Orange Feng, Author at The Egg Digital Agency - Search, Social, Display Wed, 03 Apr 2024 06:40:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.6 https://www.theegg.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/favicon.ico Orange Feng, Author at The Egg 32 32 Baidu’s Bid in the AI Race: A Look into ERNIE Bot and AI Chat https://www.theegg.com/seo/china/baidus-bid-in-the-ai-race-a-look-into-ernie-bot-and-ai-chat Tue, 02 Apr 2024 02:40:10 +0000 https://www.theegg.com/?p=80006 The post Baidu’s Bid in the AI Race: A Look into ERNIE Bot and AI Chat appeared first on The Egg.

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Baidu’s Bid in the AI Race: A Look into ERNIE Bot and AI Chat

Baidu's Bid in the AI Race: A look into Ernie Bot and AI Chat

In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing various sectors, the search industry is no exception. AI search has emerged as a new sector in the industry. Following the initial launch of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot by OpenAI, in November 2022, the year 2023 witnessed an AI evolution with top-tier companies like Baidu, Microsoft, and Google venturing into AI chatbots.

In February 2023, Microsoft unveiled Bing Chat, a chatbot that integrates OpenAI’s large language models into Bing and the Microsoft Edge browsers. Google followed suit with the launch of its AI chatbot, Bard (now Gemini), in March 2023.

Amid these advancements, Baidu, China’s leading search engine, entered the AI race by releasing it’s AI chatbot, ERNIE Bot (also known as Wenxin Yiyan – 文心一言) to select users on March 16, 2023, before making it publicly available on August 31, 2023 (https://yiyan.baidu.com/) . ERNIE Bot (full name: Enhanced Representation through Knowledge Integration) can interact with people, answer questions and queries, assist in creation, and help users obtain information and knowledge efficiently.

Wenxin Yiyan

ERNIE Bot (Wenxin Yiyan 文心一言)

Given that major search engines are integrating AI technology into their search algorithms, it’s essential to keep an eye on the changing dynamics of search results. This is particularly important for search engine marketing efforts aimed at the Chinese market. In the following sections, we’ll delve into three aspects of China’s leading search engine, Baidu, and its incorporation of AI into search results. Additionally, we will discuss how brands can proactively position themselves within the realm of generative AI search.

1. Changes to Baidu’s Search

“AI CHAT” BUTTON APPEARS ON BAIDU SEARCH 

In the second half of 2023, following the launch of ERNIE Bot, Baidu integrated ERNIE Bot’s large language model technology to its search interface. This integration enabled users to directly interact with ERNIE Bot, harnessing the power of AI-enabled conversations within the search environment.

1. Baidu made the AI search option easily accessible from its homepage, placing a “Click to experience AI search” prompt prominently at the top right corner. By October 2023, this function had been renamed to “Click to experience ERNIE Bot”, maintaining its prime positioning on the homepage.

Baidu Home Page Click to Experience AI Search - August 2023

Baidu Home Page Click to Experience AI Search – August 2023

Baidu Home Page Click to Experience Wenxin Yiyan - October 2023

Baidu Home Page Click to Experience Wenxin Yiyan – October 2023

2. For searches initiated through the Baidu search bar, the “AI Chat” option was conveniently located below the search bar, to the far left.

Baidu searches for "Shanghai Weather", "AI Chat" appears at the bottom of the search box-August 2023

Baidu searches for “Shanghai Weather”, “AI Chat” appears at the bottom of the search box – August 2023

By early 2024, having raised awareness amongst its user base, Baidu phased out the AI Chat and ERNIE Bot options from its homepage and started operating ERNIE Bot and AI Chat separately.

Baidu’s home page has no trace of AI – February 2024

Baidu’s home page has no trace of AI – February 2024

Baidu’s ai products

ERNIE Bot and Baidu’s AI Chat serve distinct purposes. ERNIE Bot, also known as Wenxin Yiyan, stands out as a knowledge-enhanced large language model with extensive knowledge and robust language processing skills.  On the other hand, Baidu’s AI Chat places a stronger emphasis on the integration of search and information.

Baidu has positioned ERNIE Bot as an intelligent partner to be used for writing copy, ideation, chatting, and answering questions. However, a login to Baidu is required for use of this feature.

ERNIE Bot: https://yiyan.baidu.com/

Wenxin Yiyan

ERNIE Bot (Wenxin Yiyan)

A paid membership is required to use Ernie 4.0, the latest version of the large language model while Ernie 3.5 is free for the public to use. The following chart shows the benefits of membership.

Wenxin Yiyan Membership Benefits-4.0 Membership required to use

ERNIE Bot (Wenxin Yiyan) Model 4.0 Benefits

Baidu’s AI Chat: https://chat.baidu.com/

On the other hand, Baidu’s AI Chat integrates search results from across the web citing answers and referencing sources, providing more authoritative and credible answers. A login to Baidu account is also required for the usage of the AI Chat.

Baidu AI Search Partners

Baidu’s AI Chat

Introduction of AI Chat in Baidu Search Results

Baidu has initiated a public beta test by integrating its generative AI chat feature into search results, leveraging the capabilities of its knowledge-enhanced large language model, ERNIE 4.0. This beta test is limited to queries, and the AI Chat results are displayed exclusively for certain Q&A terms, such as IT and knowledge-related terms. This feature bears similarities with Microsoft’s Bing (now Copilot).

Search term: C++ memory overflow troubleshooting

Answers are shown in the AI results. Clicking on the AI Chat results in the prompts "Log in now to unlock the opportunity to ask questions"

Answers are shown in the AI results. Clicking on the AI Chat results in the prompts “Log in now to unlock the opportunity to ask questions”

 

Search term: sumifs takes two conditions in one column

Answers are shown in the AI results

Answers are shown in the AI results. Clicking on the AI Chat results in the prompts “Log in now to unlock the opportunity to ask questions”

 

Clicking on the AI results in the prompt will take the user to https://chat.baidu.com/.

Characteristics of AI Chat results in SERPs:

  1. Present only in desktop search, not yet available in mobile search;
  2. Currently favoring Q&A terms and knowledge-based search terms;
  3. The results are displayed at the top of the search results;
  4. There is no link to the content source in the results;
  5. At the end of the AI-generated results, options for “Ask me more” along with 2-3 suggested follow up questions are presented;
  6. Selecting “Ask me more” or recommended question prompts will take you to the AI Chat platform, necessitating a login to your Baidu account.

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2. Are current AI-generated results affecting the search engine market?

So far, we are yet to see AI chatbots make a significant difference to the traditional search engine market. Globally, Bing and Google began incorporating AI conversational results into their search outputs in 2023. However, according to Statcounter, from January 2023 to January 2024, Google’s market share experienced a slight decline, falling from 93% to 91.47%. Meanwhile, Microsoft Bing, which earlier adopted GPT-4, saw a modest increase in its market share, from 3% to 3.42%.

Search Engine Market Share Worldwide - January 2024

Search Engine Market Share Worldwide – January 2024

Search Engine Market Share Worldwide Jan 2023 - Jan 2024

Search Engine Market Share Worldwide Jan 2023 – Jan 2024

In China, the most recent Statcounter data (January 2024) reveals that Baidu leads China’s search engine market with a share of 61.11%. Bing follows as the second largest, holding 17.5% of the market. The third position is occupied by with a 6.86% share, and Sogou ranks fourth at 5.58%.

Search Engine Market Share in China - January 2024

Search Engine Market Share in China – January 2024

Search Engine Market Share China Jan 2023 - Jan 2024

Search Engine Market Share China Jan 2023 – Jan 2024

Although Bing’s market share is increasing, it’s critical to recognize that services such as Copilot are not accessible in Mainland China.

From the above data, it can be seen that search engine usage remains robust. ChatGPT or AI chatbots are unlikely to replace the current search engines for the time being. One key reason behind this is the risk associated with misinformation in the content generated by these AI technologies, especially in fields requiring precise logical reasoning, such as electronic equipment, rail vehicle technology, and information network cabling. Furthermore, the inherent limitations of AI chatbots, including their struggles with delivering real-time data and maintaining accuracy, support the view that they are not on track to surpass search engines any time soon.

