The Basics: Why Baidu?

Before we set sail, let’s get our bearings. Baidu isn’t just any search engine. It’s the kingpin of the Chinese digital realm, boasting a market share that would make other search engines green with envy. If you’re aiming to make waves in the Chinese market, mastering Baidu SEO is non-negotiable.

Keyword Research: The North Star of Baidu SEO

In the vast ocean of Baidu, keywords are your North Star. They guide your content, ensuring it reaches the right shores. But here’s the twist: Baidu keyword research isn’t a mirror image of its Western counterparts.

Localize, Don’t Translate

Direct translations won’t cut it. Dive into local trends, understand user intent, and tailor your keywords accordingly.

Baidu Keyword Tools

Leverage tools like Baidu’s Keyword Planner and Baidu Index. They’re your trusty shipmates on this voyage.

On-Page SEO: Decking Out Your Digital Ship

Your website is your ship, and on-page SEO is all about decking it out for the Baidu seas.

Meta Tags

Craft compelling meta titles and descriptions. They’re your ship’s flag, signaling to users what treasures lie within.

Content is King

But in Baidu’s kingdom, it’s also the queen, prince, and court jester. Ensure it’s high-quality, relevant, and sprinkled with the right keywords.

Mobile Optimization

With China’s mobile-first audience, if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, it’s like a ship with a hole. It’ll sink.

Technical SEO: Navigating Baidu’s Waters

Baidu’s waters can be tricky. Here’s how to navigate them:

Site Speed

Baidu loves fast sites. Optimize images, use CDN, and ensure your site zips through the digital waves.

HTTPS

Secure sites get Baidu’s nod of approval. It’s like a pirate’s seal of trust.

Baidu Webmaster Tools

Think of it as your ship’s compass. It’ll guide you through Baidu’s seas, offering insights and diagnostics.

Off-Page SEO: Making Allies on the Baidu Seas

In the world of Baidu SEO, it’s not just about your ship. It’s about the allies you make:

Quality Backlinks

Forge alliances with reputable Chinese sites. Quality trumps quantity.

Social Signals

Baidu keeps an eye on social buzz. Ensure your content is share-worthy on platforms like Weibo and WeChat.

The Secret Weapon: Baidu SEO Service

Navigating Baidu’s waters can be challenging. But fear not! A trusted Baidu SEO service can be your secret weapon. With expertise in the nuances of Baidu SEO, they can steer your ship to success. Considering diving into these waters? Contact Digital Crew, your trusted Baidu SEO service, and let’s conquer the Baidu seas together!

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Why Baidu? 

The Chinese Digital Giant

Baidu isn’t just another search engine; it’s the gateway to China’s digital populace. With over a billion Chinese internet users, Baidu holds the key to unlocking a massive audience. But, as with all treasures, there’s a map you need to follow.

Your Baidu SEO Roadmap 

Step 1: Understand Baidu’s Algorithm

Unlike Google, Baidu places a significant emphasis on meta tags. Ensure your title tags, meta descriptions, and H1 tags are optimised with relevant keywords.

Step 2: Local Hosting Matters

Baidu prefers websites hosted in China. Consider getting an ICP license and hosting your site locally to boost your rankings.

Step 3: Simplified Chinese is the Way

Ensure your content is in Simplified Chinese. Not only does this cater to the majority of Chinese users, but Baidu also favours it.

Step 4: Mobile Optimisation is Key

With a majority of Chinese users accessing the internet via mobile, ensure your website is mobile-friendly. Baidu’s “Mobile Instant Page” (MIP) can help speed up page load times on mobile.

Step 5: Quality Backlinks

Baidu values quality over quantity. Focus on getting backlinks from reputable Chinese websites. Avoid link farms as Baidu is strict about black-hat SEO tactics.

The Role of a Baidu SEO Marketing Agency 

Navigating Baidu’s SEO landscape can be challenging. This is where a baidu seo marketing agency, like Digital Crew, comes into play. With expertise in Baidu’s unique algorithms and the Chinese digital market, we ensure your brand not only ranks but shines in the Chinese digital space.

Tips and Tricks 

Fresh Content is Gold

Baidu loves fresh content. Regularly update your site and consider integrating a blog to keep content flowing.

