Research and plan

Brands which see a healthy return on their Chinese digital market activity will invariably have carried out a significant period of planning and research beforehand. Yes, the nature of online channels means that it is possible to adjust digital campaign parameters quickly and easily – but not before you have begun to spend!

To avoid this situation, really pin down the fundamentals of your campaign. Who is your target Chinese audience? What does the user persona of your customer look like? What are your audience demographics? What are the objectives of your campaign? Are you looking to sell online via an e-commerce model, or to generate enquiries for a more prolonged sales cycle (such as for a higher education brand or a B2B brand.) By answering these questions, you will have a strong starting point for your campaign planning.

Remember too that a Chinese marketing agency can add real value to this process, by guiding your research and planning and matching up the outputs with the right Chinese digital marketing channels.

Start with your Chinese website

A localised Chinese website is essential to act as a cornerstone for your digital activity. If your budget can stretch to a new build specifically for the Chinese market, then this is the recommended route. Chinese consumers tend to follow different user journeys online than Western consumers and they respond to different calls to action, content, graphics and presentation. If your budget doesn’t stretch to this, it is still possible to achieve good results with website localisation activity. For example, you could use localisation to accurately and contextually translate your existing content, and then create fresh ongoing content which really resonates with your Chinese audience going forward. Or, you could build a Chinese landing page or microsite to start with.

Look at Chinese social media

Chinese customers love social media! There are dozens of popular social media platforms in China and they are hugely sophisticated and engaging; often working as entire digital eco-systems where users can post and share content, leave reviews, create videos, network privately, engage with brands, buy in just a few clicks and carry out specific functionalities such as ordering food and taxis, creating digital avatars, enjoying online quizzes and ordering custom products which they design online. Whatever your creative marketing campaign aspirations, there will be a social media channel that can deliver it – and a Key Opinion Leader (KOL) who can help you…

Find your KOL

Speaking of Key Opinion Leaders, or KOLs’, these powerful social media influencers are a must for successful China digital marketing. KOLs have large followings of Chinese internet users who share interests and demographics, and KOLs will work with brands who are relevant to their follower base. The biggest and most prominent KOLs charge thousands for a single post, but there are always more affordable influencers who will have a relevant fan base and the ability to provide value for your brand. Market Me China can help you to find the right Key Opinion Leader for your brand and broker the relationship for the best returns.

Create your online advertising campaigns

For rapid incoming traffic to your landing pages, a good online marketing campaign on Baidu is a recommendation for many brands. When the right keywords and parameters are used these campaigns can be very effective and give good results. It’s worth noting that Chinese internet users are more responsive to online advertising than Western consumers and they see it as a mark of trust, credibility and quality. Chinese customers have usually been stung by counterfeit domestic products, so quality Western brands which invest in online advertising are seen to be attractive. Worried about getting lost amongst bigger brands? Careful targeting will make all of the difference, along with ad optimisation so that quality, relevant traffic ends up on the correct page of your website. Market Me China can assist you with the process, as Baidu advertising is all administered in Chinese!

Organic Search on Baidu

SEO is essential in China to rank favourably on Baidu and other, smaller, search engines. This is a longer-term strategy, but – again – with time, focus and consistent work, it is possible to build a good ranking for your target keywords.

Online PR

If your brand is new to China or if it involves a longer purchase cycle (think, higher education or travel as examples), good ePR can help to position your brand in reputable publications that your customers trust. From advertorials and press releases through to peer-to-peer content and Word Of Mouth (WOM) strategies, your PR activity will amplify the success of your digital marketing activities. Furthermore, it will build the visibility and credibility of your brand in a country when this kind of power translates into sales.

Measurement and results tracking

Of course, to know whether your marketing budget is being applied to the best effect, it is essential to measure the results of your digital marketing activity. Success in the Chinese digital market will depend on applying the right blend of tactics and activities at the right time and to the right people. With ongoing measurement across platforms and regular adjustment of your campaign tactics, you can optimise your results. Again, this can be best supported by a Chinese marketing agency who can carry out full reporting on your behalf, navigating the various digital platforms that your brand uses, and evidencing progress towards your marketing goals.

Find out more

Ready to get the most from your marketing budget and to plan a highly-performing digital marketing campaign in China? Our team of digital marketing experts can help you to leverage your spend for the best possible results. We work on a flexible, responsive basis according to your needs and can support all elements of your online marketing activity, from campaign planning through to delivery and post-campaign evaluation. Please contact us on a no-obligation basis to find out more.