ChatGPT is a case in point, with its focus primarily on fostering dialogue and interactive communication, highlighting its role more as a tool for conversation and assistance rather than a go-to source for precise and critical information.

3. How to navigate generative ai’s impact on search engine results and search optimization?

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, search engines are constantly experimenting with chatbots and AI-generated result summaries to make search results more helpful and interactive. While these AI features are continually being iterated on, it is clear that they are here to stay.

A common misconception is that AI features on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are merely pushing traditional website links lower. In reality, though, they are creating new avenues for distributing information. The introduction of AI into the search industry represents a pivotal opportunity for marketers by expanding their focus from merely securing high search engine rankings to embedding content within AI-generated results.

Thus, it’s essential for marketers to view AI enhancements not as a threat to organic traffic but as an opportunity to enrich how information meets the end-user. Marketers must ensure that their websites and content are AI-compatible, allowing AI to easily process and prioritize it in its responses and suggestions.

To align with search engines in their quest to deliver optimal results, ensuring a website is perceived as a credible source by AI is paramount. This requires a blend of technical SEO and quality content strategies that cater specifically to the intelligence and criteria set by AI algorithms for selecting and presenting information. Here’s how marketers can optimize their websites for a future deeply integrated with AI technology:

MAKING YOUR SITE crawlable (indexing)

A cornerstone of effective SEO is ensuring your website’s crawlability. This allows AI and search engine crawlers to access all your content comprehensively.

High-quality content and regular content updates

Superior and regularly updated content will not only stay ahead of AI-generated content but also gain added value and traffic from search engines and AI databases. Organize and structure content in a logical way, incorporating article summaries, and clear, hierarchical segmentation.

1. Content Direction E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trust). E-E-A-T is a content quality assessment framework proposed by Google, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Combine E-E-A-T to create content that is meaningful, unique and engaging, driven by value.

  • E: Experience:  To some extent, it also shows that the Google algorithm values the content author’s work experience or life experience in the field. Especially in today’s rapid development of AI, it is especially important to embed experience in the article when writing.
  • E: Expertise:  Demonstrate expertise and knowledge depth within your content’s topic.
  • A: Authoritativeness:  Branded sites can easily become authoritative in their content through branding.
  • T: Trustworthiness:  Ensure that the site is reliable, trustworthy and has a good reputation.E-E-A-T

    E-E-A-T

2. Content Form. Multimedia, graphics, etc., with emphasis on visual effects.

3. Keep the content fresh. Keep information up-to-date with regular content refreshes, ensuring users have access to the latest information.

Structured Data

Add structured data to help AI understand your content, a critical move as structured data will help turn text into recognizable entities for AI analysis.

Link Management

Establish links to reputable sites and manage these connections carefully. Engage with platforms like Zhihu for Q&A content, and create backlinks to your website, even NoFollow links, which assist AI in content discovery. Consider managing your brand’s presence on platforms like Baidu Baike to publish branded content and industry insights.

Cross-platform search and touchpoints

The scope of search marketing is broader than ever with cross-platform searching and creating customized touchpoints through various platforms, including Red, Zhihu, TikTok, and others. Beyond merely being present on these platforms, brands have the opportunity to actively engage with their audience by creating content, enhancing visibility.

Use of AI tools

1. Keyword research: deeper understanding of user intent

Since Search Generative Experience (SGE) results attempt to address multiple intents in a single query, it may fetch content unrelated to your target keywords. Identify the core terms that drive the overall strategy, but also look at the different intents expressed in deeper pages and make sure the content covers them.

2. Produce Copy and Content

The major AI tools on the market are capable of copywriting and touch-ups, as well as one-click layout. When using AI tools to create content, it is still necessary to maintain prudent and critical thinking and make necessary changes and optimizations to the AI-generated output.

As Baidu’s AI Chat in search continues to undergo beta testing and its search results are not yet widely visible, brands have a window to audit and optimize their sites following these guidelines to stay competitive. AI Search is a fast-moving space, with major players constantly experimenting with new features. As digital marketers, it is crucial to stay informed and adaptable during this exciting period of innovation. By staying up-to-date and remaining agile, marketers can effectively navigate the ever-changing landscape of AI search and leverage its potential for improved visibility and engagement.

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]]> Why Bing Search Engine Can’t Be Ignored for B2B Marketing in China https://www.theegg.com/seo/china/why-bing-search-engine-cant-be-ignored-for-b2b-marketing-in-china/ Tue, 23 May 2023 08:23:50 +0000 https://www.theegg.com/?p=78630 The post Why Bing Search Engine Can’t Be Ignored for B2B Marketing in China appeared first on The Egg.

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Why Bing Search Engine Can’t Be Ignored for B2B Marketing in China

microsoft bing - a must-have for B2Bs in China

Launched in 2009, Microsoft Bing has since become one of the most popular search engines in the world, providing users with standard search results, as well as image and video search, news search, and maps through its proprietary algorithm.

In contrast to B2Cs that leverage various channels for e-commerce, B2Bs rely more heavily on search engines to direct website traffic and conversions—Bing has become a significant player in this aspect and should not be overlooked.

In this article, we dive deeper into why Bing cannot be ignored for businesses looking to expand their reach in China through B2B marketing.

Bing’s Growing Search Market Share in China

When compared to the popularity of Baidu in China and Google in the rest of the world,  Bing is still a relatively small search engine, yet its market share in China rose significantly from 5.6% to 14.7% YoY between February 2022 and February 2023. This jump speaks volumes about the growing appeal of Bing in China.

Bing’s rise in popularity can be attributed to several factors, such as its improved search algorithms and user interface and strategic partnerships with Chinese companies. Additionally, its focus on providing localized search results and catering to the unique search behaviors of Chinese users has helped it gain a foothold in the competitive Chinese search market.

On top of that, Microsoft’s unveiling of a new version of Bing (“new Bing”) in February 2023 that stirred a ton of buzz due to its integration of the generative AI technology behind ChatGPT could be a reason for its recent surge in users—even if Microsoft has not completed its rollout to every user and the fact that ChatGPT is still unavailable in China.

As ChatGPT continues to ascend in popularity new Bing becomes more widely available, Bing’s user adoption is likely to increase.

1. Bing’s market share in China’s search engine market (Feb 2022 vs Feb 2023)

Bing’s market share in China’s search engine market (Feb 2022 vs Feb 2023)

2. China's search engine market share (Feb 2022 vs Feb 2023)

China’s search engine market share (Feb 2022 vs Feb 2023)

In fact, Bing was already showing signs of growth from 2021 to 2022. In China, Bing’s market share is 3.08% in 2021, growing to 9.63% in 2022. Especially in the second half of 2022, the growth is strong.

3. China’s search engine market share (Jan 2021 to Dec 2022)

China’s search engine market share (Jan 2021 to Dec 2022)

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Bing Search Index in China Increase

Another way we can validate Bing’s user growth over the past two years is by analyzing its search index on Baidu, which provides real-time keyword search volume and trends, as well as insights into user behavior and interests.

Mirroring the upward trajectory of its search market share in the last two years, searches for “Bing” and “必应” (meaning “Bing” in simplified Chinese) rose gradually from 2021 to 2022 and saw a surge in early February 2023 according to Baidu Search Index.

4. Baidu Search Index - Search volume for “Bing” and “必应” (Feb 2021 to Feb 2023)

Baidu Search Index: Search volume for “Bing” and “必应” (Feb 2021 to Feb 2023)

In the tables below, you can see that the total year-on-year increases (%) in daily search volumes for “Bing” and “必应” outgrew those for “百度” (meaning “Baidu” in simplified Chinese) in 2022 compared to 2021. This highlights an increasing number of users in China who are showing interest in Bing, which suggests potential higher user adoption of the search engine.

