5 Myths About Baidu SEO

Whereas Google is accessible almost everywhere, this is an exception for those who live in China. Such hurdles can be overcome by purchasing a VPN. However, Chinese people still do not use Google! That means if you are trying to optimize your site to drive traffics from China, Baidu is the search engine to be used.

In this article, we lay out five tips for beginners to get started with Baidu SEO.

What is Baidu?

Co-founded by Robin Li and Eric Xu, Baidu is China’s search engine company specialized in internet-related services and AI. Its operation is equivalent to Google in the United States (despite some differences). Baidu not only does it operate a search engine, but also partnered with more than 40 companies in self-driving technology development under the project named Baidu Apollo or the Apolong （阿婆龙）.

Understanding the Chinese language is a tip to successful SEO

Is it a good practice to translate your English keywords into Chinese? The answer is always ‘No.’ Direct translation techniques have failed to promote brands in contemporary Chinese culture!

Chinese has over 50,000 characters with various dialects, but this is not a big hassle. Finding the right keywords, though, is a challenge.

The best advice for you is to hire professional Chinese marketers or translators. They are the critical authority in promoting your products to Chinese consumers. You might as well be tempted to target higher search volume, but are the people you attract the qualified ones? While you may want to invest in short and general keywords, a high conversion rate usually results from three or more words. We call it a long tail keyword that makes the search result of your brands/products more specific and less competitive, thus reaching a higher ranking.

Extra tip: Do you know that 95% of Chinese users surf the internet on smartphones? Having a mobile-friendly website will improve your ranking on Baidu!

Is an ICP license mandatory?

If your website is hosted in Mainland China, you must register for the Internet Content Provider (ICP). The Chinese government issues ICP license. A simple license permit can change your life by enabling users to load your page faster in China. Nevertheless, you do not need an ICP license if you run your website outside China.

Chinese Domain Ending: .cn vs. .com

An interesting question is whether you should get .cn or .com.The domain .cn help Baidu recognizes that your website aims to attract the Chinese audience. Baidu favors .cn more when it comes to ranking results. Meanwhile, .com creates an international outlook of your business, which is suitable for marketing. Statistics showed that 70.3% of websites using .com domains could make high SEO visibility among China’s top 1,000 domains. For this reason, it is up to you to decide if .cn is better than .com, depending on your business objectives.

Your knowledge about Google SEO may not work in Baidu SEO

What works on Google does not necessarily work on Baidu and vice versa. While Google is an expert in crawling iFrame, JavaScript, and Flash, Baidu is not. Therefore, you should provide an alternative Html version to avoid getting blocked by Baiduspider (Baidu’s web crawler). Some sensitive content like gambling, political comments, and pornography, are considered offensive and prone to be blocked. So, make sure you are aware of the content written.

Baidu has some parallel SEO services to Google

Baidu Keyword Planner: Just like Google, Baidu has its keyword planner, which requires you to log in to Baidu PPC account （百度推广）. To obtain the Baidu PPC account, your company needs to be registered in China physically. If not, then you can seek a third-party agency or overseas Baidu PPC reseller to gain access.

If you wonder how to track your website’s performance, Baidu has an analytical tool called “Baidu Analytics” （百度统计）, which is analogous to Google Analytics when reporting your campaign performance. E.g., showing user’s demographic, a number of active users, and of pages viewed.

Conclusion

At first glance, it may not seem like a piece of cake for an international enterprise to use Baidu Search Engine due to its complex languages, different user behaviors, censorship issues, and so forth.

Nevertheless, if you have any questions regarding the Chinese market, we at EhaiTech can help you leverage the power of Baidu SEO for your website. Contact us now to get started!

Author’s Bio

Katie is a Thai Bachelor’s graduate who used to live in China for four years before she began her college life at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Recently, she came back to China to start a new chapter of her life. As China leaps forward in innovation, she is intrigued by the technological advancement the country has to offer. Thus, she becomes motivated to share some knowledge about Chinese marketing!

3 Interesting facts about Katie: