When global brands decide to enter China, most owners will meet challenge for search engine marketing. Whether I can use Google SEO marketing to target Chinese audience too?I heard about Baidu, but how to do SEO on Baidu?
Today SODA Global Marketing expert would like to share you TOP 12 Baidu SEO important strategies for you to understand more clearly about the solutions to questions you may have.
Is Google and Baidu same?
From Jan.2020 to Jan.2022, global top search engines are Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu and Yandex based on status from Statista.
However, Google is not allowed to use in China due to government's policy. Few users use VPN to view Google for their search queries.
There are some search engine platforms in China, here I would like to introduce Top search engines first.
Top 5 search engine in China
Baidu
Baidu is China's largest search engine, with a market share of more than 75% and an estimated 222 million daily active users. In example, despite its fame in the west, Google controls just 2.34 percent of the Chinese search engine market by using VPN.
Sougou
Sougou has a market share of roughly 15% and is utilized monthly by roughly 695 million active users. This makes it the second-largest search engine in China, after Baidu. And, while it is unlikely to overtake its rival, Sogou is showing no signs of stopping down.
Shenma
Shenma is a mobile-exclusive search engine that functions as a combination of a search engine, an app store, and an e-commerce site. Shenma is owned by Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce company, and is integrated with UC Browser, the country's second largest internet browser, giving it access to over 500 million users.
Haosou,360
Haosou, formerly 360 Search, controls around 2.52 percent of the Chinese search engine market. It is mostly aimed at expert users who are technologically competent and concerned about web security.
Youdao
Youdao was founded in 2007 by Chinese technology company NetEase. It is a combination search engine and translation tool which enables its 700 million users to translate Mandarin into over 20 multiple languages, including English, using keyword searches.
Key differences between Baidu and Google
1.Content language
Baidu is simplified Chinese language oriented search Engine,Google supports multiple global languages.
2.Main market
Google is strong for global internet search, occupied 92.47 in global market in 2021; Baidu is focusing on Chinese market search engine, took 75% shares in 2021.
3.AI Application
Baidu has increased its focus on using AI to better processes and the lives of its customers, however, Baidu does not use same AI standard as Google, so you still need to take good care of your image ALT and meta data to let Baidu understand the image well.
4.Index standard
Baidu can easily index the domain which has China ICP, it is super slow and easy to be lost for indexing result. At same time, Baidu is very hard to crawl Javascript and AJAX content, so you need to make your page as statistic page, served in plain HTML. Google can index dynamic page well, but indexing time is longer than Baidu’s indexing on local sites.
5.Meta keywords
Google does not use meta keywords to rank website, but Baidu still use meta keywords for ranking, so you need to set the Chinese meta keywords carefully for your site for better ranking result.
6/Response time
Baidu response quickly on fresh contents and SEO optimisation actions, Google will take longer time to recognise the content and show SEO results.
7.Is Baidu better than Google?
We can not simple say who is better or not.It depends on you would like to rank your site in which market since they are focusing on different market.So it is very important to know their difference and make correct SEO strategy, then you can have a success on Chinese SEO.
What is Baidu SEO
Baidu SEO is the same conception as Google SEO, takes actions to rank the website on the first page of Baidu.
Key milestones for Baidu SEO:
Domain index
Chinese Keywords analysis
On site keywords settings
Off site marketing
Link buildings
Keep the Chinese content fresh continuously
How do I do SEO in China?
Since Chinese users and Baidu itself have difference comparing with Google and non-China countries, you need to work out one reasonable Baidu SEO strategy to operate correctly and improve the users’ engagement.
Step 1, Domain, host locally and index
Baidu supports quick indexing for .com or .cn domain, if you would like to build your website and rank on first page quickly, it is better to make sure you are using the domain which ends with .com or .cn.
If your current server is outside China, even though your site can still be opened in China, but the loading speed is very slow due to the Great Firewall of China. Then such sites will be easily lost from indexing since Baidu would like to guarantee the experience of their users for fast loading.
The solution is to use China server and apply ICP license. an Internet Content Provider (ICP) licence is issued by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology,it supports China server for a fast loading and indexing result. If you don’t have a China company, you can not apply ICP nor use China server, the alternative solution is using HongKong server, but not every HK server is working well with Baidu. Now SODA Global Marketing has launched good HK server solution which can support fast index on Baidu,this is absolutely a good news for customers who are not ready to register company in China.
Step 2, On site settings
Mobile friendly
98% Chinese users are mobile users, you need to make sure to optimise your contents and design on mobile website.
Image optimisation
ALT information for image is very important for Baidu SEO, make sure every image has ALT tag.
Keywords analysis and settings
There is not completed keyword database for China, not matured as Google keyword planner, but Chinese keyword search is also vita part for SEO initial work. You can try to use Baidu keyword planner or use SODA Global Marketing’s Chinese keywords analysis service, just need to provide English keywords to SODA, then we will work out Chinese keywords accordingly and analysis volume and competition level.
Since Baidu set aside more spaces for advertising sites, very feel space for organic ranking sites. If you would like to try organic ranking at first beginning, try to use longtail keywords strategy.
Step 3, Off site optimisation
Publish your contents on Baidu owned platforms regularly to make site fresh:
Baidu Baike - Similar as Wikipedia
Baidu Tieba - Discussion Forum
Baidu Zhidao - Q&A platform
Baidu Wenku - Documents sharing
Baidu News
Zhihu - Similar as Quora
Publish contents on social platforms,
Chinese top social platforms are also indexed and ranked well on Baidu search result
Sina Weibo
NetEase
Publish brand articles on Chinese PR
Baidu spider is aggressive to index and rank faster if your brand contents are shown via press release on top tier Chinese medias.
Other technical settings
Baidu Webmaster-You can also register Baidu Webmaster if you have a China mobile number
Baidu trust system-apply for verified business, then your site can win one blue mark on the search result of Baidu
Submit structured data to Baidu Open
Baidu SEO is the top digital marketing method for business in China, especially for B2B business, SEO is the most efficient way to get potential leads. Since the language and Baidu operation differences, foreign business owners feel challenging to do SEO on Baidu. SODA Global Marketing has lite solution for index, keyword analysis and Chinese keyword ranking (start from 5 keywords to guarantee the ranking on first page of Baidu), also annual premium solution to cover 1000 Chinese keywords on top 4 search engines in China.SODA has been listed as Small Business Branding Agencies in USA.