Tencent returns to the search engine market, launching the Yuanbao standalone AI search.

Beating AI News, November 11 — Tencent has officially launched its standalone search website "Yuanbao Search" (http://so.qq.com), directly targeting Baidu and Google. The site enables AI search by default, allowing users to input questions and receive complete answers with reference sources, as well as continue asking follow-up questions. It also retains traditional web search and offers dedicated search portals for WeChat Official Accounts, Video Accounts, images, and academic content.

Tencent has even begun directing Sogou traffic to Yuanbao. There are already cases where entering keywords in Sogou Search redirects directly to Yuanbao search results pages. The latest version of QQ Browser also supports setting Yuanbao Search as the default search engine. Tencent is gradually connecting its existing search portals to Yuanbao.

Tencent's last direct challenge to Baidu dates back to 2006. At that time, Tencent launched "SOSO," investing substantial resources in developing its own search engine and recruiting technical executives such as Wu Jun from Google. However, it was never able to shake Baidu's dominance. In 2013, Tencent ultimately merged SOSO's search business into Sogou, while injecting $448 million to acquire a 36.5% stake in Sogou. In 2021, Tencent completed a full acquisition of Sogou.

Twenty years later, Tencent has chosen to fight again with AI. This time it has Sogou's search technology and traffic, as well as content resources from the WeChat ecosystem. Content such as Official Account articles and Video Accounts is difficult for Baidu to fully cover, but Tencent can directly provide the searchable portions of that content to search users.

Tencent began building Yuanbao AI Search in 2024, having already integrated WeChat Search and Sogou Search at that time. In 2025, Tencent opened its search capabilities to enterprises and developers. In October of this year, the service was officially renamed "Yuanbao Search," supporting API, MCP, and Skill integration. According to official data, Yuanbao Search already has a hundred-billion-scale index with hundreds of millions of daily calls, supporting over 50 internal businesses including Tencent Video, ima, and WorkBuddy.

SOSO in 2006 failed to defeat Baidu. In 2026, Tencent is preparing to leverage AI and the WeChat ecosystem to once again challenge Baidu's search business.