Baidu Search Index (2021 data)

5. Daily averages and YoY percentage changes of search volumes for “Bing”,“必应”, and“百度”(Jan 1, 2021 - Dec 31, 2021)

Daily averages and YoY percentage changes of search volumes for “Bing”,“必应”, and“百度”(Jan 1, 2021 – Dec 31, 2021)

Baidu Search Index (2022 data)

6. Daily averages and YoY percentage changes of search volumes for “Bing”,“必应”, and“百度”(Jan 1, 2022 - Dec 31, 2022)

Daily averages and YoY percentage changes of search volumes for “Bing”,“必应”, and“百度”(Jan 1, 2022 – Dec 31, 2022)

Furthermore, Baidu and 360 Search ads have been observed to appear more frequently at the top of Bing’s search results since the middle of 2022. This implies that Bing has recognized the increasing number of users relying on it for their search queries.

6. Baidu ads showing up at the top of Bing’s search results

Baidu ads showing up at the top of Bing’s search results

Why You Might Choose Bing over Baidu for China B2B Marketing

Bing has a lower search market share in China compared to Baidu but generated more organic traffic for B2B websites in February 2023. This can be attributed to B2B-related keywords being easier to rank on the first page, or top 10 search results, on Bing than on Baidu.

Additionally, Bing indexes new pages faster than Baidu, further aiding their ranking potential. On Baidu, only one brand website can rank as a Baidu B2B result on Baidu’s search results, whereas two or more can rank on Bing for B2B-related search terms.

***

Based on our analysis, it is evident that Bing is becoming a noteworthy search engine in China’s B2B sector. If you’re looking to expand your online brand presence in China, consider implementing Bing SEO if you haven’t already.

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]]> How to do China B2B Marketing on Baidu https://www.theegg.com/seo/china/how-to-do-china-b2b-marketing-on-baidu Wed, 26 Apr 2023 03:00:19 +0000 https://www.theegg.com/?p=77560 The post How to do China B2B Marketing on Baidu appeared first on The Egg.

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How to do China B2B Marketing on Baidu

How to do China B2B Marketing on Baidu – APAC in 3 – Episode 20

Baidu is far and away the leading search engine in China. According to its financial report for Q2 2022, monthly active users (MAU) on its app rose 8% year-on-year (YoY) to 628 million in June, with at least 84% of them being daily active users (DAU).

Like on Google (or any search engine for that matter), Baidu continuously updates its search algorithm, paving way for alterations in search results and, in turn, new opportunities to rank higher on its search engine results pages (SERPs).

But Baidu tends to rank results from its own integrated properties higher, which complements Chinese search behavior but poses unique challenges when carrying over universal SEO best practices to Baidu. Such challenges are particularly distinct for B2Bs since their search traffic relies more on general webpage searches.

Besides those from its B2B-specific platform (Baidu B2B), Baidu’s other properties have appeared more often across its search results for B2B-related queries. But understanding which to target based on your needs is critical to tapping into China’s hyper-lucrative market.

Here, we’ve outlined five Baidu properties with the highest potential for B2B brand exposure and how to leverage each of them for your China marketing goals.

The five properties are:

  • Baidu B2B
  • Baijiahao
  • Baidu Wenku
  • Baidu Baike
  • Baidu Zhidao

Baidu B2B (爱采购)

Launched in October 2018, Baidu B2B is Baidu’s B2B vertical search engine that lets users explore product or service information from credible B2B merchants. It boasts high search visibility on Baidu and tends to have at least one search result on Baidu SERPs for common B2B-related keywords.

1. Baidu B2B Homepage

Baidu B2B: Homepage

Baidu B2B also provides interested buyers with useful functions like the ability to filter and search for specific products or manufacturers, communicate with merchants, view quotations, conduct online transactions, and more.

As for sellers, it can help you attract users—especially those at the beginning of your conversion funnels—by matching your listing information and customer data with their search needs.

Baidu B2B is free-to-use for buyers, while sellers can place their listings on the platform through one of the following ways:

  • Advertised listings under the Baidu B2B SERP sections (through the Baidu advertising platform)
  • Join the Baidu B2B platform (annual membership fee of RMB ¥6980 per year)

Baidu B2B: Common Layouts

These are the three search result types from Baidu B2B that commonly appear on Baidu’s SERPs.

Note: Baidu B2B’s SERP features currently do not divert traffic away from the platform (i.e., to a seller’s official website). Instead, all communications and transactions are done through Baidu B2B. However, as a seller, elements like page titles, content, and images within your Baidu B2B shop can be customized to your brand.

Featured Image Snippets

Occupying much of the Baidu SERP real estate, featured image snippets display eight product images and details such as their name, price, and business name, and location by default.

2. Baidu B2B featured image snippet on Baidu’s SERP for search term “Polypropylene”

Baidu B2B featured image snippet on Baidu’s SERP for search term: “Polypropylene”

Product Lists

Baidu B2B’s product lists are similar to its featured image snippets but purely text-based, displaying product information for the eight-most relevant products for a given search term in lists, including their product model, quantity, supplier, and price.

3. Baidu B2B product list on Baidu’s SERP for search term - “Mobile phone chip”

Baidu B2B product list on Baidu’s SERP for search term: “Mobile phone chip”

General Results

Baidu B2B’s general results appear like any standard result on Baidu’s SERP with a meta title and description, publish date/modified, site name, and—in some instances—a featured image.

4. Baidu B2B general result on Baidu’s SERP for search term - “Sensors”

Baidu B2B general result on Baidu’s SERP for search term: “Sensors”

Baijiahao (百家号)

Introduced in 2016, Baijiahao is Baidu’s content creation platform where publishers post content ranging from videos and livestreams to text articles to dynamic images. News and entertainment are among the most popular topics among users.

5. Baijiaohao search result in Baidu’s SERP for search term - “Active noise cancellation (ANC)”

Baijiaohao search result in Baidu’s SERP for search term: “Active noise cancellation (ANC)”

It supports five different types of entities to register accounts, including individuals, news and media outlets, enterprises, governments, and other*.

*Other organizations: For all kinds of public venues, public welfare organizations, schools, associations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other institutions to apply.

6. Official Baijiahao (enterprise) account belonging to Alienware

Official Baijiahao (enterprise) account belonging to Alienware

Baijiahao is currently free for all entities.

But if you are a business and wish to enjoy the tools available exclusively to verified enterprise accounts, such as adding business phone numbers to your Baijiahao page, you’ll need to verify your account and pay an annual fee of RMB ¥600.

7. Alienware’s verified disclaimer on its Baijiahao enterprise account

Alienware’s verified disclaimer on its Baijiahao enterprise account

Baijiahao currently provides six ways to monetize content on its platform, including:

  • Traffic revenue
  • E-commerce link cards*
  • Paid content (videos, online courses, research articles etc.)
  • Content marketing
  • Paid groups or exclusive communities
  • Patron buttons and widgets

*Through a verified enterprise Baijiahao account, brands can even add their own third-party product pages (via Taobao, JD, Baidu Wutong etc.) directly into their articles.

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Baidu Wenku (百度文库)

Baidu Wenku was released in 2009 and remains the world’s largest online Chinese document-sharing platform. Here, you’ll find educational materials, research papers, business and legal documents, novels, comics, and more. Its concept is similar to that of the Canadian professional content-hosting service Slideshare—but with a greater variety of document formats and types.

Publishing materials on Baidu Wenku is a common way to attract organic traffic from potential clients seeking more in-depth information about a higher-end B2B product or solution before purchasing it.

In recent years, Wenku has also developed into a user-generated content (UGC) platform where authors can promote and sell their content. To encourage more content creation on its platform, Wenku utilizes a credit system to reward authors and require users to download documents using credits, which can be purchased directly or earned by pricing their own content uploads.

8. Baidu Wenku search result on Baidu’s SERP for search term - “Nucleic acid extraction reagent”

Baidu Wenku search result on Baidu’s SERP for search term: “Nucleic acid extraction reagent”

Baidu Baike (百度百科)

Released in 2008, Baidu Baike is China’s Wikipedia equivalent, providing Baidu users with mostly authoritative articles on virtually every subject. As of October 2022, Baidu Baike has more than 26 million articles and over 7.6 million netizens contributing to entries.

Since Baidu Baike search results tend to rank high on Baidu’s SERP (i.e., among the top three results, oftentimes the first) for searches on brands, people, and places, brands should target Baike to rank for their own business or product-related search terms.