The post How to enter the Chinese digital market on a budget appeared first on Market Me China®.

Timing-wise, it’s also interesting to note that China is already starting to come out of its quarantine period, and early economic indicators suggest that it is experiencing a rapid market rebound, with pent up demand and supply both being released at speed. Just look at the flagship Hermès boutique in Guangzhou, which raked in a whopping $2.7 billion in one day of re-opening, as VIPs flocked to the designer store for bags, shoes and other high-end fashion items.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at how Western brands can position themselves for success in a world adapting to Covid-19.

Which sectors can benefit?

A sizeable number of sectors can migrate from offline to online delivery. For example:

– Retail businesses can grow their e-commerce provision
– Education establishments can offer online courses, such as MBAs which are always popular when delivered flexibly online.
– Brands can create profitable new revenue streams by selling digital assets such as images.
– Travel brands can encourage Chinese customers to start thinking about their post-lockdown travel and holiday plans.

Case study: JD.Com

Already, around 20 Western luxury brands have taken steps to open e-commerce stores on JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce platform, since concerns about Coronavirus began to take hold across the world. For example, by far, the Italian designer fashion brand, sold 65% of its stock in just four days, and around 90% within a month of creating its online store at JD.com.

Practical steps to take

Do your research

The lucrative Chinese market is growing and changing all of the time, with demographics that evolve as the economy becomes more globalised. The impact of the Coronavirus is likely to change these factors again; particularly when it comes to factors such as disposable buying power and attitudes towards media content. Now is the time to carry out research to better understand the unique needs, wants and desires of your target Chinese customers.

Choose the right platforms for e-commerce

Chinese e-commerce marketplaces such as Tmall,  JD.Com offer various advantages to Western brands wishing to develop their e-commerce capabilities fast, from ready template stores through to flexible fulfilment options and bespoke Covid-19 support programmes for their business customers. Chinese social media platforms also offer ecommerce integration; whether that’s through an in-app prompt within Little Red Book, or linked via advertising on a platform such as WeChat. Assess which platforms are right for your brand and set up your store for a ready route into Chinese e-commerce.

Think social

Every Western brand needs a strong presence on Chinese social media. Chinese customers will spend hours on their favourite platforms, whether that’s to consume, create and share content, network, post reviews, contribute to forums or engage with brands. There are dozens of Chinese social media platforms, from the giants such as WeChat, Weibo and YouKu through to Little Red Book and DouYin (TikTok). It’s important for Western brands to create official accounts on the platforms that their Chinese target audience and to create fresh, relevant and meaningful content. Remember, content is arguably even more important in China than it is in the West, so it’s a time investment well worth making.

Pick your KOLs

Use this time to think ahead and assess whether you are getting the most from Key Opinion Leaders. Whatever your industry and budget, there will be a KOL for you. These powerful online influencers work with brands on a partnership basis to carry out a variety of promotional activities, such as product placement, reviews, recommendations, competition launches and so forth. A Chinese marketing agency can help you to find the right KOL and broker a sponsorship arrangement that will give your brand the right exposure and return.

Get your website in shape

Do you have a Chinese language website that has been built for your Chinese audience? Are you creating bespoke content or translating your Western brand content? Do you have an app for your Chinese audience? Are your landing pages working, and are your user journeys optimised for Chinese user needs and online behaviours? Now is the time to develop your digital assets so that they are primed and ready to go once the Chinese economy is fully open for business again.

Look at Baidu PPC and SEO

Now is also a good time to ramp up your PPC advertising and SEO activities with Baidu. Once your website is optimised, set up targeted online PPC campaigns and begin to invest in long-term white-hat SEO that will build your brand’s rankings against relevant search terms. Again, a Chinese marketing agency can help you to do this in the right way, to set goals and to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns with performance analytics.

Consider your ePR

Chinese customers tend to distrust official media outlets but they are keen to consume quality content that adds value to their lives, and they enjoy excellent branded content that is fun, relevant and meaningful. A good Chinese ePR strategy can place your brand and its messaging in the right print and online media publications and ensure that it is seen by your target audience. This is essential to build your brand sustainably and to gain credibility and a strong reputation.

The Chinese marketing help that you need

Market Me China works with Western brands who are keen to build their presence profitably and successfully in China. Whether you operate in education, travel, retail or another sector, our team of digital experts can help you to craft and deliver a Chinese digital marketing strategy that provides measurable returns. Please contact us to find out more.

The post How to market to Chinese online users in the Post Covid-19 world appeared first on Market Me China®.

