Tips for Improving SEO on Baidu

SEO Baidu

In the West, Google has virtually the monopoly on Internet search in most countries. But in China, Baidu (百度), HaoSou (好搜) and Sogou (搜狗) search engines are dominating.

Baidu is the most popular search engine in China. As of May 2021, it accounts for 72% of the Chinese search engine market share. 

If your website is registered under the .cn domain, then below are some tips to keep in mind for improving your website’s SEO :

Creating unique content 

Baidu will highlight unique content, so make sure not to duplicate other versions of your content elsewhere on the web, otherwise Baidu will shadow the duplicated contents.

Use simple URLs 

– Avoid special characters, numbers and dashes into the URLs

– Use popular keywords

– Use SEO friendly words for news pages related

Pay attention to quality and quantity 

Make sure that your publications have a minimum of 300 words on each page.

Think about mobile optimization

In China, 61% of the Internet traffic is made on the mobile phone, consequently all your website pages, articles and social media posts should be optimized for mobile, below are some requests for mobile version : 

– Report your website on Webmaster Tools 

– Highlight the visual quality of the web page 

– Produce qualitative content 

– Make responsive design for the accessibility of the website and pages 

– Ergonomics and optimal UX experience are important

– Good readability of the page is pleasant

– Fast loading time (between 1 and 3 seconds) is highly recommended

– No error pages displayed 

– Use the meta tag “location” by mentioning the province and the contact details of the company to allow the mobile website to be located 

More information for mobile content adaptation on this website.

Subscribe to our newsletter for more information about digital marketing in China

Take a look at research trends 

By using Baidu Index, you can determine what are the research trends in China. You can refine your search by provinces, cities, age groups, gender, socio-professional category…

Get the official website icon “官方” which shows validation by Baidu 

Validation icon of Louis Vuitton on Baidu

Validation icon of Louis Vuitton on Baidu

Showing this “官方” icon off will increase your click rate and your trust rank for a better e-reputation. More information on this site.

Display advertising

Advertising on Baidu’s display network is a powerful way to increase brand exposure in China. By setting up advanced targeting advertising, you could reach the right audience that could be interested in your website.

Creating traffic from your social medias to your website

Florasis' Wechat account

Florasis’ Wechat account

From your posts published on Wechat, QR codes or on the Wechat’s account menu bar, all of these tools should redirect to your official website.

For more information about the Chinese market, do not hesitate to contact us

How to use Weibo for brands marketing ?

Weibo for brands marketing

Instant messages, a limit of 2000 characters by posts, pictures grids, short videos, Weibo’s functionalities look similar to Twitter, used in western countries. At the beginning, Weibo was made for personal use but more and more brands are active on Weibo because companies can build databases, promote their brand image and drive traffic to their website.

According to Statista, as of the first quarter of 2021, Weibo’s monthly active users amounted to around 530 million. Weibo is not only a tool for boosting brands’ visibility, but also a tool for brands to better understand Chinese audiences and get closer to customers.

Here are the good practices of doing marketing for brands on Weibo :

Building brands’ notoriety through search function

Using search function allows the user to find posts related to keywords on the research box. By jumping on trending topics, brands’ posts will be kept under the topics related to the post’s description.

Besides, the posts can be consulted at any time and by everyone, unlike the companys’ accounts on Wechat where users have to subscribe to be aware of the latest publications. 

As for famous events like Chinese New Year, 520 Festival (as known as Valentine’s Day) or the upcoming 618 Shopping Festival (as known as the largest mid-year shopping festival in China), brands are launching presales campaigns for ongoing products or limited edition products.

Chaumet, the French luxury jewelry and watchmaking brand, has chosen as brand ambassador the famous Chinese actor and singer Zhang Yixing (Lay Zhang) for a series of love-themed jewelry.

Weibo’s account of Chaumet about luxury jewelry for 520 Festival

Content share facilities

Cross-channel is the key. When scrolling down the timeline, users can easily share a post from Weibo to Wechat. 2 options will be suggested : create a post on the user’s Wechat account (it will appear on friends’ Wechat Moments) or send to a friend by message (private traffic). After going through Wechat, the user can go back to Weibo and keep on browsing or stay on Wechat.