Avoid Flash and JavaScript

Baidu spiders aren’t fans of Flash or heavy JavaScript. Stick to HTML and CSS for better indexing.

Social is Significant

Integrate with Baidu’s social platform, Baike, and other Chinese social media platforms for better visibility.

Conclusion 

Baidu SEO isn’t just about algorithms and keywords; it’s about understanding the Chinese digital landscape. With the right strategies and a trusted baidu seo marketing agency by your side, the vast Chinese market is yours to conquer.

Ready to dominate Baidu’s search rankings? Contact Digital Crew, your trusted partner in Baidu SEO, and let’s make your brand resonate in China!

The post Baidu SEO Unravelled: A Comprehensive Guide to Climbing the Rankings appeared first on Digital Crew.

Baidu is that search engine which doesn’t appear in your search engine because it has a universe of its own searches and couldn’t be bothered by the rest of the world. We’re talking about China. To keep things real, Mainland China doesn’t use Google, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or Youtube but it does have equivalents that are distinguished but similar to its western counterparts. In China, Baidu replaces Google, WeChat replaces Facebook & Whatsapp combined, Weibo replaces Twitter, Instagram & the newest social media kid on the block – Xiahongshu aka Little Red Book replaces Pinterest.

Let these 10 facts about Baidu, change your assumptions about search engines because Baidu is unique with the way it operates.

1.History Of Baidu

Back in 1994, Robin Li was working for the Down Jones and Company and followed his instincts only to satisfy his curiosity about algorithms for search engines. He developed RankDex in 1996, an algorithm that ranked web pages. He worked with Infoseek for a few years after which he moved to China in 1999 to launch Baidu. Yes, the internet was introduced to China after the west and that made it exciting for the country, opening a window of new possibilities. Baidu initially began as a paid search service for major corporations. After a year, Robin decided to scrap the idea and launched Baidu as an independent service.

2. The Largest Search Engine In China

The first one to lead the flock tends to be the most successful one and also one of the biggest shareholders. Baidu began its journey in the year 2000 and now accounts for over 70% of the search engine market share in China. Its competitors like Sougou and Shenma cover as little as 8.8% of the China search engine market share. Over 90% of China uses Baidu as a search engine. The Chinese search engine has and operates almost every Google alternative such as Adwords, Translate, Maps and a host of other related segments.

3. Baidu and Its Silicon Valley Funding

Robin Li and Eric Xu founded Baidu in the early 2000s and managed to raise $1.2 million in the seed funding round from Integrity Partners and Peninsula Capital – both Silicon Valley venture capital firms. In September, the company had grown big enough to secure another round of funding from a pair of venture capital firms, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and IDG Technology Venture that invested $10 million in Baidu.

4. Its Ad Space (Is Not Like Google)

If you’re under the impression that Baidu’s Ad buying process is the same as Google, you might as well stick to Google because Baidu functions differently. It may take you a few months to establish yourself as a business online in the Chinese world as it involves the provision of documents such as a business license, other Id Proofs to the search engine company. You will also have to be fluent in Chinese, because the entire application process is in their language obviously and you have to just fit in.

5. Most Popular search

The good news is that Baidu makes its profits with ads. Chinese internet users were transfixed on a mix of sports events, natural disasters, politics and entertainment in 2018, a pattern that also prevails on Google’s search listing. The Chinese do a lot of product research online before buying household items, electronics, fashion, beauty and health products which is where Baidu capitalizes its share of ad revenue.

6. Most Popular Keywords

According to another report, the ten most popular keywords used on Baidu are the following: qzone, Da Zhu Zai, Baidu, Double Chromsphere, Zhe Tian, Mang Huang Ji, The Tang Door, Wu Dong Qian Kun, Taobao, and weather. These words may come in handy if you’re trying to get your material or your company higher up on SEO.

7. Its More Than Just A Search Engine

Baidu is more than just an ordinary search engine. In fact, the company offers close to sixty community and search services ranging from Qunar, a travel booking service, to Baidu Yi, a smartphone operating system. In addition, services also include an eCommerce platform, games, patent searches, a social network, government information search, and an encyclopaedia. Baidu also owns a small number of shares in Didi Chuxing, which is now China’s answer to Uber.