Preparatory steps

Do your research

It’s important to research the Chinese student market to identify key demographics and market segments which are likely to be a good fit for your institution. For example, in the UK, most Chinese students choose business-related subjects and the largest numbers are found at London universities. Most will typically be doing undergraduate degrees, although a significant proportion will be studying at post-graduate level.

Know what matters

Chinese students choose Western universities because they have connotations of value and prestige. A university degree from a reputable Western institution will be a valuable asset to a Chinese graduate’s CV and position them well for employment in any part of the world. Remember that younger Chinese are increasingly outward-looking and keen to experience the world.

Think about naming

Chinese students and parents alike value names greatly. For this reason, they will look at Ivy League universities in the USA, Oxbridge in the UK most obviously. But other links are also important. Manchester University appeals because of its links with the world’s most famous football teams. The University of Toronto is associated with successful immigrant families, for example. So consider the name and associations with your university. If it has accreditations, awards and other status symbols, be sure to promote them. If it is in a city with a claim to fame, then make the most of it!

Market to parents

Chinese parents see a quality Western education as an investment in their children’s future, so the question of ROI is key for their decision making. Perceptions of value are based on the physical qualification on offer, as well as the prestige and status of the institution itself. Chinese parents will want to see attractive buildings, heritage symbols, quality accommodation and excellent facilities. Ensure your marketing imagery really sells the quality of your physical offering, with strong ‘hero’ images and photographic quality which gives an editorial feel and a strongly aspirational edge.

Practical steps to creating your Chinese student targeted marketing campaign

Digital channels are your obvious best bet here, with your target market in China inevitably active online. Many institutions will also do in-country visits, talks and events, but these are expensive, resource-intensive and will only engage with a tiny proportion of the target audience.

Create your Chinese language website

Website localisation is vital and the best approach is to create a bespoke Chinese language website for your HE institution that is hosted in Mainland China or Hong Kong, which has a .cn domain and which has been built, written and tested specifically for a Chinese audience. Some universities will choose to translate existing content, but it is usually better to re-create content specifically for the needs of this distinct market. Remember that translation is more than simple word replacement; concepts and idioms must be perfectly conveyed for your university to be credible in this market. Consider the practicalities too. Chinese characters tend to take up 25% less space on a screen than Western characters, so the overall screen graphic presentation and UX may need re-working. Ideally, create a bespoke website with the help of an expert Chinese marketing agency, create content that really resonates with your target market (students and parents alike) and integrate all necessary elements such as your Chinese social media accounts, online advertising and other integrated features such as online chat.

Go mobile

Remember that over 98% of Chinese internet users choose mobile devices, so your academic institution also has the opportunity to create targeted campaigns and dedicated apps, featuring valuable information such as study programmes, chat facilities, key facts and success case studies. And of course, your HE institution’s website must be optimised for mobile as an absolute basic!

Use social media

Social media is your friend within this hyper-linked audience. WeChat is the most obvious platform, but others may be appropriate too for your HE brand, including Weibo and YouKu. Your content must be optimised for mobile and be planned strategically. For example, you will want to promote hard facts such has rankings, exam results and employment outcomes. Use learner-generated content that talks about learner experience and pastoral care. Interview successful graduates to explain what support is available for onward careers. A Chinese digital marketing agency can help you to build your brand on Chinese social media and to engage in the right way with your target audience. Remember that WeChat and other Chinese social media platforms also allow you to advertise, using a blend of in-app advertising (such as WeChat moments or banner ads) and KOL partnerships for ‘softer’ promotions, referral marketing and brand building.

Use Baidu PPC and SEO

With 70% of China’s search market, Baidu cannot be ignored. Set up the right Baidu PPC campaigns and you can drive qualified potential students – and parents – to your Chinese language website. It’s worth knowing that Baidu PPC usually offers better returns than Google PPC in the West, and it can accelerate the volume of incoming traffic to your landing pages rapidly, so that you can begin to engage your target audience. Similarly, invest in Baidu SEO for the longer-term, to drive your organic search volumes and accuracy.

Invest in online PR

A sound online PR strategy will amplify the effects of your digital marketing by placing your HE institution in the right publications for your target student and parent audience. Remember that Chinese people respect authority and seek out voices of trust, so your institution needs to be implicitly endorsed by appearing in the right media channels and outlets. A solid strategy will build your reputation across national media, educational publications, sector and vertical portals. It will need to include a rich mix of content, including thought leadership, reputation, case studies and so forth to brand build successfully and to stimulate enquiries.