9. Baidu Baike search result on Baidu’s SERP for search term - “AMD Semiconductor”

Baidu Baike search result on Baidu’s SERP for search term: “AMD Semiconductor”

10. Baidu Baike search result on Baidu’s SERP for search term - “Mobile Phone Chip”

Baidu Baike search result on Baidu’s SERP for search term: “Mobile Phone Chip”

Aside from optimizing for business or product-related searches, maintaining a corporate page on Baidu Baike—given its credibility as an authoritative source of information—can help boost your brand’s credibility, so be sure to follow suit by publishing educational and impartial content on your Baike page.

Baidu Zhidao (百度知道)

Launched way back in June 2005, Baidu Zhidao (meaning “Baidu knows”) is one of China’s most popular Q&A platforms that provides helpful answers to millions of questions about every topic imaginable.

11. Baidu Zhidao search result on Baidu’s SERP for search term - “MEMS Sensors”

Baidu Zhidao search result on Baidu’s SERP for search term: “MEMS Sensors”

Baidu Zhidao can’t funnel organic traffic to your site directly. But since its search results tend to rank favorably on Baidu’s SERP, answering questions related to your business niche can help educate potential customers about your offerings and, in turn, improve their perception of your brand.

***

Baidu and Google may seem similar on the surface, but the more you delve deeper into the two, the more apparent their differences become. Although Baidu has more features and ads crammed onto their SERPs, alongside deeper integration of their own properties, its algorithm—particularly in determining page quality—is much simpler to understand than Google’s and has a strong preference for everything Chinese.

If your brand or business wants greater search exposure on Baidu’s SERPs, the Baidu properties discussed in this article are worth the effort to try to rank for, especially the most popular ones like Baidu B2B, Baidu Baike, and Baijiahao.

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]]> Baidu SEO: 2021 Search Algorithm Updates https://www.theegg.com/seo/china/baidu-seo-2021-search-algorithm-updates/ Fri, 11 Feb 2022 03:29:14 +0000 https://www.theegg.com/?p=48523 The post Baidu SEO: 2021 Search Algorithm Updates appeared first on The Egg.

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Baidu SEO: 2021 Search Algorithm Updates

SEO in China - Baidu Algorithm Updates 2021

Baidu—China’s #1 search engine—continuously seeks to improve its user experience and provide relevant results, making it imperative that you stay on top of its algorithm updates.

With the turn of the new year, let’s examine all of Baidu’s algorithm updates in 2021, including how to optimize your site accordingly and maximize your traffic potential among its 558+ million active users.

Here’s a quick summary of all five Baidu algorithm updates in 2021, including their intended objectives and launch dates (from newest to oldest).

Baidu Algorithm Update Objective Launch Date
Breeze Algorithm 4.0  (清风算法 4.0) Regulate download sites across Baidu September 2, 2021
Beacon-Fire Algorithm Update  (烽火算法升级) Mitigate back button hijacking August 19, 2021
Blue Sky Algorithm 2.0  (蓝天算法 2.0) Weed out low-quality content on Baidu’s search results July 27, 2021
Baidu’s Updated Landing Page Standard Optimize mobile landing page experience May 24, 2021
Thunder Algorithm 3.0 (惊雷算法 3.0) Crack down on artificial methods of boosting search rankings January 12, 2021

Baidu Algorithm Update #1: Breeze Algorithm 4.0

Breeze Algorithm 4.0: What is it?

Baidu first launched its Breeze algorithm in September 2017 to penalize websites that have inaccurate webpage titles for the sake of attracting more clicks. And Baidu has since launched version 4.0 in September 2021, again targeting download sites with misleading titles and limiting their search visibility as it strives to cultivate a safe and transparent search environment.

Thus, if your website offers downloadable resources, you should comprehensively inspect and rectify any of your title tags or web content that might be flagged as inappropriate by Breeze Algorithm 4.0.

Here are three potential issues that require your attention, as well as some good and bad examples for each:

Clickbait Title Tags

This issue occurs when a download page’s title tag claims it has downloadable content but fails to let users access them directly—or at all—once they land on the page.

Two of the most common clickbait outcomes include scenarios where:

  • The download page prompts an error message like “no resources at this time”

1. Bad Example- The page title tag (top) indicates a software download but the page itself (bottom) reports no downloadable resources

Bad Example: The page title tag (top) indicates a software download but the page itself (bottom) reports no downloadable resources

  • The download page redirects users to another site to access the downloadable content

2. Bad Example - Clicking the download button on the supposed download page (left) results in a redirect to another page (right)

Bad Example: Clicking the download button on the supposed download page (left) results in a redirect to another page (right)

How to Prevent Your Titles From Being Perceived as Clickbait?

If your downloadable resources are not online, you should reflect this in your page titles and contents to avoid over-promising and causing users to click on your download by mistake.

3. Good Example -0 This page title clearly informs users that the game is not yet online for download

Good Example: This page title clearly informs users that the game is not yet online for download

If your downloadable resources are public, we recommend that you make them available to users within your download page—i.e., without a need to redirect to another page. However, if a redirect is necessary for the download, you should clearly explain this in your page title, contents, and a disclaimer on your download button.

4. Good Example - This download button has a disclaimer informing users will be redirected to another download page

Good Example: This download button has a disclaimer informing users will be redirected to another download page

Unsolicited Downloads

This issue occurs when the download page provides users with what appears to be downloadable content, but clicking download leads to situations where:

  • Users must download an external application, like a high-speed download manager, for the download to go ahead—i.e., the download page does not offer a direct download function.

5. Bad Example - Clicking this download button leads to the download of a high-speed download manager instead of the Android-compatible game (跑跑卡丁车)

Bad Example: Clicking this download button leads to the download of a download manager instead of the Android-compatible game (跑跑卡丁车)

  • Multiple software are bundled alongside whatever content users originally intended to download, with users unable to change the selection.

6. Bad Example - When users click on this software download, they are forced to download other software

Bad Example: When users click on this software download, they are forced to download other software

How to prevent your downloads from being perceived as unsolicited?

If you provide alternate download methods, you should delineate each method—like explaining to users how installing an accompanying download manager could accelerate their download—and still provide a direct download function. Note that Baidu users can uncheck any bundled software that they don’t wish to install in the pop-up window before a download.

7. Good Example - This page tells users that a download manager should be installed first to facilitate a faster download of the content (while still offering a direct download option)

Good Example: This page tells users that a download manager should be installed first to facilitate a faster download of the content (while still offering a direct download option)

Misinformation on Download Pages

This issue arises when downloaded content does not match the download page’s description and can occur in situations where:

  • The download page defines its resource as an app download (e.g., app A), but the actual download is another app (e.g., app B) or are, in extreme cases, gambling or pornography apps.

8. Bad Example - The description of this download page (left) does not match the actual download resource (right)

Bad Example: The description of this download page (left) does not match the actual download resource (right)

  • The download page describes its resource as a particular format (e.g., an audio/video download), but the actual download is another (e.g., an audio/video player).

9. Bad Example - This download page (left) describes its resource as an e-book while the actual download (right) is an e-book player

Bad Example: This download page (left) describes its resource as an e-book while the actual download (right) is an e-book player

How to avoid misleading users with your downloadable content?

To avoid misleading users, ensure that your downloadable resources are consistent with the messaging on their respective download pages. And if your download, say an audio file, requires the installation of a separate audio player, your download page should inform users about this in the page title and download button.

10. Good Example - This download page explains that users must install an e-book player before downloading the e-book itself

Good Example: This download page explains that users must install an e-book player before downloading the e-book itself

WANT DIGITAL INSIGHTS STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX?

Baidu Algorithm Update #2: Beacon-Fire Algorithm Upgrade

Beacon-Fire Algorithm Upgrade: What is it?

The Beacon-fire algorithm identifies and penalizes websites that exhibit malicious behavior, including web traffic hijacking and stealing of user personal data without permission.

On any modern web browser, the back button lets users leave a page or website once they have finished browsing it. However, back button hijacking can cause frustrating user experiences.