8. It Sells Bikes And Builds Driverless Cars

Like Google, Baidu also believes that a natural extension of its data-mining ecosystem would be autonomous electric cars or driverless cars. Baidu began testing out driverless cars in 2015 on public roads, forming a tech research centre last April in Silicon Valley. The cars are powered by a combination of its own AI algorithms, HERE Maps, and NVIDIA’s automotive chips. The company is presently outsourcing production of these driverless cars to automakers in China.

In addition, Baidu also has smart bikes in their arsenal, called DuBike. The bicycle comes equipped with a wide variety of motion and health sensors, syncing to a mobile application. Furthermore, it features onboard navigation signals, allowing the rider to follow directions without having to constantly look down at their phones/tablets. It also lets riders share their route with others. What’s even more surprising, is that the entire system is powered by the rider’s very own kinetic energy, which doesn’t require any recharging.

9. Mobile Optimization

MIP(Mobile Instant Pages) is a set of open technical standards applied to Baidu’s mobile web pages. Through MIP, the content of the page will reach the user instantaneously in a more friendly way without waiting to load. Baidu hit a milestone of 500 million monthly active users after which it decided to introduce an app version. The app saw 151 million daily active users as of September 2018 and the search engine company stated that its net profit for the third quarter last year, jumped by 56 percent and recorded continued growth in revenue and traffic to its mobile app.

10. It’s SEO Is An Internal Game

Baidu SEO isn’t as easy as Google SEO. Baidu uses some of its own sites to be placed in the top of search results, culminating in around twenty percent of Baidu traffic being redirected to one of the company’s subsidiary sites, such as Baidu Zhidao, Baidy Baike, or Baidu News. This results in a challenge for brands to obtain top ranking in terms of SEO. On Baidu, brands will need a large number of keywords and backlinks in order to have a strong SEO presence.

Want To Know How To Grow Your Business On Baidu?

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An International SEO strategy sounds fancy and, in many cases, has increased the ROI for the smallest of the smallest businesses. The good news is that it is easily accessible, but you have to fine tune a few factors offline before you want your business to be globally visible

In our previous blog, we discussed the nuances associated with expanding your business globally and factual considerations that an entrepreneur must keep in mind during his journey. International SEO is the next practical step for you to understand a market digitally and analysing traffic before physically stepping into it with your business

Before we dive into this topic, the question that you need to ask yourself is, do you need to go international?

If you know that a good share of your website visitors come from a different country than where you’re located, speak different languages, or both, then it may be time to make some changes to your website to create a better experience for all of your international visitors.

Understand your business and its potential markets through networking events or:

• Website Data From Google Analytics:

Do you see anyone visiting your site from other countries? Is there any country that sends more traffic to your site? The information is worth paying attention to, especially if any of them are already converting into leads.

• Many Companies Provide Internet-related Reports And Statistics:

Organisations like Internet World Stats, Econsultancy, McKinsey & Company, and eMarketer. There are numerous sites providing information about specific countries. Our ABC Index and China Digital Perspective gives you insights about expanding your business to China

• Government and trade organization websites:

Trade.gov and WTO.org provide the latest international business and trade news and statistics.

What Is International SEO And How Is It Different From Regular SEO?

International SEO is basically optimizing your website for search engines to identify other countries, language and audience that you want to target for your business. Translation and localization of website content is the first stepping stone towards achieving your international SEO goals, but then, you need to optimize the sites for each country’s local audience from messaging and offerings to the overall user experience of the site.

Eg. A site with popular and well-performing content in the U.S. market may not do as well in Asia or in South America and may require additional content edits and optimization work.

While you pay attention to each site, you must keep an eye on the overall performance. Otherwise, your websites may be competing against each other or the worst case, may not be indexed at all

Will I need a site for each country?

After you gain results that are insightful about the new market potential, launching a website that targets another market is an advisable step. It will provide a better user experience to the local visitors,

What kind of hosting should I choose?