Find out more

Market Me China works with Higher Education providers in the UK, USA, Europe and beyond to help them to attract Chinese students successfully to their institutions. To find out how our team of expert digital marketers can help you, please contact us today for a no-obligation chat about your needs.

The post How to target Chinese students who want to study in the West? appeared first on Market Me China®.

It’s important to remember that Baidu is not the same as Google, Yahoo or other common Western search engines, so the techniques that you use are likely to be different. Getting to grips with Chinese government censorship and ICP licence requirements are certainly a fresh learning curve of their own, so be prepared to do things in a new way!

Have local Chinese details on your website

You may already know that Baidu prefers sites hosted in Mainland China or Hong Kong (but not Taiwan) – however, it also prioritises sites with a physical presence in China. You don’t need to open a shop or outlet in the country but do aim to have local contact details for a Chinese address on your website.

Pay attention to language

You will already know that your site content should be in Chinese, but bear in mind that Baidu prefers Simplified Chinese characters. It won’t rank Traditional Chinese, dialects or foreign language sites highly on its SERPs. (Of course, the Baidu platform is entirely in Simplified Chinese too – so if you use a native Chinese digital marketing team, the language angle is far easier to handle from both a content and admin perspective!)

Invest in meta-tags

Western search engines don’t pay as much attention to meta-tags as they used to, but Baidu still values them. With title tags, include your keyword and add your brand and company name at the end of the title. Write your meta-descriptions too, and choose relevant alt-tags. Similarly, make sure every content page has a H1 tag, with H2 and H3 tags to organise content and repeat keywords carefully in each. If you a localising an existing brand website for your Chinese market, make sure you revisit all of these tags which are otherwise easy to overlook.

Focus on content

Baidu is similar to Western search engines in that it naturally favours fresh and original content, so brands must always be thinking carefully about a content strategy that incorporates a range of digital channels such as blogs, press releases, social media content, page updates and so forth. Baidu is notably strict on content duplication, so be mindful of bots and scrapers that capture your content and repurpose it elsewhere on Chinese websites. Look for plagiarism and address it quickly.

Check your anchor text

Baidu’s searchbots look closely at your anchor text, so align this carefully with your keywords for each page or blog post when you are adding internal links. Place your keywords in priority locations in your content and in headings, as Baidu’s crawlers are reportedly not as powerful as the ones used by Google and they don’t always san to the end of each content piece before ranking it.

Recognise the need for speed!

Baidu really ranks loading speeds highly, so page load times must be as rapid as possible – particularly for this highly mobile audience. Achieve this by stripping out any unnecessary code, large images, widgets and gizmos which don’t provide any value, and by hosting locally. Keep checking load times as your pages grow and carry out regular performance checks across your website so that you can make adjustments as needed.

Avoid using multiple Domains

Know that Baidu penalises websites which have sub-domains or multiple domains, so it is recommended to use a .cn Chinese site. If you have a Vietnamese, Taiwanese or Mongolian website as part of your Asian online business plan, don’t host them on the same server or create sub-domains. Build, serve and host them elsewhere to avoid any penalisation on your Chinese rankings.

Forget Flash!

Google has been indexing Flash elements and websites for some years, but Baidu doesn’t crawl or index it. So, don’t use it on your Chinese website, or you’ll be penalised.

Use Baidu’s webmaster tools

Yes, they are in Chinese, but you need to be using Baidu Webmaster Tools to see your user analytics, to check robots.txt files and assess your sitemaps. A Chinese marketing agency can help you with this by providing native online marketers with the skillsets to analyse your online performance and to keep refining your online assets for the best possible ranking performance.

Don’t be tempted by black-hat techniques

Baidu still ranks backlinks highly for SERP positioning, and this still tempts some brands to carry out black-hat SEO techniques such as link farming to boost their rankings. However, it’s a risky tactic and carries heavy penalties. At Market Me China, we always recommend that Western brands build their online presence in China using sustainable, ethical and white-hat SEO techniques for long-term benefits and accurate rankings that meet their target users’ needs. Backlinks will no doubt continue to be important for your rankings, but make sure you focus on quality as well as quantity.

Optimise for mobile

Baidu automatically transcodes websites which aren’t built for mobile phones, and this puts them at a disadvantage for search rankings. Ideally, build responsive websites and share URLs across mobile and desktop. Let Baidu know that you have a responsive website by adding applicable-device meta tags to pages and mobile type tags to sitemaps. Finally, go to Baidu webmaster tools and adjust your site properties to show how your site is configured; again to help its robots index it more accurately.