Creating a post on Wechat including a Weibo’s link

Creating a post on Wechat including a Weibo’s link

Sending a message to a friend on Wechat including a Weibo’s link

Sending a message to a friend on Wechat including a Weibo’s link

Weibo’s user journey highlights these types of actions :

  • Passive (scrolling down content)
  • Active (commenting and liking)
  • Reactivity (sharing on other social medias)
For more information about digital marketing and business in China, subscribe to our newsletter

E-commerce integration

Through its partnership with Taobao, Weibo users can put links to Taobao store and products’ page in their posts.

Products' page links on Weibo

Video of @kakakaoo about L’Oreal lipstick on Weibo

Running campaigns

Targeting is quite precise on Weibo and the Chinese audiences’ ages vary from 14 to 60 years old. Brands can tailor campaigns in the format of display ads or Weibo search engine promotion.

Selling via live streaming 

As on Douyin, Wechat and Xiaohongshu, buying during a live streaming is one of the best time selling opportunities since live broadcasting gives the viewers the feeling of proximity and authenticity with the broadcaster. 

Live streaming on Weibo

Live streaming of jade jewelry selling

For more information about the Chinese market, do not hesitate to contact us

Guochao (国潮) : the integration of traditional Chinese culture and style in brands’ marketing

Guochao

Have you ever heard of the term “Guochao” (国潮) ?

In Chinese, “guo” (国) means “country” and “chao” (潮) means “tide”. With growing levels of national pride, Chinese youth is now looking for unique ways to identify themselves with their Chinese roots in a world greatly influenced by Western aesthetics.

Chinese gen-Z people have become one of the largest spending groups in China and many local brands play the nostalgia’s and culture’s card to attract them.

Visual and aesthetics matter a lot

Chinese millenials consumers are more nationalistic and brimming with cultural confidence in comparison with older generations. When it comes to shopping, they show interest in the product’s packaging and the experience delivered.

They are mostly the generation most able to obtain the latest trends, especially for new limited collections : it makes them want to collect something rare, precious and cool.

Catkin Summer Palace collection (BB cushion and lipsticks set)

[Photos from Catkin’s website]

Catkin (卡婷) is a Chinese cosmetics brand that offers products of good quality and luxury packaging with a competitive price.

The best sellers of Catkin are the Summer Palace collection products. The outcome ? The Summer Palace collection, especially the lipsticks, launched in 2019, went viral and was quickly sold out on Tmall within 24 hours ! 

On Catkin’s Wechat official account, customers can purchase online either through Wechat store or Tmall store. There is also a VIP space where people can test new products.

Purchasing on Catkin’s Wechat store 

[Photos from Catkin’s Wechat official account]

These products have been so successful that the brand’s awareness crossed overseas. Catkin discovered that foreigners in Asia or in other countries requested to purchase the collection as well. Indeed, Catkin has over 10 distributors in foreign countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia or Thailand and offers free shipping in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Russia.

For more information about Digital marketing and business in China, subscribe to our free newsletter

Emotion and experience are tied together

The Guochao trend not only reflects the sudden rise of domestic brands, but also the resurgence of Chinese cultural elements and traditional style. Fashion brands like Li Ning (李宁) or Randomevent (随机事件) are putting forward cultural elements and traditional lifestyle to create more fashionable yet modern styles that young Chinese can be identified to.

Campaign for Randomevent Market 

[Photos from Randomevent]

For example, Randomevent launched in April “Randomevent Market”, a range of clothes and accessories putting forward the daily life of merchants at market in Hangzhou. The motto written over all pieces of clothes is 称心如意, a Chinese expression for “everything one could wish”. 

Randomevent opened a pop-up store in Hangzhou Kerry centre with a market look alike welcoming atmosphere. Customers can walk from the fruits department to the seafood corner where the new clothes are displayed.