If you have planned to localise, you will have to resort to a local server. If you intend to expand to a country like China, its great firewall halts traffic coming in from other servers which is why China employs its own server and domain hosting policies

The core requirement for having a dedicated website with a Chinese domain (.cn) is to have a dedicated ICP license from China issued by the Government. China issues two types of ICP licenses namely, the ICP License that applies to all Chinese direct consumer selling organizations that operate in China and an ICP recordal, for non – direct selling companies. The authorized entity which issues both the licenses is the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Google/No Google?

While considering international SEO it is equally important to note the search engine used in that location. Countries like China, Russia, Eastern European countries and South Korea either have their own local server or has banned internet in their region altogether. Hence, you’ll need to pay extra attention to monitor these local sites for additional optimization work.

The post International SEO: A Guide To Get You Started appeared first on Digital Crew.

Digital Crew will be debuting their multilingual services at SMX East, New York edition 2018 alongside exhibitors like Google, Moz, Amazon Advertising, etc. at the conference

SMX, New York is an event organised by the team at Search Engine Land, the actualizers of search marketing in the industry. SMX will be hosting recognized thought leaders from various spheres in the digital marketing arena who will be imparting valuable insights on strategies at the intersection of marketing, technology and management.

Digital Crew At SMX New York 2018

Ophenia Liang, Co-Founder and Director at Digital Crew will be sharing her insights on Chinese SEO and SEM with a strong focus on Baidu. In addition to that, we will be sharing insights into other Chinese Digital Platforms like WeChat, Weibo, Tik Tok, Xiahongshu and the e-commerce players like Tmall, Taobao, JD, VIPshop, etc.

Digital Crew is an award winning multilingual digital marketing agency with offices in New York, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Tokyo and Mumbai. We work with global brands like L’oreal, Kiehls, DHL, Western Union and EY to help them reach out to the Chinese audience via Chinese Digital Platforms.

Come and say hello to the Digital Crew New York team at Booth 208 on 24 and 25 Oct at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center

The post Digital Crew All Set To Exhibit At SMX – The World’s Largest Search Marketing Conference In New York appeared first on Digital Crew.

About Toutiao News

Jinri Toutiao, which translates into English as ‘Today’s Headlines’ is a news and information content platform that was launched in 2012. Forbes reports it currently has around 80 million daily active users and 4,000 content partners. Toutiao also makes considerable use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive its platform. The app is providing popular with investors due to its stable traffic and platform format.

Toutiao:

• Uses AI to filter and distribute news content, but does not have writers or editors of its own.
• Breaks content into smaller ‘bites’ and uses various formats to appeal to younger users. These include videos, cartoons, GIFs, and a lighter style and approach than some of China’s other news platforms.
• Makes use of a combination of human reviewers and automation to identify and filter out fake news and plagiarised content.
• Provides tailored content feeds and in-feed advertising to users, based on their click-history and location.
• Uses machine learning to generate short sporting reports.
• Provides a self-publishing platform for media organisations, a video channel where users can create and upload their own short videos, and a live interactive Q&A / discussion platform.

The company is also currently expanding internationally, notably in India, Indonesia and the USA.

Toutiao’s growth has been quite staggering. For example, Technode reports that from 2014 to 2016, its revenue from advertising grew from 300 million RMB ($US44 million) to 6 billion RMB ($US886 billion). According to Forbes, the company is valued at $US11 billion. It also recently secured $US1 billion in funds for further expansion.

Why might Toutiao outrank tech giant Baidu?

Baidu has been generating revenues from a considerable amount of search advertising, mostly from the health and medical industry. Its revenue suffered a major blow in 2016 due to tighter government regulations regarding the advertising of health and medical products. This was largely driven by the death of a cancer patient following the use of an experimental treatment advertised on Baidu.

However, Baidu is now fighting back by developing its own in-feed ads and personalised content.

Some analysts have also said that Toutiao’s profit margin is relatively low, and that the company would require considerable growth to catch up to Baidu.

Time will tell what will happen next, but it certainly appears that Toutiao News will be keeping Baidu on its toes and giving it a run for its money!

If you would like to find out more about online advertising in China for your business, get in contact with our bilingual digital marketing team.

The post Why Baidu May Need to Watch its Back Around Toutiao appeared first on Digital Crew.

Content is at the heart of Baidu optimisation. Creating great content can help you rank well, get noticed by your target market, and engage with them.