Find out more

Keen to learn more about Baidu SEO in China? Our team delivers a full suite of digital marketing solution to Western brands across all industries. Please contact us to find out more and to discuss your needs.a

The post Advanced techniques for Baidu SEO appeared first on Market Me China®.

What to know about Baidu

Baidu is China’s answer to Google, with more than 800 million Chinese internet users and about 70% of the country’s market share. Its value lies in answering two main questions for Western marketers:

1. How can my Western brand be found by Chinese online customers, and;
2. How can I build a trusted brand in China?

With the right Baidu SEO strategy, Western brands can be easily found by their target Chinese audience. They can also be strongly positioned as a trusted provider of the types of products and services that Chinese customers want (remembering that Western brands are viewed as being desirable and of high-quality in China.)

Like Google, but different

It’s useful to note that Baidu uses different algorithms to Western search engines and operates by targeting unique online behaviours of its Chinese users. It also operates within a distinct culture that goes way beyond a different language, including cultural differences, legalities, user behaviour, technical considerations and censorship. This means that different, highly targeted techniques must be used to build your Western brand sustainably in China’s search engine rankings.

The power of Baidu

Get your Baidu strategy right and you will:

– Increase the volumes of targeted Chinese customers landing on your Chinese website through organic search
– Build your ranking for targeted Chinese keywords on Baidu
– Optimise your web page indexing for visibility and SERPS alike
– Grow quality leads, customer enquiries and those all-important sales.

How to enjoy success on Baidu

With over 800 million Chinese customers currently online, Baidu SEO is an essential channel for long-term, sustainable visibility – and its gains offer permanent benefits. Every Western brand will need to develop a bespoke strategy according to its unique goals, current position and available budget. Depending on its market position, objectives and desired investment (considering the use of other digital marketing channels as part of a holistic strategy) a typical Baidu SEO strategy might capture the following activities:

1. Carry out competitor analysis

By understanding what your competitors are doing, easier decisions can be made about focus areas and routes for gaining competitive advantage and higher placement for certain keywords.

2. Chinese Website development

Western brands will need to develop and localise their Chinese website to ensure that pages are optimised for Baidu SEO. This includes analysing the structure of the website and optimising the UX accordingly for SERPS and human readers alike. (At Market Me China, we use tools to provide instant and rich analysis for targeted improvements and necessary site development.)

3. Chinese Website ‘housekeeping’

Carry out essential SEO ‘housekeeping’ – from removing deleting negative links through to adding header and image tags and optimising URLs. For example, it is important to remove redundant code in the back-end of website pages to improve their weighting (again, our tools identify this automatically and flags up instant fixes.)

4. Develop a Chinese keyword strategy

Assess Chinese keywords, rank them and ensure that keywords are incorporated into branded content correctly and in line with Baidu algorithms. A full content strategy will prioritise content and ensure a regular calendar of rich, varied and value-adding content that is designed with Chinese readers in mind, and which provides solutions to their pain points.

5. Develop a linking strategy

From backlinks to internal links, the right linking strategy and delivery will ensure that Baidu’s search engines can accurately read and rank your content, and build it’s ‘authority’ weighting for your target keywords. Again, this will also grow organic traffic. A sound strategy will factor in the right blend of social media, forums, online Q&A or wikis plus review and recommendation platforms for your brand; all building links and reciprocal traffic which increases your Chinese website’s relevance and weight for Baidu search engine.

6. Consider social media and mobile website

There is a strong link between brands that have a powerful social media following and those which are ranked highly on Baidu. The search engine indexes certain media platforms such as Sina Weibo, so it is worth optimising your full digital hub for integrated benefits. Equally, Baidu takes your mobile version website into account, and will naturally rank those brands which have a great mobile website that Chinese users find easy to use (this means a seamless UX, fast loading speeds, responsive web design and other key factors that you will become familiar with from your ‘regular’ website optimisation activities for SEO.)

Going the extra mile

Because Baidu operates in line with Chinese online users, Western brands must seek to really understand what makes Chinese users tick, and what represents a superb online experience in their eyes. We can provide these insights into behaviours and local factors which are essential to SEO success. At all times, white hat SEO techniques must be used to avoid being penalised by Baidu. Market Me China only ever uses legitimate white hat techniques for sustainable, long-term success.

