Preface: DeepSeek is catalyzing a technological revolution that redefines the efficiency and depth of search. It accelerates the evolution of search towards conversational and intelligent models, ushering in new horizons of development for the industry. Numerous platforms have embraced DeepSeek, integrating its model to offer users a refreshing experience akin to a "breath of fresh air."

Author | Fang Wensan Image Source | Network

DeepSeek is Revolutionizing the Search Industry

In the battle for traffic, emerging AI search platforms and traditional search engines each have their strengths and weaknesses.

Emerging AI search platforms boast significant advantages. Leveraging advanced AI technology, they deeply comprehend users' search intentions, delivering more precise and personalized results.

When tackling complex queries, these AI search platforms utilize robust reasoning capabilities and multimodal processing to provide users with comprehensive and detailed answers.

Industry leaders such as Baidu (AI Search), ByteDance (TikTok AI Search and Headlines AI), Tencent (WeChat AI Search and Tencent News AI), and Weibo Smart Search occupy prominent positions.

In terms of monthly active users, Baidu AI Search leads the market, while Weibo Smart Search has emerged as the fastest-growing platform, with a monthly growth rate of 300.2%.

In the era of AI search, user demands have shifted from vast information to quick and accurate answers, rendering the "big and comprehensive" approach of traditional search obsolete.

Despite active transformation efforts, traditional search companies must confront the reality of traffic diversification.

WeChat views AI search as a pivotal step in integrating with DeepSeek, with some self-media predicting this move will "reshape AI search."

Baidu AI Search swiftly adopted DeepSeek, embracing this wave by integrating the technology.

Zhihu's AI product, "Zhihu Direct Answer," integrated with DeepSeek, features an aggregated in-station "knowledge base."

Weibo Smart Search launched an internal test of the DeepSeek-R1 deep thinking version, enhancing the presentation of content such as trending events and vertical topics.

For instance, Zhihu, focusing on high-quality knowledge sharing, emphasizes that its AI search product boasts a vast academic knowledge base, primarily targeting the academic community and knowledge workers.

Currently, Zhihu Direct provides access to 50 million academic papers, enabling users to not only search and summarize literature viewpoints but also read any paper in depth.

Despite varying names, leading internet platforms integrating with DeepSeek share a common product form: "deep search." Some media have honored DeepSeek by referring to this type of search as "DeepSeek Search."

Industry Traffic "Cake" Redistribution

DeepSeek's market entry is akin to throwing a stone into a calm lake, causing ripples and redistributing the traffic "cake."

MoonFox data projects that the user base of AI search will increase by 240% year-on-year in 2025, with 65% of this growth attributed to emerging platforms.

This market gap presents a lucrative opportunity for content platforms.

According to QuestMobile, as of March this year, the total number of monthly active users of AI search (across three major terminals) has surpassed 600 million, becoming one of the four AI application scenarios with over 100 million users.

Among the top 10 applications in the March 2025 race, 70% adopted the In-App AI model, leveraging the massive traffic of their main applications to rapidly popularize intelligent search functions.

Launched on January 11, 2025, it swiftly became China's AI conversation app with the most daily active users within just 20 days, currently boasting over 37 million daily active users.

This astonishing growth rate underscores its rapid capture of user attention and usage, potentially diverting loyal users from other search platforms.

QuestMobile data reveals that as of February 9, 2025, DeepSeek's average daily active user count significantly outpaced other similar products, posing a substantial threat to traditional search engines and other emerging AI search platforms.

Traditional search engines like Baidu and Google have seen a notable diversion of traffic.

Taking Baidu as an example, its search market share has continuously declined in recent years, from nearly 90% in 2021 to 52.79% in 2024. This downward trend may intensify further following DeepSeek's entry.

Some emerging AI search platforms have achieved traffic growth through their association with DeepSeek.

Doubao, under ByteDance, and Kimi, from AI startup Dark Side of the Moon, have garnered increased user attention due to DeepSeek's influence.

Within a month of DeepSeek's launch, Doubao's average daily active user count rose by 18.5%, while Kimi's growth rate was even higher at 42.9%.

Content platforms develop distinctive AI search services based on their data advantages.

Although these "embedded" searches do not exist independently, their influence cannot be underestimated, gradually evolving the platform's content ecosystem into a "content + service" format.

In fact, AI search is evolving into an "ecological entry," connecting various parts of the platform ecosystem and linking multiple scenarios such as content, services, and transactions.

WeChat Search integrates public accounts, mini-programs, etc.; Douyin Search integrates short videos and local life; Taobao Search connects shopping scenarios.

