Any business whose target is the China marketplace should have a website with visibility on Baidu. This is why: Baidu has a market share of 75%, making it the most relevant search engine in China. (This is compared to Google which has only a 2% market share.)
You will learn by reading this article how to get high ranking on Baidu, as well as the important things to know about search engine optimization on Baidu.
Baidu (Chinese: 百度) is by far the most popular web search engine in China.
There are some differences between optimizing a website for China and other places in the world. Here are the four important things you should know when setting up a website for China:
Language
Use Simplified Chinese characters to write any content or meta tags. This will help to rank better in Baidu.
Top-level domain (TLD)
Baidu is set up to prefer .cn above any other TLDs.
Website Hosting
Make sure to choose a web hosting service in China because Baidu prefers local hosting for ranking purposes.
Censorship
If a web page has words on it that are blacklisted by China’s government, Baidu will automatically de-index it. This is you should keep in mind.
Off-site SEO Requirements of Baidu
Like many different search engines, Baidu considers link building and social visibility as important ranking factors. So make sure you follow these off-site ranking requirements:
Backlinks
Link quality has greater importance than link quantity on Baidu just as on any other search engine. Baidu also prefers keyword rich anchor texts. It’s also beneficial to ranking to target other Chinese websites in your link building activities. But, make sure you are not doing it aggressively. Maybe it will affect your ranking on Baidu.
Social Media
By implementing the Baidu share button, you are making sure that your website is shareable on social networks in China such as Sina Weibo. So, don’t forget to add social media sharing buttons on your website.
On-Page SEO Requirements of Baidu
Baidu has some differences from Google, Bing or Yandex as far as On-Page SEO is concerned. Here are the nine important things to know:
1. URL structure
Write descriptive URLs in Pinyin, which translates phonetically the Mandarin pronunciations of Chinese characters to the Latin alphabet.
2. Title tags and meta descriptions
Select separate tags for each page and make sure each page has relevant keywords. The tags should be no more than 80 characters for the titles and 200 characters for the descriptions.
3. Meta keywords
Meta keywords continue to be relevant on Baidu. Up to 5 keywords per page are ideal.
4. Heading Tags
Only one H1 tag should be placed on each page of your website. It should include one target keyword.
5. Images
When used, an image should have a descriptive filename and include an ALT tag.
6. iFrames, JavaScript and Flash
It is important to understand that iFrames, JavaScript or Flash can’t be crawled by Baidu. Therefore, you should have an alternate HTML version when you develop your website with iFrames, JavaScript or Flash.
7. Internal Linking
Keyword rich anchor texts are extremely important on Baidu. You should also use a breadcrumbs navigation.
8. HTML Meta tags
Description, title, keyword, canonical, robot meta tags are supported by Baidu. Link tags that point to mobile websites are also supported. But Baidu does not support at the present time the hreflang tag. Moreover, commands in robots.txt files are supported by Baidu.
9. HTTPS
Baidu has limited support for HTTP despite the fact that it is an official factor of ranking on Google. As a result, a Chinese website should always use the HTTP protocol.
SEO Tools Available on Baidu
Baidu Keyword Research Tool
Like the Google Adwords keyword planner, the Baidu keyword research tool allows you to find relevant keywords for your website in China.
Baidu Webmaster Tools
These tools enable you to monitor and control the indexing of your website on Baidu. It’s like the Google Search Console.
Trend Tools
Very much like Google Trends, Baidu Feng Yun Bang and Baidu Index are tools that offer useful resources for keyword ideas and the planning of your content.
In conclusion, to obtain high SEO ranking positions in China, you should consider implementing all the factors discussed in this article. I hope you found this post helpful and don’t forget to share on social media.