How to get more organic traffic

Again, an integrated digital marketing strategy will support your SEO ranking activity. Organic traffic will grow as your keyword strategy and delivery begins to embed and your website optimisation pays off. Equally, your brand’s Chinese social media activities on platforms such as Weibo, WeChat, Little Red Book and Youku – combined with review websites – should seamlessly direct traffic to your target landing pages.

How to drive sales with Baidu SEO

Evidencing success

Baidu provides its own Baidu Tongji (Analytics) and Baidu Ziyuan (Webmaster) tools so that brands can assess the success of their work and see where ongoing adjustments and refinements can be made. These tools are extremely valuable and offer powerful insights, but they are in Chinese, so many Western brands prefer to use the services of a Chinese digital marketing agency to provide an expert translation. We provide tailored and customised reports that assess performance and flag up next-step activities for ongoing development.

How we work

Every one of our Western clients has a unique brand. Rather than attempting to apply a standardised approach to Baidu SEO, we work to really understand your business and to carefully define your objectives. By paying attention to the detail, we can craft highly effective strategies that bring you returns. Typical activities will span competitor research through to content preparation, website optimisation and social media integration, through to follow-up analytics to evidence success. At all stages, our helpful team will act as a ready extension of your own business, to deliver a quality service that rapidly demonstrates its value.

Find out more

Market Me China is the Chinese digital marketing partner of choice for Western brands looking to expand into this growing, lucrative and highly attractive market. With the Chinese audience only accessible through an array of localised digital channels which are unfamiliar in the West, our services make it easy to fast-track to success. Contact us to find out more.

The post How to create a Baidu SEO strategy for increasing ranking, organic traffic and sales appeared first on Market Me China®.

However, you should be aware that effective SEO on Baidu is a very different challenge to what you would face on Western search engines, most notably, of course, Google. Baidu is younger and less-developed than their world-renowned counterpart, meaning their algorithm works in a different way.

As such, what works on Google might not work on Baidu, so you will need to tailor your strategy. So, with the new year just started, it’s the perfect time to draw up your Baidu SEO plan for 2018, and get to work. Here is the guide you will need to help you on your way.

Firstly, here are 4 vital rules to follow

1. Host your site in Mainland China

It is clear that speed is a part of the Baidu ranking algorithm, so you should be doing everything you can to have your site load fast. One of the most important ways to achieve this is by hosting your site on the Chinese Mainland.

This does require more effort, as you will need to register for a Chinese business licence and apply for an ICP license. However, the results will certainly pay off.

2. Be mobile responsive

The future of search is mobile. Baidu now places heavy importance on a mobile responsive site, as this is how most of their users are performing searches.

This may mean investing some money into a site redesign, but it will definitely be worth it as a mobile-friendly Chinese site is only growing in importance.

3. Use simplified Chinese

There are variations of the Chinese languages that are used in places, such as Hong Kong or Taiwan. However, Baidu has shown time and time again that it places preference towards sites that use simplified Chinese.

4. Keyword research is paramount

This is hardly something new but is something that modern search marketers sometimes lose sight of. An effective keyword research strategy is needed to ensure your site can easily be found for a multitude of searches.

Do be aware, however, that Baidu has progressed beyond the stage of keyword stuffing and will simply punish sites that are trying this tactic.

You should be avoiding these common pitfalls

Despite the wealth of information available nowadays about Baidu SEO, some companies are still falling into these 3 common pitfalls.

1. Cashing in on adverts

Adverts are notorious for slowing down your site, which Baidu will punish you for. If you are interested in the long-term success of your site, consider removing advertisements wherever possible.

2. Running Flash

It appears that Baidu is still not capable of crawling Flash. This is one way the search engine differs greatly from Google.

3. Focusing on link quantity over quality

Though their algorithm is behind Google’s in terms of sophistication, it has advanced to the point of recognising Black Hat SEO. In particular, they now place greater attention on link quality instead of quantity, so this tactic will no longer work.

Here are some bonus steps to help you get ahead

To help your site succeed in 2018, here are 4 bonus steps you can use to improve your rankings further in Baidu.

1. Submit your sitemap to Baidu webmasters
2. Use a Chinese-based CDN
3. Pay attention to your meta tags
4. Place important keywords at the top of articles to help their less-powerful bots

Finally, bring in professional help

As the most populated country on Earth, China certainly possesses endless opportunities for companies looking to scale and grow internationally. But, for this very same reason, there is fierce competition for sites looking to rank well on Baidu.

To ensure your strategy is correct, and help you capitalise on this huge market, it is worth bringing in outside help. That is where we come in.

