Baidu SEO Guide: How to Start and what to avoid?

I think you will agree that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important part of building a digital image of any business. While it may be a complicated process at Google, it may be tougher to be the number one search engine in China in 2023, Baidu. With all the rumors and outdated information, it may be hard to find out what is real and what is wrong with Baidu SEO.

In this article, we will try to clear some of the mysteries and rumors surrounding the Baidu search engine optimization process and provide you with tips and tricks to help your web pages rank well in Baidu’s search results. We’ll start with a brief introduction to SEO, and then drill down into some of the biggest issues that users face when trying to improve Baidu search rankings. If you are an SEO professional, you can jump to more specific parts of Baidu below. We also introduce some of the most common mistakes companies face in their search engine optimization efforts.

What Foreign Brands Should Know about Marketing to China

So what is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization is the process of increasing the visibility of your search engine
The ultimate goal of search engine optimization is to have your website appear in search engine results for the specified keywords that are relevant to your business.

Increased visibility of your business-related keywords can drive sales and brand awareness. Almost every enterprise that has a digital marketing strategy will allocate resources to increase its SEO rankings.

Search engine optimization professionals in the West focus on improving their rankings in the number one search engine, Google. However, since Google has hardly any Chinese marketers need to focus on Baidu, China’s leading search engine.

However, the complexity of China’s Internet regulations and the loopholes in Baidu’s algorithm has made it more difficult for overseas companies to compete in search rankings. We will discuss it further later.

SEO On-Page vs. Off-Page

Increase your search engine rankings by both in-page and out-of-page search engine optimization
Just for those who are not familiar with the search engine optimization process, I will briefly introduce its working principle. Search engine optimization is usually divided into two broad categories, commonly referred to as page search engine optimization and out-of-page search engine optimization.

Search Engine Optimization focuses on improving the readability of search engine sites. The use of keywords in page content, website speed, and website format all contribute to the readability of search engine websites. All of these factors can make your site more thoroughly and better included by search engines, while Google and Baidu are.

Offline SEO is to establish authority by establishing backlinks to your website. This is usually done by creating high-quality content that users want to link to. It also passes stuff such as guest blogs and contributions to your niche website.

Unfortunately, there are many “black hat” technologies that can help achieve this goal, such as sharing of paid links, networking of links, and more. Google has succeeded in blocking the use of most of these technologies, but Baidu has lagged behind, which means that many of these technologies are still widely used Now let’s take a look at Baidu SEO Guide.

Things you need before starting to use the Baidu SEO journey

Chinese website: Make sure Baidu and your target audience can really read your site
This is absolutely necessary for Baidu because Baidu is not efficient at reading other languages ​​besides Chinese.

But there is a problem,
Although Baidu can handle traditional Chinese, it prefers Simplified Chinese. So, if you created a site in Taiwan or Hong Kong that uses traditional characters, you would need to change it to Simplified Chinese when launching in China.

Having a Simplified Chinese website will make it easier for Baidu to read what your site is and should rank. If Baidu’s algorithm does not understand what’s being read on your site, you cannot understand your site’s content and index it accordingly.

A Chinese website not only includes Chinese characters, but also the visual standards that Chinese Internet users have become accustomed to.

Hosted: Hosted or not hosted … in China
Baidu in the ranking process taking into account the speed of your site loading.

If your site is hosted in Europe, the United States, or elsewhere away from mainland China, it will certainly be slower to download.

The most effective way to speed up loading is to host your site in mainland China. Due to the stringent Internet regulations in China, you will need an Internet Content Provider License (ICP) hosted in China.

Apply for an ICP license

The Company must hold a Chinese business license. There are many managed service providers in China, but the most popular is Alibaba.

So how to make sure you are not penalized for the slow loading of websites that do not have a Chinese business license? Another best solution is to be located near mainland China such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, or Macau.

Although not as fast as China, but the site is fast enough, will not be severely punished Baidu algorithm. If you plan to do business in China for a long time, getting an ICP and hosting in China will surely improve your rankings.

Companies wishing to test the market in full compliance should consider hosting in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, or Japan.

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

How to Increase Your Loading Speed ​​Alibaba also offers CDN service. Most large websites around the world use the power of CDN to ensure their websites are quickly loaded around the world. Although not completely necessary CDN can further increase your website speed, which helps improve SEO rankings. Using China-based CDNs will have the best results, but global providers such as Cloudflare and Amazon Web Services will still be able to load your site faster. Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent also provide CDN services, which you can also view. However, there is another issue that global providers do pose a certain risk because once the Chinese government completely blocked a global CDN service called Edge cast.

Building a strong SEO strategy on Baidu is a must for any company from all industries that are willing to succeed in China.

But we understand that it might be intimidating especially if you are not speaking Chinese and not familiar with the Chinese very unique digital environement.

Our agency can help you to accompany you is this process and implement the strategy that suits you the most.

Feel free to contact us and get a free consultation call with our experts of the Chinese market.