With censorship-related problems behind it, Google is on a hiring spree in China to regain the lost domestic search engine market, a media report said.

"Google intends to hire more people to bolster its existing team in China," China Daily reported.

The recruitment plan comes after China renewed Google's Internet content provider licence last month, it said.

The search giant had lost ground to Chinese search engine Baidu and other players amidst censorship-related problems as its share in the domestic market declined to 24.2 per cent in the second quarter from 30.9 per cent from year earlier. During the same period Baidu's share rose nearly 70 per cent, it said.

The report said the move is the first step by the search giant to regain market confidence in China. The openings would be in Google's R&D, product management, user experience designer, sales, operation, recruiter and marketing sections, it said.

The search giant added 2,000 more employees in the first half of this year across the globe and currently has staff strength of around 22,000. The marked decline in market share of Google took place during its confrontation with the Chinese government in the second quarter over the intrusive sensor laws following which the company moved its local headquarters to Hong Kong.

Due to the problems with China many top engineers and executives had left Google, it said. The American search engine managed to obtain its licence to operate in China after giving a written undertaking to abide by Chinese laws, some of which it opposed in the past.