We are a specialised Baidu SEO agency who knows what works and what doesn’t. We can help you avoid all of the common pitfalls, and save you months of wasted time trying to learn the ropes.

To find out more about the Baidu SEO service we offer, and to help you make 2018 the most successful year for your company so far, contact our team today.

The post How to maximise your Baidu SEO success in 2018 appeared first on Market Me China®.

Hosting

ICP Licence

Censorship

Meta tags

Unique content

The post 5 Ways SEO for Baidu Differs From SEO for Google appeared first on Market Me China®.

While Baidu and Google may be different, they follow some of the same basic principles. Every month, 90% of Chinese internet users make at least one Baidu search (source: Baidu), which means that if you want to succeed and get found in China you need your Chinese website to have good Baidu SEO.

Mobile becomes dominant source of Baidu traffic

Baidu is seeing a change in its search traffic thanks to China’s increasing adoption of mobile technology, and has been highly successful in monetising mobile search traffic. In the first quarter of 2015 mobile accounted for 50% of total search revenue for the company: just over $1 billion (source: PR Newswire). Given that China had 520 million smartphone users by the end of 2014 (forecast to rise to 700 million by the end of 2018) the potential for using mobile Baidu SEO and mobile-optimised Chinese websites to reach your target market in China is huge (source: Tech in Asia).

Popularity of Baidu paid-for-marketing increasing

Just like Google, Baidu offers marketers a range of tools for getting noticed by their target market. As well as taking the top spot with Baidu SEO, marketers can also use Baidu PPC (Pay-Per-Click), Brand Link, and Contextual Advertising services to direct traffic to their Chinese website. The number of Baidu online marketing customers grew 17.5% year-on-year since the first quarter of 2014, to approximately 524,000. Not only are customer numbers growing, but also the amount they are spending: the average revenue made from an online marketing customer in 2015 Q1 was $3,839, up 13.9% on the figures from the same period last year.

Baidu becoming more quality focused?

Google’s latest algorithm changes have made it very clear that the old-style ‘keyword stuffing’ approach to SEO is no longer relevant to modern search. Its aim has been to steer websites towards creating and publishing quality content, rather than simply aiming for volume. Baidu’s latest investment – an estimated $20-$30 million in content recommendation tool Taboola – suggests the company has similar aims. Taboola uses a ‘related articles’ feature to display paid-for, yet contextually relevant, article links. Already used by websites including the Financial Times, USA Today, and NBC, Taboola helps publishers to increase page views and ad revenues by promoting relevant content to users.

Baidu’s investment comes alongside the announcement that the company will partner with Taboola to bring their content recommendation platform to China. It is worth figuring out the advantages to your business of this new tool now, as it could become an important asset for anyone marketing in China in the near future (source: Wall Street Journal).

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Create a tree-like site structure

Baidu’s site crawlers do not have the sophistication of Googles spiders, so keeping your site as simple as possible is vital in ensuring all your pages are indexed. Use a tree-like structure, where important pages are found at the top, to allow BaiduSpider to find and index your key pages. Baidu’s crawlers also rely upon the on-page content of your website. You need to make sure that each page is connected by a text link, and it is recommended that the deepest level of information on the website should be no more than four clicks away.

Build with slow internet speeds in mind

Poor connectivity means BaiduSpider can have trouble crawling your site. This is especially true in lower tier cities, where spiders may only bother to crawl the first 100kb or so of content on a page. This results in far fewer pages being indexed by Baidu. To put that into perspective, last year Google had more than 48billion indexed pages – Baidu had just 800million.

As your site could be accessed through a 3G connection by BaiduSpider, you need to ensure that it is fast and optimised for mobile viewing. With Baidu often only examining part of a page, and indexing far fewer pages than Google does, it is vital that your key Baidu SEO elements and important pages are easy to find to ensure they get indexed.

Keep your site simple to allow China SEO indexing

Simple site design is important for making your site China SEO friendly. Baidu is less sophisticated than Google in terms of the algorithms it uses, so does not read or understand many of the more advanced type of web functions. The BaiduSpider only reads text content, and does not read images or text in images. It ignores frames or iFrames, JavaScript, Ajax and Flash files. This makes plain text content a necessity on your site, otherwise Baidu will have nothing to crawl and your site will not be indexed. If you really must use a Flash website, Baidu recommends having a text version of the site that your Flash site links to.