To this end, Baidu upgraded the Beacon-fire algorithm’s coverage to penalize websites that deploy the following back button hijacking tactics:

  • Making the back button unresponsive so that users cannot return to the previous page. This means users are trapped in the site unless they close their browser window.
  • Clicking the back button directs users to the website’s homepage or navigation instead of the previous page they were browsing.
  • Clicking the back button directs users to a low-quality page they have never visited before, such as pages with primarily advertising or pornography.

Beacon-Fire Algorithm Update: What to look out for?

You should never subject your users to hijacking, whether through tactics actively employed by yourself or maliciously inserted into your website (e.g. vulnerabilities, advertisement hijacking, JavaScript hijacking, etc.). As a standard, clicking the back button should let users return to the previous page they visited.

We also recommend examining Baidu’s website hijacking troubleshooting guide and auditing third-party scripts used on your site. Baidu has identified that malicious third-party scripts are a common cause for back button hijacks.

Baidu Algorithm Update #3: Blue Sky Algorithm 2.0

Blue Sky Algorithm 2.0: What is it?

Blue Sky Algorithm 2.0 enhances Baidu’s ability to identify and control fake and malicious content unrelated to a particular site and weed them out from its search engine results pages (SERPs).

Blue Sky Algorithm 2.0: What to look out for?

We recommend avoiding creating low-quality content for the sake of putting out content, especially if the content is unrelated to your product or service.

Baidu Algorithm Update #4: Updated Landing Page Standard

Baidu’s Updated Landing Page Standard: What is it?

Baidu has a whitepaper for webmasters that documents best practice recommendations for designing mobile landing pages. The current version of this whitepaper is 5.0, published in 2020.

In May 2021, Baidu updated its recommendation, specifying that the main contents of a mobile landing page should no longer be collapsible.

11. Bad examples of mobile landing pages, where main contents are collapsible

Bad examples of mobile landing pages, where main contents are collapsible

Baidu’s Updated Landing Page Standard: What to look out for?

Considering Baidu’s best practice recommendations, you should adhere to the following standards for your mobile landing pages:

  • Do not use expand full text buttons to collapse main content on your web pages.
  • Expand full text buttons can still be used with supplemental content, like related articles or comment sections. But they should be limited to one instance below the fold.
  • The expand full text button must be clearly marked with text and fully functional.
  • The expand full text function should be positioned logically to avoid impeding user navigation and experience on the page.

Baidu Algorithm Update #5: Thunder Algorithm 3.0

Thunder Algorithm 3.0: What is it?

Back in January 2021, Baidu Search launched its Thunder Algorithm 3.0, which cracks down on fraudulent practices that attempt to artificially boost a website’s ranking by forging user behavior, like with clickbots. Compared with its version 2.0, this update has improved the algorithm in four key areas:

  • More acute identification of fake clicks
  • Intensified penalties to fraudulent sites
  • Expanded coverage of the algorithm
  • Targeted crackdowns carried out on website industries more prone to such practices, including automotive, download, recruitment, B2B, and more

Thunder Algorithm 3.0: What to look out for?

To grow traffic sustainably, you should produce high-quality content that meets users’ needs. We recommend steering clear of traffic generators (like click bots) and other fraudulent methods that can hurt your SEO and—in some cases—result in a penalty for your website.

***

As search ranking competition in China continues to soar, websites should adhere to local laws and regulations, as well as Baidu’s SEO guidelines, to reach its unparalleled online userbase.

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The post Baidu SEO: 2021 Search Algorithm Updates appeared first on The Egg.

]]> How to Set Up Baidu Webmaster Tools (2021 Edition) https://www.theegg.com/seo/china/how-to-set-up-baidu-webmaster-tools/ Tue, 19 Oct 2021 03:45:27 +0000 http://www.theegg.com/?p=28128 The post How to Set Up Baidu Webmaster Tools (2021 Edition) appeared first on The Egg.

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How to Set Up Baidu Webmaster Tools (2021 Edition)

How to Setup Baidu Webmaster Tools – APAC in 3 – Episode 05

Baidu dominates China’s search market with 558+ million active users, housing the world’s most advanced Chinese-language search algorithms and largest index of Chinese webpages.

And while only available in Simplified Chinese, Baidu Webmaster Tools (or Baidu Ziyuan) offers myriad game-changing metrics to optimize your site for Baidu, making it an essential platform for your China SEO strategy.

For a quick overview, check out episode 05 of APAC in 3 for a walkthrough of how to setup your Baidu Webmaster Tools so that you can tap into Baidu’s massive online traffic potential among China’s captive search audience. And for a deeper dive, read the full article below.

There are 3 main steps to setting up Baidu Webmaster Tools:

  1. Register for a Baidu account
  2. Verify your website for Baidu Webmaster Tools
  3. Set your account permissions

INTRODUCTION TO BAIDU WEBMASTER TOOLS

Integrated within Baidu’s Search Resource Platform, Baidu Webmaster Tools tracks and enhances your site’s organic performance on Baidu and even recommends critical SEO best practices unique to your site to improve its visibility.

It provides 4 primary services:

  1. Resource submission
  2. Data statistics
  3. Search display
  4. Site optimization and maintenance

1. Baidu Webmaster Tools interface - 4 primary services

Baidu Webmaster Tools interface: 4 primary services

Setup Baidu Webmaster Tools – Step #1: REGISTER FOR A BAIDU ACCOUNT

To start using Baidu Webmaster Tools, you must first sign up for a Baidu account (if you haven’t done so already).

Use the relevant registration link based on your location:

BAIDU ACCOUNT SETUP – STEP #1: CREATE YOUR USERNAME

The guidelines for username creation are as follows:

  • Usernames cannot be amended after setup.
  • Both Chinese and English usernames are supported.
  • Usernames can be up to 14 English letters or 7 Chinese characters in length.

2. Baidu account setup - Create a usernameBaidu account setup: Create a username

BAIDU ACCOUNT SETUP – STEP #2: ENTER A MOBILE PHONE NUMBER

Both Mainland China and overseas mobile numbers are supported in the registration.

Important Note: Email registration is not supported on Baidu Webmaster Tools. You can only register with a mobile number.

3. Baidu account setup - Enter a mobile numberBaidu account setup: Enter a mobile number

BAIDU ACCOUNT SETUP – STEP #3: CREATE YOUR PASSWORD

The password guidelines are as follows:

  • 8-14 characters in length (no spaces allowed)
  • Only supports English alphabet characters, numbers, and punctuation marks (password must include at least two of these)
  • Chinese characters are not permitted

4. Baidu account setup- Create your password

Baidu account setup: Create your password

BAIDU ACCOUNT SETUP – STEP #4: SMS VERIFICATION, THEN SUBMIT REGISTRATION

Once you’ve created a username and password and input your mobile number, click the button (outlined in red below) to generate an SMS verification code.

5. Baidu account setup - Generate an SMS verification code

Baidu account setup: Generate an SMS verification code

6. You’ll receive your verification code (example - “209963”) via SMSYou’ll receive your verification code (example: “209963”) via SMS

Upon receiving your verification code (example: “209963”), enter it into the last field of the form and accept Baidu’s privacy policy.

Then, click “confirm” and wait for the confirmation of your registration.

7. Baidu Webmaster Tools setup - Accept Baidu’s privacy policy and submit registration Baidu Webmaster Tools setup: Accept Baidu’s privacy policy and submit registration

8. Baidu Webmaster Tools setup - A text box will confirm your Baidu account registrationBaidu Webmaster Tools setup: A text box will confirm your Baidu account registration

Voila! You’re now one step closer to using Baidu Webmaster Tools. But before you can use its features, Baidu must verify your website.

Setup Baidu Webmaster Tools – Step #2: VERIFY YOUR SITE

Site verification is mandatory for accessing site-specific features on Baidu Webmaster Tools, such as being able to submit an XML sitemap, which is critical for SEO.

We recommend checking out our in-depth walkthrough of how to verify your site for Baidu Webmaster Tools in 2021, but here’s a quick summary of the 5 key steps.

