Baidu SEO in China Best Practices to Increase Chinese Web Traffic

With more than 900 million Internet users, China is the biggest market that every business wants to tap. However, the Chinese digital l...

With more than 900 million Internet users, China is the biggest market that every business wants to tap. However, the Chinese digital landscape is different from that of the Western world. Here are some general concepts and best practices that you should know about Chinese SEO or Baidu SEO in China.

Baidu SEO in China Best Practices to Increase Chinese Web Traffic

1. Baidu Is the Main Platform

The Internet giants of the Chinese digital landscape are different. Baidu is the most popular search engine with more than 75% market share. According to leading Chinese SEO experts, Baidu has around 189 million daily active users.

If you want to reach Chinese consumers, Baidu marketing should be part of your overall digital marketing strategy. Besides search engine services, Baidu also offers other Internet products and services like augmented reality search to serve mobile users, smart mini-programs, and videos.

2. Simplified Chinese Language

Chinese people prefer the simplified Chinese language over the traditional language. Leading platforms like Baidu, Weibo, and WeChat require users to communicate in the Chinese language; English is not supported.

If your targeted audience is in Mainland China, you need to create a simplified Chinese language website. If your target market is Macau, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, you need to use traditional Chinese to develop website content. According to Baidu SEO experts, the platform also prefers simple Chinese language over traditional Chinese characters.

3. Webpage Loading Speed Is Important

If you want to serve the Chinese market effectively, you need to look at the web page loading speed. Page load speed is an essential factor for Baidu. It determines how Baidu processes the page in their database.

Factors That Affects Page Speed

● Hosting Location 

Internet speed is not an issue in China. The average speed on desktops is around 91.88/mbps. However, several other factors should be taken into account. Websites hosted outside China may not load faster.

● Flash/JavaScript

You need to avoid using Flash on your website. Baidu bots cannot crawl Flash, iFrames, or JavaScript. If you use them, make sure you provide an alternative HTML version for indexing.

● Foreign Backlinks

Foreign backlinks can also affect the webpage loading speed. Hence, you need to check how your website performs in China and then take optimizing decisions. You need to optimize your Chinese website for speed as slow loading times affect your search engine rankings.

4. Keywords, Tags, Meta Tags Are Important

Keywords are the main element of Chinese SEO. Due to the Chinese language's complexity, potential customers might use an infinite number of search query variations to discover your offering on Baidu. Hence, keyword research is vital for SEO. Find the optimal keywords for your Chinese website.

Most search engines have phased out meta keywords, but platforms like Baidu still use them as a ranking factor. For better ranking, you should use 3-5 keyword phrases on every webpage. The Meta keyword description length is 78 simplified Chinese characters.

Heading tags also have importance in Baidu SEO. According to SEO experts, each page should have one heading tag that contains a relevant keyword and describes the content on the page.

5. Regular Updates of Content

Unique content plays a special role in search engine rankings. Hence, you need to make sure your website shows updated content in simplified Chinese language with a content length of at least 300 words. You need to check all content for relevance and ensure correct words are used.

If you don’t have expertise over the Chinese language, consider hiring a language translator or a linguist expert who can create unique content for you. Make sure the person you hire knows different dialects in China.

Conclusion:

These are the general concepts and best practices you should know about Chinese SEO or Baidu SEO in China before developing and implementing any SEM strategy. This will ensure you connect with the Chinese audience more efficiently and get a good ROI on your SEO investments.