Use keywords in Meta descriptions to optimise click-through rates

Unlike Google, Baidu still uses keywords in Meta descriptions for ranking purposes. However, where Google highlights keywords matching the searching criteria by formatting them bold, Baidu highlights them in red. This makes keywords far more visible, so having keywords in your Meta description will make it more eye catching, and therefore encourage people to click through to the page.

(Image source: “SEO diagram” |www.freedigitalphotos.net)

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With over 460million mobile internet users in China last year, some of their top 10 searches make for interesting reading about Baidu SEO and consumer behaviour.

Train ticket (2) and Check time (10)

Chinese consumers like to use their mobiles for travel-related searches and activities. 23% of mobile users often booked hotels or airline tickets online, while 34% do so occasionally. And with 61% believing online offers better prices than offline and China’s mobile internet users soaring this year towards 800million, that’s a lot of eager traffic for UK travel providers and attractions to tap into (source: China Internet Watch). Using the right Baidu SEO techniques, you can help Chinese travellers to find you, and the convenient online travelling services that you provide.

Lottery (3) and Gold price (4)

Nothing illustrates China’s move towards a more Western consumerist culture better than their 3^rd and 4^th top mobile searches. Of course, China’s Masculine society means that wealth has always been a sought-after asset, but the popularity of the search term ‘gold price’ shows perhaps the way Chinese consumers want to spend their wealth is changing. In the first half of 2013 the Chinese bought 383.86 tons worth of gold jewellery – a 44% increase on the same period in 2012 (source: International Business Times) Luxury retailers will find China’s aspirational wealth searches particularly inspiring.

Translation (6)

In 2013 97million Chinese tourists went abroad. With language difficulties being one of the primary concerns for the Chinese traveller, the availability of translation apps has likely encouraged many to travel further. Chinese travellers are big spenders abroad, with some foreign companies beginning to refer to them as ‘walking wallets’ (source: South China Morning Post). Knowing that translation is something Chinese mobile users are after allows you to push your Chinese-friendly services to the forefront of your offering. If the language barrier is something they are worried about, using Chinese SEO to show yourself as a hotel or attraction that caters to Chinese speakers can win you a lot of grateful business.

Express delivery (8)

With around 10,000 transactions taking place online every day in China in 2013, it’s hardly a surprise that lots of mobile users were looking for places offering fast delivery. China’s distribution network is in need of improvement as the growth of online shopping has taken the country somewhat by surprise. But distribution and online retail continues to advance swiftly, with many consumers using their mobiles to track their packages in transit. Marketing your company on the strength of its delivery and aftercare services could help you to win business from concerned and impatient consumers.

(Image source: “Global Seo Means World Wide Web And Website” | www.freedigitalphotos.net)

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Getting found in China online

While Chinese SEO and Western SEO work on the same principles, there are some differences it is very important to know. The most vital of these is that Google is not the most popular search engine in China. In fact, with a market share of just 3%, it barely registers. In China, the biggest search engine is Baidu with a 63% share of the market. In order for your Chinese SEO to succeed, you need to know how Baidu likes things to be done.

Last year, Baidu updated its policy regarding link building. While it now values link building, there are many ways in which your site can be penalised if you do it wrong. Simply exchanging plenty of backlinks with irrelevant sites, for example, won’t work. If you want good backlinks that improve your SEO, you need to have strong content, written in Simplified Chinese, that people want to share and link to.

Meta tags is still important in the Chinese internet. Meta tags is content that isn’t seen by site visitors, but is used by search engines to value its relevancy. Google stopped using meta tags a while back because it can be quite easy to misuse. Baidu still takes meta tags into account, so now might be a good time to freshen up on your meta skills.

Use the right language. Baidu uses Simplified Chinese when it looks for keywords and meta tage. You need to make sure that you are writing in the right form of the language. For this, it is a good bet that a native Chinese speaker will be required.

Knowing the main tools will make things easier. In the West you may know about Google Keyword Tool, but in China you need to use the Baidu Keyword Tool, Baidu Relevant Search, Baidu Index and the Live Keyword Ranking Feed.

SEO and the Great Firewall of China

Search engines like Baidu take into account the government firewall and censor content accordingly. Therefore, if you want to get your site ranked highly, it is really important that it doesn’t include any banned content. Read up on the Great Firewall of China in our blog post here.

Chinese SEO and internet marketing

The Chinese market is a hugely lucrative one for Western companies. All it requires is the right skills to unlock. At Market Me China, we offer you those skills. We can get you established in the Chinese market, putting your business where it needs to be online, making you visible, and letting people know who you are and what you do.

Get in touch today to talk Chinese SEO.

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