WebProNews

The exclamation point Alibaba put on search by redesigning the Yahoo China homepage doesn't mean the company has given up on being a portal.

It's a sharper focus on search and developing it that led Alibaba to overhaul and simplify the homepage for Yahoo China, CEO Jack Ma said in a report.

Developing search will be at the top of Yahoo China's to-do list, and no wonder. A growing base of over 100 million Internet users, and the entry of Google and Microsoft into the Chinese search market, means a lot of hands will be grabbing for pieces of the search advertising revenue in the country.

Yahoo blogger Jeremy Zawodny commented in his blog on the change last month, taking particular note of the MP3 tab available for search. "I'm not sure why this impresses me so much. AltaVista has had an MP3/Audio tab for quite some time. Maybe it's the terminology that gets me? Having "MP3" front and center feels like a throwback to the Napster days or something."

Yahoo made a big bet on China during the summer, investing $1 billion in Alibaba. Since that time, Alibaba has acquired Yahoo China and operates the site. Ma said in the article they do plan to support the portal by bringing more staff in to operate and maintain the channels besides search.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.