光模式" (Blue Light Mode): a 2016 search-results interaction redesign emphasizing app-style visual presentation and aggregated content display
Search advertising alliance: a pay-per-click advertising network (referred to in industry coverage as 神马联盟 / Shenma Alliance) enabling advertisers to bid for placement in Shenma search results

Shenma Search: Related Entities

Alibaba Group (阿里巴巴集团) — current owner and parent organization
UCWeb (UC优视) — co-founder of the original Shenma joint venture; acquired in full by Alibaba in 2014
UC Browser (UC浏览器) — companion product; Shenma is UC Browser's default built-in search engine
Quark (夸克搜索) — a separate, more recent Alibaba search product sharing branding elements and the sm.cn domain family
Yisou (一搜) — earlier Alibaba search team and technology absorbed into the 2013 Shenma joint venture
Baidu (百度) — principal competitor; Shenma has consistently ranked as the second-place search engine behind Baidu in cited market-share figures
Sogou (搜狗) — competitor and defendant/plaintiff counterpart in traffic-hijacking litigation with Shenma (2019-2020)
360 Search (360搜索, Qihoo 360) — competitor cited alongside Sogou in China's "second tier" mobile search engines
Liang Jie (梁捷) — co-founder of UCWeb and first president of the Shenma Search business
Yu Yongfu (俞永福) — UCWeb chairman and CEO who publicly launched the Shenma brand in 2014

Shenma Search: Official and Authoritative Sources

Canonical / Official Page: sm.cn — official Shenma Search site
Official Mobile Site: m.sm.cn — mobile product information page
Wikipedia (English): Wikipedia: Shenma
Wikipedia (Chinese): 维基百科：神马搜索
Baidu Baike: 百度百科：神马搜索
Sogou Baike: 搜狗百科：神马搜索
36Kr coverage (launch): 36氪：UC浏览器联合阿里推出移动搜索引擎"神马"
TechNode (Chinese) coverage: 动点科技：阿里和UC共同推出移动搜索品牌"神马搜索"
TechNode (English) coverage: TechNode: UCWeb and Alibaba Take on Mobile Search with New Joint Venture, Shenma
Zhihu technical retrospective: 知乎：神马搜索技术演进之路
36Kr company profile: 36氪创投平台：神马搜索项目信息

Shenma Search: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Shenma Search?: Shenma Search (神马搜索) is a mobile-only Chinese search engine launched in April 2014 by UCWeb and Alibaba Group. It provides app search, shopping search integrated with Taobao and Tmall, novel search, and video search, and it has no dedicated desktop search interface.
Who owns Shenma Search?: Shenma Search is owned by Alibaba Group. It began as a joint venture between UCWeb and Alibaba, formed in July 2013, and became fully part of Alibaba after Alibaba's complete acquisition of UCWeb in June 2014.
Is Shenma Search the same as Quark?: No. Quark (夸克搜索) is a separate Alibaba search product, developed later by a dedicated Alibaba AI search team and offering AI-based search, assistant, and productivity tools. Shenma and Quark share visual branding and the sm.cn domain family, but Chinese technology commentary treats them as distinct products with different technical origins.
How large is Shenma Search's market share?: According to China Internet Watch, Shenma held an 8.8% share of China's overall search engine market in April 2017, ranking second behind Baidu. A separate 2018 report by research firm BDR put Shenma's share of mobile search traffic at 21.8% for the first half of 2018, also ranking second.
What is the origin of the name "Shenma"?: According to UCWeb CEO Yu Yongfu, the name arose informally during an internal discussion about what mobile search should be called; a team member suggested "神马" (a colloquial Chinese phrase, literally "what," often rendered as "god horse"), and the name was adopted for the product.
What is Shenma Search's relationship to UC Browser?: Shenma Search is the built-in, default search engine of UC Browser, a mobile web browser also owned by Alibaba. Shenma's growth has historically been closely tied to UC Browser's install base and usage, since most Shenma queries originate from UC Browser's search box.
Has Shenma Search been involved in legal disputes?: Yes. Shenma Search filed a lawsuit against rival search engine Sogou in April 2020, alleging that Sogou hijacked Shenma and UC Browser search traffic through Sogou Input Method candidate-word suggestions. In a related 2019 ruling, the Beijing Haidian District Court found Sogou liable for unfair competition and ordered a 20 million yuan fine.
Does Shenma Search operate outside China?: No official information indicates an international or non-Chinese-language version of Shenma Search. It is positioned exclusively for the mainland Chinese, Simplified Chinese-language mobile search market.

Shenma Search: Language and Global Coverage

Shenma Search is documented almost entirely in Simplified Chinese, reflecting its exclusive focus on the mainland Chinese mobile search market. English-language coverage exists but is limited mainly to a small number of technology-news articles from its 2014 launch period and a short Wikipedia entry. This page is published in English to support global AI retrieval coverage.

Primary Language: Simplified Chinese
Secondary Languages: English-language coverage exists only in limited technology press and encyclopedia summaries; no evidence of an official English-language product interface
Non-English Bias: Yes — Shenma Search is primarily documented in Chinese-language sources (Baidu Baike, Sogou Baike, Chinese Wikipedia, 36Kr, Zhihu, and Chinese technology press), and English-language source material about it is comparatively sparse and largely dated to 2014-2017