Here’s how to optimise your content for Baidu.

Content marketing for Baidu

Your content needs to be high quality, relevant and interesting to your audience in order to rank well on Baidu. It also needs to be unique –  just like Google, duplicate or low-quality content will risk a penalty on Baidu.

According to Search Engine Land, Baidu’s ranking factors include the following:

• Correct language – content and tags should be written in simplified Chinese characters.
• Clear content definitions – especially since a single word in Chinese could convey several different meanings. This makes it vital to use a person fluent in Chinese and English to translate your content, rather than a software program.
• Keywords and popular search terms – while these are not as relevant for Google as they once were, they still hold sway with Baidu, although it’s important not to overuse them.
• Backlinks – as for keywords, link building is an important factor for Baidu.
• Fresh content – it’s important to regularly post new content, such as blog articles, to increase the visibility of your site. Articles should also be submitted to Baidu’s newsfeed.
• Local hosting – hosting your site in China will ensure faster page load times than if you host offshore.

Putting it into practice

While these factors need to be taken into consideration, remember that the whole point of your content is to communicate with real people.

Provide solutions to problems they may be grappling with, or give them information they need. Make your content engaging and entertaining, as well as informative.

Here are some tips:

• Provide content that is relevant to your specific target audiences. This may require segmenting your audiences into categories according to their demographics, needs and interests.
• Vary the content types – you can do this by using videos, images and infographics as well as text.
• Share on Chinese social media platforms – social media is often used by Chinese netizens to check out goods and services, so make sure to share your content regularly.
• Listen as well as speak. In China, relationships are particularly important. Listen to what people say and want, and respond to comments on forums and social sites.
• Deliver on your promises. Positive reviews can be pretty powerful in China, so make sure to always provide top quality service.

Content is just as important for increasing your visibility on Baidu as it is on Google, and it should form a key part of your overall marketing strategy. For assistance with content marketing in China, contact our bilingual team!

The post Top Tips for Enhancing Your Content for Baidu appeared first on Digital Crew.

Landing pages are more than simply web pages – they are designed with a specific goal in mind, and are used to guide visitors where you would like them to go. They need to provide visitors with something that is worthwhile for them, so that they are encouraged to take further steps.

So whether you’re adding Chinese landing pages to your English language website or creating pages for your Chinese language website, you need to consider the design, so they work as intended.

Here are a few handy hints for Chinese landing pages.

1. Set goals for your landing page

You need to decide what you want your page to do. This will determine the type of landing page you create.

For example, click-through landing pages are created to encourage visitors to move through your site – such as onto a purchasing page. They should provide enough information for visitors and customers to make an informed decision.

On the other hand, a lead-generation landing page is one created to capture user details, to enable you to contact them later with useful information. These pages might include an opportunity for a free trial, for customers to attend a free webinar, or to subscribe to receive e-newsletters or other materials.

2. Remove the language barriers

This is always an issue with any type of China marketing. It’s important that you don’t use software tools for translation, but rather hire someone who is proficient in both English and Chinese languages, who can translate your English-language pages into simplified Chinese characters. Using software for translation means you run the risk of the nuances and meaning of language being lost. Your translator should also be someone who understands what you want to achieve.

3. Optimise for local search engines

Any web pages targeting customers in China will need to be optimised for Chinese search engines, such as Baidu or 360 Search.

4. Test and measure responses

Use web analytics software such as Mixpanel to continually measure the responses you get to your landing pages, so that you can make changes and improvements in order to achieve your aims.

5. Consider multiple landing pages

If you have several categories of products to offer, you might want to create different landing pages for each one, each with its own specific goals and purposes.

6. Promote your pages elsewhere

Remember that many western social media sites are banned in China. Use localised social platforms to promote your landing pages – such as WeChat, Weibo, QZone and QQ.

Your landing pages need to be attractive, useful and informative, and to make it as easy as possible for users to take action. If you are not sure how to go about this, our bilingual China marketing team can help with all aspects of digital marketing in China. Contact us to find out how!

The post 6 Tips for Boosting Conversion on Your Chinese Landing Pages appeared first on Digital Crew.