On Xiaohongshu, search results are no longer mere lists of notes but "content squares" integrating products, discussions, and live streams.

Weibo connects trending searches with smart searches to form a platform traffic pool. Bidirectional traffic flow transforms users from "finding information" to "browsing content," significantly increasing their dwell time.

AI Search Competition is Essentially a Content Competition

Faced with DeepSeek's impact, various platforms have taken countermeasures to secure a favorable position in this traffic competition.

Each user search request effectively taps into the platform's content database. The richer and higher the quality of the data, the more comprehensive and accurate the information users obtain.

The key to differentiating user experiences lies not only in the technology itself but also in the depth and quality of content resources accumulated by each platform over the years.

As more users conduct searches through non-traditional entry points, the traditional search box model is being phased out.

This suggests that traditional search engines that fail to adapt swiftly may face the risk of elimination in the future.

In the past, advertisers on Baidu and Google primarily gained exposure through pay-per-click ranking.

In the future, they may secure recommendations by placing high-quality content on WeChat, Xiaohongshu, Zhihu, and various websites.

Advertisers are no longer solely purchasing keywords but competing for the "cognitive priority" of AI models.

The advent of AI technology offers a novel way to break down information silos.

The reconstruction of content weight is also a crucial aspect of the transformation of search paradigms.

In the past, portals were the primary recommended objects of search engines, but in the AI era, professional, vertical, and community-oriented content has become more valuable.

By 2025, DeepSeek is anticipated to restructure all industries, with search applications being the first to feel its impact.

Although all driven by DeepSeek, different "DeepSeek Searches" provide varied answers to the same question, fundamentally due to "content differences."

This also means that different "DeepSeek Searches" will offer distinct values to users and platforms themselves. It is not an exaggeration to state that DeepSeek has ignited a new round of search wars.

DeepSeek search technology completely discards its dependence on traditional sorting algorithms as it does not require sorting but delivers search results through deep thinking analysis and integration based on the "chain of thought."

Changes in user behavior patterns often foreshadow the redistribution of traffic and advertising markets.

In the mobile internet era, users have heightened expectations for the immediacy, accuracy, and interactivity of search.

Traditional keyword matching methods can no longer meet these demands, and search services grounded in scenarization and intelligence are gradually becoming a new development trend.

By integrating the R1 model to swiftly enhance their capabilities and further developing large models for deep thinking, platforms can seize new opportunities, consolidate their AI technology advantages, and address the challenges posed by emerging search competition.

It is anticipated that in the near future, AI search in specialized fields and B-end AI search for enterprises will be further improved and developed with the assistance of DeepSeek.

This will facilitate the creation of vertical solutions and customized models for industries such as finance, law, healthcare, industry, and art, thereby expanding the application scope and scenarios of AI search.

Simultaneously, daily search access points will become more diversified and decentralized, enabling users to directly access AI search services with deep thinking capabilities in more scenarios, including social networking and shopping.

This trend may spark the dissemination of AI search content on social platforms, potentially forming a complete closed loop of "AI search - intelligent decision-making - consumption conversion," thereby unlocking new commercial value.

Conclusion:

The rise of DeepSeek will undoubtedly disrupt the existing competitive landscape. In the short term, while Baidu's position remains formidable, the decentralization of traffic has emerged as a clear trend.

The ascendancy of AI search is reshaping the entire search ecosystem, evolving from the traditional keyword matching model to a diversified fusion of "search + social + AI."

This transformation not only alters the way information is obtained but also redefines the relationship between users, technology, and the market.

The evolution of the search ecosystem, from "keyword search" to "social recommendation" to "AI smart assistant," mirrors the upgrading of user needs driven by technology.

The integration of AI and social not only lowers the barrier to information acquisition but also transforms search from a mere tool into a "problem-solving hub."

In the future, those who can adeptly balance accuracy, interactivity, and commercialization will gain a competitive edge in the new paradigm of "search + social + AI."

Some reference materials: Wired Insight: "After integrating with DeepSeek, the differences in various AI searches have also emerged," Geek Park: "Unexpectedly, I easily interfered with the search results of DeepSeek," Baobian: "Ranked second globally and first in China, how does Nano AI Search rewrite the search landscape?", Luo Chao Pro: "DeepSeek Search Cross-evaluation: Baidu, Weibo, WeChat, etc., compete with content," Aiqi SEM: "Will DeepSeek replace Baidu Search?", Yuehu Data: "Under the DeepSeek boom, AI accelerates the reconstruction of a new search paradigm"