BAIDU SITE VERIFICATION – STEP #1: SUBMIT YOUR SITE FOR VERIFICATION

Begin the verification process on Baidu Ziyuan.

9. Baidu Webmaster Tools - Submit your website for verificationBaidu Webmaster Tools: Submit your website for verification

BAIDU SITE VERIFICATION – STEP #2: REGISTER YOUR DOMAIN

The first step is registering your site’s home address (domain name) and distinguishing whether your site is an HTTP or HTTPS site (we recommend the latter for SEO best practices). This will let you easily add any subdomains later and view their metrics without having to re-verify.

Remember to input the appropriate protocol header (http:// or https://) before your domain (“www.” is optional). Domain names can only be modified every 30 days after your site is verified.

10. Baidu Webmaster Tools - Register your domain on BaiduBaidu Webmaster Tools: Register your domain on Baidu

BAIDU SITE VERIFICATION – STEP #3: SELECT SITE CATEGORIES

Next, you’ll be prompted to pick up to 3 industry categories that best match your site’s content.

From education to finance to video animation, there are over 20 categories to choose from—but you can only modify your category settings every 30 days.

11. Baidu Webmaster Tools - Pick 3 categories that best match your website content

Baidu Webmaster Tools: Pick 3 categories that best match your website content

BAIDU SITE VERIFICATION – STEP #4: VERIFY YOUR WEBSITE

And finally, much like with Google Search Console, Baidu Webmaster Tools offers 3 ways to verify your site (we recommend the first or second methods):

1.       file verification

  • Download the verification file, which is in HTML format, and upload it to the root directory of your site.

12. Baidu Webmaster Tools - Verifying your site via file verificationBaidu Webmaster Tools: Verifying your site via file verification

2.       HTML Tag Verification

  • Insert the tag to the HTML code of your homepage, between the <head> and </head> tags.

13. Baidu Webmaster Tools - Verifying your site via HTML tagBaidu Webmaster Tools: Verifying your site via HTML tag

3.       CNAME (Canonical Name) verification

  • Select “CNAME Verification” and add a new CNAME record using the value provided by Baidu, then resolve it to ziyuan.baidu.com.

14. Baidu Webmaster Tools - Verifying your site via CNAMEBaidu Webmaster Tools: Verifying your site via CNAME

BAIDU SITE VERIFICATION – STEP #5: COMPLETE VERIFICATION

Click “Finish verification” to verify your website.

If there are any errors pertaining to your verification, Baidu will prompt you to address them.

15. Baidu Webmaster Tools - Complete your site verificationBaidu Webmaster Tools: Complete your site verification

Setup Baidu Webmaster Tools – Step #3: SET YOUR baidu ACCOUNT USER PERMISSIONS

Once your site is verified on Baidu, it is automatically added to your Baidu site administrator settings.

You can now access search performance data, diagnostic tools and adjust certain settings for your website.

BAIDU ACCOUNT USER SETUP – STEP #1: LOGIN TO BAIDU WEBMASTER TOOLS

Login to Baidu Webmaster Tools to set your account administrator.

BAIDU ACCOUNT USER SETUP – STEP #2: ENTER YOUR USER MANAGEMENT PAGE

Enter the domain of your site in the permissions setup.

16. Baidu Webmaster Tools - Register your domain

Baidu Webmaster Tools: Register your domain

BAIDU ACCOUNT USER SETUP – STEP #3: ADD USERS AND SET PERMISSIONS

As the website owner, you can also add or remove users to grant them access to the same features. This may be your team members, or the agency you work with.

17. Baidu Webmaster Tools - Add new users

Baidu Webmaster Tools: Add new users

To add users, simply enter their address, select the desired permission level, and then submit to add your user.

Important Note: “Senior Admin” lets you control your dashboard settings, while “General Admin” only lets users view the data.

Baidu Webmaster Tools - Set user permissionsBaidu Webmaster Tools: Set user permissions

19. Baidu Webmaster Tools - Account dashboard

Baidu Webmaster Tools: Account dashboard

***

Registering for a Baidu account, getting your site verified for Baidu Webmaster Tools, and customizing your account permissions sets you up with the right SEO metrics to power your site performance on Baidu—all while making it more visible and searchable in front of 558+ million active users in China.

Take these steps to setup your Baidu Webmaster Tools and start driving high-quality traffic through strong SEO in China!

Ready to maximize your digital marketing in China?

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The post How to Set Up Baidu Webmaster Tools (2021 Edition) appeared first on The Egg.

]]> Baidu SEO: How to Rank For Question Keywords https://www.theegg.com/seo/china/baidu-seo-how-to-rank-for-question-keywords/ Thu, 03 Jun 2021 08:50:46 +0000 https://www.theegg.com/?p=37680 The post Baidu SEO: How to Rank For Question Keywords appeared first on The Egg.

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Baidu SEO: How to Rank For Question Keywords

Baidu SEO - Rank for FAQs and Q&As

With the web becoming increasingly saturated, search engine users have turned to more probing ways of information browsing—like asking direct questions for the answers they seek.

Today’s users can easily look up answers to questions anytime, anywhere—from inquiries about the best skincare brand to how much the cheapest international flight would cost at this stage of the pandemic.

In particular, among its 222+ million active users, Baidu is rapidly seeing more search queries submitted as questions. This shift calls for brands to match search intent with the right keywords—and understand the question behind the query.

Let’s examine how to rank higher on SERPs for question-related terms and target them on Baidu, China’s #1 search engine, using Dragon Metrics—an all-in-one global SEO platform.

Why Are Question Keywords Significant?

Given their high specificity, question keywords drive quality traffic and are more pertinent than ever on search engines.

Upon entering a general term in Baidu’s search box, at least one-third of the recommended searches show up as question terms. This is frequent, in particular, for searches related to cosmetics, gaming, and travel.

1. Baidu Search - Recommended question searches for Skincare productBaidu Search: Recommended question searches for “Skincare product”

2. Baidu Search - Recommended question searches for Game console

Baidu Search: Recommended question searches for “Game console”

3. Baidu Search - Recommended question searches for International flight tickets

Baidu Search: Recommended question searches for “International flight tickets”

Much like on Google, most of Baidu’s organic SERPs for question keywords have a featured snippet, which displays a short answer to the question and links to the webpage source.

Likewise, both search engines analyze semantic search to predict which results would be most useful to users based on their query.

Thus, it’s critical to optimize your content to appear in question-related featured snippets: By matching true search intent, maximizing SERP real estate, and linking to your website, featured snippets boost quality traffic to your content.

4. Baidu Search - Featured snippet for What’s the best skincare product to use

Baidu Search: Featured snippet for “What’s the best skincare product to use?”

5. Google Search - featured snippet for What’s the best skincare brand to use

Google Search: Featured snippet for “What’s the best skincare brand to use?”

Overall, the advantages of optimizing your webpages for question keywords include:

Increasing organic CTR

Websites that have results appear as featured snippets will rank first on the SERP, likely improving CTR.

Greater brand and product exposure

You get greater brand awareness by optimizing webpages for question keywords that are brand or product-related.

Attracting high quality traffic

By answering critical FAQs in your content to aid potential customers in their purchase decision, your website visitors will increase, possibly leading to higher sales or conversions.

Increasing customer retention

Any Q&As or landing pages that you optimize for question keywords, especially brand-related, serve as a gateway to your main brand website, which will increase customer stickiness over time.

Targeting The Right Question Keywords

Leveraging real-time data of website traffic, with SEO tools like Dragon Metrics, is an easy and accurate way to research and identify keywords.

In particular, Dragon Metrics’ keyword research tool supports Baidu, Google, and Naver, three of the most used search engines in the world, allowing you to tailor your keyword research to your target market.

6. Dragon Metrics supports Google, Baidu, and NaverDragon Metrics supports Google, Baidu, and Naver

For this article, we selected Baidu to demonstrate how to target question keywords.