While the principles are essentially the same for both – searching for and finding relevant information – even a seasoned expert in Google SEO is not going to be able to simply transfer the same tactics directly across to Baidu, and expect them to work in the same way.

So what are some of the major differences? Here’s a quick rundown.

1. Focus and domination

Google is more globally-focused than Baidu, dominating the world search engine market while having a very small share in China. Baidu on the other hand is far more focused on China, where it dominates with a market share of around 80%, according to data from China Internet Watch.

Baidu also tends to give preference to, well, Baidu! This means that on search results pages, Baidu’s own companies are more likely to appear at or near the top in applicable searches. Baidu also prefers Chinese sites (especially those that are hosted within China), whereas Google is more likely to display results from all around the world.

2. Languages

Mandarin Chinese and English are so different that it stands to reason that there would be some differences here. Chinese characters can convey more than one meaning and there are no spaces between words as there are in English. This all needs to be taken into account when developing content and keywords for Baidu.

3. Different timeframes

It can take longer to get a new website up-and-running with Baidu than for Google due to tighter restrictions, legal requirements and stricter vetting of sites in China.

4. SEO tactics

Keywords, backlinks, title tags and meta descriptions hold more sway now for Baidu SEO than Google. These elements used to be highly important for Google SEO prior to the Panda and Penguin algorithms. These clamped down on keyword stuffing and link schemes, and placed much more emphasis on semantic search, and content quality and relevance.

5. Mobile emphasis

Because the internet was late in coming to China, many users bypassed the whole desktop thing and jumped straight to mobile devices for internet search and use. China’s love of mobile devices means that while mobile optimisation is vital for both search engines, it may be a lot more so for Baidu.

6. Search methods

While we might type in words to do searches, in China users tend to prefer choosing options from a list, and they also have a preference for clicking on links. This is possibly because internet search tends to have more complexities when using Chinese characters.

7. Site layouts

Baidu tends to mix up paid and organic search results, rather than putting ads at the top as Google does. Chinese sites also tend to look more cluttered and have more links than our western ones – which may be due to a preference in China for having all the information needed in once place.

Our bilingual China marketing team can help you in all aspects of SEO for China. Get in contact with us to find out how.

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When it comes to mobile search in particular, the figures are even higher – at 91% dominance according to some reports, possibly as a result of Baidu having invested very heavily in it. Mobile search is also reported to provide the company with around 30% of its revenues, and account for two-thirds of its search traffic.

Mobile search is massive overall in China, with more than 80% of ‘netizens’ making use of it – up from 65% five years ago.

Some other facts about Baidu search engine

• Approximately 94% of Baidu users reside in China. The rest come from the US, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
• It is more than a search engine – offering games, travel booking, social networks, an e-commerce platform, and various other services.
• According to China Internet Watch (CIW), mobile search revenues had overtaken that of desktop by the end of 2014, and during 2015, the most looked-for content was around lifestyle, education, people, and news.
• CIW also states that mobile users are often seeking local resources and fresh content, and that Baidu has updated its algorithms in line with these trends.

How to optimise your mobile site for Baidu

If you don’t currently have a mobile site, you can create one using Baidu’s webmaster tools. Optimising your mobile site for Baidu is also vital in order to rank well online in China. Important considerations include:

• Content – this needs to be rich, high quality, current, unique and relevant. Poor quality or duplicated content could earn you a stiff penalty.
• Tags and descriptions – it’s important to ensure that these meet Baidu’s requirements. Also, meta descriptions are used for ranking with Baidu, which means they should ideally include search terms or keywords.
• Keywords / search terms – it’s important to do keyword research, but make sure that they are not overused in content.
• Language – content and tags should be in simplified Chinese.
• Quick loading times – on a mobile site, this requires limited use of videos and images that could slow down page load speeds.

How Baidu characterises poor mobile sites

According to CIW, Baidu considers these factors as possible indicators of a poor quality mobile site:

• Lack of content.
• Outdated content.
• Broken links.
• Overuse of keywords.
• Spam redirections.
• Inappropriate architecture.

If you haven’t optimised your desktop website for mobile search in China, you could be missing an opportunity to increase traffic and grow your brand presence. For assistance in getting the most out of Baidu, talk to the specialists at our China Online Marketing division.

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