BEIJING — Google’s best-known products have been blocked by the authorities in mainland China for years. If the American internet giant wants that to change someday, then half a billion dollars’ worth of good will couldn’t hurt.

Google will invest $550 million in the Chinese online retailer JD.com, the two companies said on Monday. In return, JD.com will join the Google Shopping advertising platform, and will work with the Silicon Valley company on other e-commerce projects in Europe, Southeast Asia and the United States.

The companies did not provide details of the projects. According to a JD.com spokesman, the deal will give Google less than 1 percent of the Chinese retailer’s shares, which trade on the Nasdaq.

Google pulled its search engine out of China in 2010, deciding that it would no longer censor its own search results as required by Beijing. But lately, the company has been looking for other ways to serve the planet’s largest population of internet users.