7. Dragon Metrics - Keyword Research OverviewDragon Metrics: Keyword Research Overview

After selecting a search engine and entering a keyword, Dragon Metrics automatically provides a variety of ideas relating to your keyword, categorized as:

  • Containing this phrase
    • Similar keywords that contain the exact match of your keyword, word-for-word
  • Related topics
    • Keywords that are semantically related to your query, but don’t contain the original phrase
  • Questions
    • Question keywords that reveal how people are thinking about and searching for the keyword

8. Dragon Metrics - Keyword IdeasDragon Metrics: Keyword Ideas

In addition to the question keywords themselves, which can be exported as an excel file, you can click “View all” under the “Questions” category for useful metrics about the keyword, including:

  • Monthly search volume (MSV) for desktop, mobile, and all devices
  • Monthly search volume trend (all devices)
  • Cost-per-click (CPC)
  • Paid competition

9. Dragon Metrics - Questions Keywords ListDragon Metrics: Questions Keywords List

To narrow down your target question keyword list, the filters at the top let you scour through long keyword lists and include or exclude certain phrases. Additionally, filters are available for MSV, CPC, paid competition, and word count.

To the left of the table, there is also a separate list of the most common terms to aid your research.

Pro Tip: When searching for long-tail keywords, we suggest using the word count filter.

10. Dragon Metrics - Keyword search filtersDragon Metrics: Keyword search filters

How To Optimize Content For Question Keywords?

One of the simplest ways to optimize your on-page content for question keywords is by creating a frequently asked questions (FAQ) or question-and-answer (Q&A) section on your website.

Here are some on-page optimization tips and tricks to help you rank higher on the SERP for question keywords:

  • Answer the question immediately in the first paragraph—or better yet, the subheading—of your content piece.
  • State the question when answering it to improve your webpage’s likelihood of getting tagged by Baidu as the best answer. For this reason, you may want to consider formatting your content with a Q&A.
  • Improve your website authority with high quality content and a credible answer to the question. Provide well-researched information and avoid SEO malpractices.
  • Optimize page readability to entice users to stay longer on your page, like including images to break up blocks of text. Similarly, write in lists or bullet points wherever possible and ensure that language is consistent and easy to digest.

***

Question-related searches make up a large portion of overall searches on Baidu. Question keyword optimization, in turn, can help boost your SEO and ROI—by driving organic traffic, earning links, and converting traffic into sales.

Pro-Tip: As The Egg’s sister company, Dragon Metrics is a proprietary tool developed as the first truly global SEO platform that provides rank tracking, onsite optimization reports, link management, keyword research tools, and more for search engines around the world. In this article, we look specifically at Dragon Metrics’ prowess on Baidu, but Dragon Metrics works for all of the world’s major search engines.

What's Next?

Need a global SEO tool
that covers China?

Check out Dragon Metrics

Need a global SEO agency
that provides full service?

Reach out to The Egg

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The post Baidu SEO: How to Rank For Question Keywords appeared first on The Egg.

]]> China SEO: Beat your Competitors with Strategic Keyword Analysis https://www.theegg.com/seo/china/beat-your-competitors-with-strategic-keyword-analysis/ Wed, 17 Mar 2021 07:00:49 +0000 https://www.theegg.com/?p=37045 The post China SEO: Beat your Competitors with Strategic Keyword Analysis appeared first on The Egg.

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China SEO: Beat your Competitors with Strategic Keyword Analysis

Outperform competitor keywords on Baidu

With the ability to answer the world’s billions of daily queries, search engine results pages (SERPs) have become a battlefield—competitors strategize and fight for visibility and clicks to ultimately win the content-to-conversions war.

And as one Chinese proverb goes: “Only by knowing yourself—and the enemy—can you win every battle.”

In China SEO terms: Surveilling your competitors arms your strategy against their strengths and weaknesses. To this end, keyword analysis is the weapon of choice.

Let’s examine how to optimize against your competitors’ keyword rankings on Baidu, China’s top search engine with 222+ million active users, using Dragon Metrics, China’s top SEO platform that automates reports across the world’s major search engines.

Step 1: Identify Your Competitors in China

Before you can start competitor keyword analysis, you must first identify your competitor through market research and SERPs.

To demonstrate, let’s consider Lining (or Li-Ning), a popular Chinese B2C e-commerce website targeting the local sports market.

From a market perspective, its direct competitors are JD Sports, S.cn, Taobao*, Dangdang, Suning, and Tmall—an array of B2C e-commerce powerhouses. This is useful information to have, particularly for optimizing product-based content.

For a more nuanced picture of your competitors, regardless of market or industry, you need to identify your SERP competitors—not just your business competitors.

For this, let’s look at how Dragon Metrics uncovers Lining’s competitors on the Baidu SERP:

1. Dragon Metrics - Identifying Lining.com’s organic competitors on BaiduDragon Metrics: Identifying Lining.com’s organic competitors on Baidu

2. Dragon Metrics - List of Lining.com’s top 10 organic competitors on BaiduDragon Metrics: List of Lining.com’s top 10 organic competitors on Baidu

Inside Dragon Metrics, you can select the search engine (in this case, “Baidu—China”) and enter the domain (in this case, “lining.com”) to generate a competitor list of up to 50 results.

Based on Lining’s top 10 organic SERP competitors, we can find interesting insights:

  • B2C sporting goods sites JD.com, S.cn, and Yoger.com.cn ranked 2nd, 3rd, and 8th, respectively.
  • Non-sport related sites Suning, Tmall, and Dangdang ranked 11th, 12th, and 30th, respectively.
  • Baidu ranked 1st given that Baidu-specific properties (like Baidu Baike or Baidu Experience) will always feature highest on the SERP.
  • Zhihu (a Q&A site), Hupu (a sports forum), and Sohu and Sina (both news platforms) all had relatively good rankings, indicating that Lining’s competitors can come in various forms.
  • 1688.com, a B2B e-commerce site, even managed to rank 9th.

According to these findings, we can add JD.com, S.cn, Yoger.com.cn, Suning.com, and Tmall.com to Lining’s competitor list. In addition to optimizing against these B2C sites, Lining can also manage its online reputation using Baidu-specific properties, Q&A sites, and news platforms that rank within their top 10 SERP competitors.

*Note: The Taobao site does not allow Baidu spiders to crawl and cannot be a competitor on the Baidu SERP.

Step 2: Identify Target Keywords

Step 2 is identifying the keywords that surface your competitors on the SERP.

Obviously, competitors will not reveal their target keywords, but you can use Dragon Metrics to identify the words for which they rank.

For instance, let’s identify keywords from S.cn (Lining’s competitor): At the time of our research, Dragon Metrics showed that S.cn ranked on the first three pages of the Baidu SERP for 86,800 keywords.

Dragon Metrics also lets you view additional keyword metrics, like search volume, ranking, and ranking URL.

3. Dragon Metrics - Organic keyword rankings for S.cnDragon Metrics: Organic keyword rankings for S.cn

4. Dragon Metrics - Organic keyword ranking stats for S.cnDragon Metrics: Organic keyword ranking stats for S.cn

Since not every competitor keyword will be relevant to your SEO strategy, you can simply export the Dragon Metrics report as an Excel file. From there, you can filter/remove branded keywords and select only those that relate to your products or service. In Lining’s case, these will include sports shoes, sportswear, sports equipment, etc.

So, after examining your own keywords against your competitors’, you will have a complete list of target keywords to feed into your SEO.

Step 3: Monitor Competitor Keyword Rankings

While there are many tools for competitor keyword research on Google’s SERP, very few can also support Chinese search engines. Dragon Metrics does both: Google and Baidu, Sogou, 360 Search, Shenma, and more.

Within the platform, you can create campaigns to manage your site’s keywords and your competitors’ keywords to monitor rankings. You can also sort competitors in lists or subfolders through their site domains.

5. Dragon Metrics - Manage how you monitor your competitorsDragon Metrics: Manage how you monitor your competitors

6. Dragon Metrics - Add competitors to your watchlistDragon Metrics: Add competitors to your watchlist

The Tracked Competitors tool compares the site metrics of your competitors in a selected campaign. The 9 highest-ranked competitors in a campaign will be displayed by default, but this number can be changed any time to view more or less.

7. Dragon Metrics - Monitor your competitors via Tracked CompetitorsDragon Metrics: Monitor your competitors via Tracked Competitors

Furthermore, you can track keyword ranking by not just search engine but also device, because desktop searches can generate different results than mobile searches.