Pop-up store in Hangzhou Kerry Centre

[Photos from Randomevent]

By celebrating authentic and local atmosphere with fashion, streetwear and comfortable clothes, the brand won Chinese millennials’ hearts and aimed accurately at its phygital strategy, online and on site.

Shopping online through Wechat 

[Photos from Randomevent’s Wechat official account]

Nowadays, Chinese gen-Z are looking for a new meaningful connection with brands, so it is important for new international brands entering China to embrace these values of Chinese pride. International brands need to establish strong communication with their target consumers and make a clear value proposition to them.

For more information about the Chinese market, do not hesitate to contact us

We can propose customized digital marketing services according to your ambition to create your Chinese story and expand your brand

Social commerce is now possible on Zhihu

Zhihu

有问题，上知乎 ! (For any questions, ask Zhihu) is the slogan of Zhihu, a Chinese platform where you can get answers for all kinds of topics.

With 220 million registered users, Zhihu is a real tool of trust since it creates interactions of questions and answers between a group of people around a subject. 

To begin with, why is Zhihu essential to brands ?

Online reputation management in China impacts so much on a brand’s image and visibility. Chinese search engine results and social media platforms are effective tools used for increasing online reputation. The best way to make a brand visible on the Chinese market is to implement a global marketing strategy on the main social media including Wechat, Xiaohongshu, Weibo, Douyin and Zhihu. Thus, by developing your strategy and raising brand awareness on Zhihu, you increase your brand’s visibility and build effective long-term promotion.

Besides, using Zhihu is also a tool to improve a brand’s Search Engine Optimization thanks to a high domain authority on Baidu, consequently one Zhihu page will be displayed on a Baidu search engine result page, no matter what the date of publication is. 

But except from being a community-based platform, Zhihu is now seen as a lever for doing business.

Here are some new functions added on Zhihu :

Brands and Product Recommendation Program :

Brands (Chinese or foreign brands) can post articles or answer questions related to their products by linking to a product on their websites or e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, Pinduoduo or Sunning. It is the best way to drive traffic and to help effectively potential customers.

For example, on the pictures below, a user asked for a liquid foundation. After describing her bad experiences with luxury brands like Armani, Lancôme or Estée Lauder, she is looking for any recommendation for other liquid foundations adapted to dried skin.

Among the answers she received, several products like Make Up For Ever’s foundation were recommended with the product’s details and application advice. If the user clicks on the button “去购买” (purchase) on the right, he is redirecting to the product page. 

  • Zhihu
  • Zhihu
  • Zhihu

Recommendation on cosmetics products with product’s links

Creators can also link their products to the shop (商品橱窗) on their Zhihu account main page. Besides, livestreaming sessions now include a shopping icon that leads the users directly to the product page on e-commerce platforms or leads to the creator’s store on Zhihu. Briefly, everything is done to facilitate the customer journey within Zhihu.

Zhihu

Creator’s jewelry store clickable on the creator’s main page

Raising trust through experts’ insights :

Zhihu uses knowledge, information, and personal experience that could influence the decision-making process of any potential consumer before purchasing. But the other main point of Zhihu now is the presence of experts including writers, scientists and businessmen that show legitimacy to the users.

Entertainment and inspiration on Zhihu :

If some users are looking for answers to specific questions, others just want to have fun on Zhihu. Films, videos, documentaries, and even TV series can be streaming and creators can receive a commission based on video views as well. 

The following picture shows a video introducing the interior design style from North European countries. By displaying a series of pictures, it gives inspiration on house decoration for fans of design.

Video introducing the interior design style from North European countries

VIP access

Zhihu is a free platform but users can take advantage of special contents or flash sales if they belong to the VIP club.

According to the topics you are interested in, a selection of articles or most popular contents is recommended on the membership tab. 

Other articles accessible only on VIP access

For more information, do not hesitate to contact us at project@emotionchina.cn

We can propose you customized digital marketing services according to your needs.

For more information about Digital marketing and business in China, subscribe to our newsletter : https://www.subscribepage.com/chinabusinessletter