According to a report by the AP, in a note to investors, a Susquehanna Financial Group analyst, C. Ming Zhao, said the Baidu, the chinese online search engine operator’s traffic surged in late February, due to a return to normal Web usage in the wake of the Chinese New Year holiday and searches for photos related to a sex-photo scandal that involved some Hong Kong celebrities.

“While the search for sex-scandal photos should be one-time in nature, and should not lead to monetization, such events always teach new Internet users how to use search engines,” he said.

Zhao believes the events helped Baidu gain market share against competitor Google Inc. in February.

The analyst also noted that advertising dollars from large businesses may be larger drivers for the company than those from small and medium enterprises.

Zhao said that Baidu’s partnership with Web analytics company Omniture Inc. should help as well, as it “brings Baidu one step closer to capitalizing on big customers.” On March 5, Omniture said it formed an agreement with Baidu to provide Baidu with technology to measure the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns.

Baidu was up around $18 a share today before the close of the market.