If you want to succeed in China’s digital market, ranking high on Baidu is a must. Unlike Google, Baidu has its own rules, algorithms, and preferences, meaning Western SEO strategies won’t work here.

Here’s how to optimize your website for Baidu and get more visibility in China.

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1️⃣ Host Your Website in China (or Hong Kong) for Faster Loading 🚀

📌 Baidu favors websites hosted on Chinese servers for faster performance and better indexing.
📌 The best way? Get an ICP License (Internet Content Provider) to legally host in China.
📌 If an ICP license is too complex, hosting in Hong Kong is the next best option.

💡 Action: Use a Chinese cloud provider (Aliyun, Tencent Cloud) for hosting and a CDN (Content Delivery Network) to improve speed.

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2️⃣ Use Simplified Chinese Content 🇨🇳

📌 Baidu prioritizes Chinese-language content, so English websites won’t rank well.
📌 Use Simplified Chinese (not Traditional Chinese) for better indexing.
📌 AI-generated translations don’t work—invest in native-level, keyword-optimized content.

💡 Action: Localize your content fully, including product descriptions, blogs, and meta tags.

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3️⃣ Avoid JavaScript & Heavy Code ❌

📌 Baidu’s crawler (Baidu Spider) struggles with JavaScript-heavy sites.
📌 Google can read dynamic content—Baidu cannot.
📌 Flash, Ajax, and JavaScript-based navigation can hurt rankings.

💡 Action: Stick to clean HTML, structured text-based content, and CSS for design elements.

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4️⃣ Prioritize Backlinks from Chinese Websites 🔗

📌 Baidu relies heavily on backlinks—but only from trusted Chinese domains.
📌 Foreign backlinks (non-.cn sites) have little to no impact on ranking.
📌 Guest posting on Chinese blogs, business directories, and news sites boosts credibility.

💡 Action: Get listed on Baidu Baike (China’s Wikipedia), Zhihu (China’s Quora), and local forums to build authority.

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5️⃣ Optimize for Mobile & WeChat Mini Programs 📱

📌 Over 80% of Baidu searches happen on mobile—your site must be mobile-first.
📌 AMP-like “Baidu Mobile Pages” (BMP) get priority in search results.
📌 WeChat Mini Programs appear in Baidu search, making them a powerful SEO tool.

💡 Action: Use Baidu Mobile Pages (BMP) format and develop a WeChat Mini Program linked to your website for extra traffic.

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🚀 Final Thought: Baidu SEO = China Market Entry

✔ China’s search game is different—Google SEO rules don’t apply here.
✔ If you’re not optimizing for Baidu, you’re invisible in China.
✔ Fast hosting, Chinese content, clean code, strong backlinks, and mobile optimization = SEO success.

Ready to dominate Baidu? Start optimizing now!

Basics you need to master about Baidu

Basics informations

You have probably search for more informations about SEO in Baidu and you have found out : language, quantity over quality, local domain, anchor text…etc.  What are these informations? 

Language? If your target is mainly chinese people then it’s obvious that you have to get a  simplified chinese website. If you want to be well indexed on Baidu, your website has to be in Chinese.

Quantity over quality? Google likes quality content but Baidu has not yet reached this top modern level yet. Quantity seems to be more important than quality. This means that there are many opportunities for spamming. However be carefull because Baidu has updated its own algorithms for those bad quality websites. 

Local Domain and hosting of your website. Some will say that your website need to be hosted in China if you want your SEO strategy to be successfull. However this is not true anymore. Your website can be hosted in Hong Kong and it works too.

Trust and Page Ranking on Baidu

You have two main characteristics on Baidu giving the trust ranking:

• You have two types of verified account, one if for the biggest international brands. The other is paid search verified account on Baidu. For this one you have 3 types of V, in order for you to get a better ad position on Baidu ranking page, you have to get this V. When you click on the V, you can see more details about the verified site.
• Page ranking from 0 to 10, depending on the quality of your links and website content, Baidu gives you a mark. If you are keeping constant on the content and links, then your mark must not change a lot.

Baidu ads

Have you ever heard about PPC campaign? Baidu ads are very strong and has can have a huge influence on your website ranking. At first you may invest to some PPC campaign but in order to be efficient you need to complete it with a SEO campaign. PPC campaign is not enough just for itself for a long term perception of your website strategy.

 

Read more

• SEO sur Baidu: 6 choses à savoir avant de se lançer
• How Baidu is censoring service providers?
• How to make digital your weapon in China
• Tips in China

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