8. Dragon Metrics - Filter keywords by search engine and device

Dragon Metrics: Filter keywords by search engine and device

For critical keywords, you can separate them into groups to track the data more precisely based on key metrics like search volume.

9. Dragon Metrics - Select keyword groups

Dragon Metrics: Select keyword groups

Step 4: Analyze Keyword Ranking Data

Once you’ve grouped your target keywords and competitors, you’ll need to gain insights from the data on how to optimize your site, focus on well-converting keywords, and boost overall web traffic.

You can analyze keyword ranking data on Dragon Metrics using two table formats: Positions Table and Keywords Table.

Dragon Metrics Positions Table

For each competitor website, the Positions Table showcases their organic visibility score and the number of ranked keywords positioned on each SERP. You can export this data by clicking the button towards the upper-right-hand-side of the table.

10. Dragon Metrics - Positions TableDragon Metrics: Positions Table

Dragon Metrics Keywords Table

In the Keywords Table, each row contains a different tracked keyword and there is a column for each tracked competitor.

Clicking on a keyword reveals even more details about its monthly search volume, direct translation (if in a foreign language), and preferred landing page.

Once again, this data can be exported and in case you forget what competitor is being tracked, simply hover your cursor over the table header to reveal their URLs.

11. Dragon Metrics - Keywords TableDragon Metrics: Keywords Table

12. Dragon Metrics - Clicking a keyword in the Keywords Table to reveal detailsDragon Metrics: Clicking a keyword in the Keywords Table to reveal details

As you can see, the Positions Table illustrates the gap between your website and your competitors’ in terms of organic visibility and keyword ranking on SERPs.

The Keywords Table shows which keywords perform particularly well and how your competitors stack against them.

Both sets of data will help you better understand your competitors and how to win against them.

***

Your competitors are not static; their SEO strategies can change at any time. Whether introducing a new product or improving keyword performance, you should keep a steady eye on your competitive data and continue researching strong competitors—so that you can beat them!

Using Dragon Metrics data, you can identify the trump card of your competitors’ ranked pages—whether that’s creating more engaging content, a smoother user experience, a better optimized site structure, etc.—and learn from them to improve your own website.

This is why monitoring your competitors’ keyword rankings is so significant to SEO, not just in China but around the world—with the help of Dragon Metrics.

Pro-Tip: As The Egg’s sister company, Dragon Metrics is a proprietary tool developed as the first truly global SEO platform that provides rank tracking, onsite optimization reports, link management, keyword research tools, and more for search engines around the world. Here, we look specifically at Dragon Metrics’ prowess on Baidu, China’s #1 search engine with 222+ million active users, but Dragon Metrics works for all of the world’s major search engines.

What's Next?

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that covers China?

Check out Dragon Metrics

Need a global SEO agency
that provides full service?

Reach out to The Egg

Digital Marketing News + Insights

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The post China SEO: Beat your Competitors with Strategic Keyword Analysis appeared first on The Egg.

]]> Baidu SEO: 2020 Search Algorithm Updates https://www.theegg.com/seo/china/baidu-seo-2020-search-algorithm-updates/ Thu, 17 Dec 2020 08:15:39 +0000 https://www.theegg.com/?p=31837 The post Baidu SEO: 2020 Search Algorithm Updates appeared first on The Egg.

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Baidu SEO: 2020 Search Algorithm Updates

This year, the world has catapulted online–no markets more so than China.

And as 2020 comes to an end, let’s look back at the algorithm updates that Baidu launched over the course of the year.

This will help search marketers and site webmasters stay up to date on rankings and organic website traffic in China to ultimately improve search engine optimization.

In this article, we discuss Baidu’s algorithm updates in 2020, their impact on Baidu search, and what actions you can take to optimize your site for Baidu.

Baidu Algorithm

 Target

Date
Ice Bucket 5.0 Bad mobile search experience 2020.06.24
Illegal Content Gambling and related illegal content 2020.04.23
Power Wind Low-quality content and malicious aggregation 2020.02.27

Baidu SEO: Ice Bucket Algorithm 5.0

Announced: Jun 24, 2020

Launched: Late Jun 2020

Summary

In March 2020, Baidu released a whitepaper on app/mobile search experience to address sites that forced users to activate apps, which seriously negatively affects user experience.

Additionally, Baidu Search upgraded its Ice Bucket Algorithm 5.0 to identify and restrict sites and smart apps that force app activations/downloads.

There are two forced app download/activation violations that Baidu targeted with this algorithm:

  • When a user clicks on a picture or a button that directly launches an app, but that has no description to inform the user of the auto launch
  • When a user clicks a link on the Baidu search results page and an app is directly launched

Actions

To ensure that you don’t get penalized under Baidu’s Ice Bucket Algorithm, optimize your mobile landing pages according to Baidu’s whitepaper. And you can also reference Baidu’s other articles for more optimization info:

Baidu SEO: Illegal Content Algorithms

Announced: Apr 23, 2020

Launched: Late Apr 2020

Summary

To provide users with a safe and healthy search service, Baidu upgraded its algorithms to severely crack down on illegal content, primarily gambling and bet-style gaming, in its search results.

Actions

Ensure the content of your website abides by Chinese law and does not endorse or support gambling or bet-style gaming.

Power Wind Algorithm

Announced: Feb 27, 2020

Launched: Late Feb 2020

Summary

Baidu launched its Power Wind algorithm to control malicious construction of aggregate pages. The algorithm covers all websites and smart app resources within Baidu Search.

An aggregate page does not have a main body of content, but rather is an indexation of links to multiple different pages.

Aggregate pages can be legitimately constructed to help users find multiple resources around a particular topic. But aggregate pages can also be maliciously constructed to draw clicks without offering any value to the user.

Malicious aggregation includes four types:

Irrelevant Content

The content of the page does not match the overall site, the overall site does not have a dedicated field, and/or the content is mostly made up of collection from other sites.

Mismatched Content

The content of the page does not match the title or the tags on the page.

Static Content

There is a static search results page generated by the website’s internal search function.

Thin Content

The page is empty, has thin content, and/or no related information.

Actions

We recommend removing low-quality aggregate pages altogether and ensuring that your pages are rich in high-quality content. Follow these steps to avoid fallout from Baidu’s Power Wind algorithm:

Review your website and remove malicious aggregate pages

Even if you feel you don’t have malicious aggregate pages, it’s still best practice to review all your pages and remove any even borderline content.

Don’t create malicious aggregate pages in the first place

It’s best for you as a webmaster, for your users as people, and for Baidu as a search engine if malicious aggregation just doesn’t exist in the first place.

Ensure your content is high-quality

High-quality content means that the text, pictures, and videos on the page are highly correlated and the content answers the searcher’s query.

***

As the world moves to a new normal of heightened digital engagement, it’s imperative that websites in China follow the law and Baidu’s own rules and regulations to ensure strong SEO in China and the ability to reach Chinese audiences.

Need help with SEO in China?

Get in touch!

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The post Baidu SEO: 2020 Search Algorithm Updates appeared first on The Egg.

]]> Keyword Planning for Hotel Site SEO in Post-Pandemic China https://www.theegg.com/seo/china/keyword-planning-for-hotel-site-seo-in-post-pandemic-china/ Tue, 01 Sep 2020 04:10:22 +0000 https://www.theegg.com/?p=31587 The post Keyword Planning for Hotel Site SEO in Post-Pandemic China appeared first on The Egg.

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Even as restrictions lift and life moves into a new normal, COVID-19 has left B2C brands reeling; for example, tourism, restaurant, and transportation industries continue to suffer heavy losses.

However, as pandemic prevention and work resumption progresses, the operations of China’s tourism industry have gradually improved.

From total lockdown during the Spring Festival to gradual recovery during the Qingming Festival, May Day and Dragon Boat Festival, domestic tourism is recovering generally linearly in China.

And since entering the summer months, many high-end hotel buffets and gyms have reopened, and hotel occupancy rates have also increased to approximately 60% for Accor, Hyatt, and other top hotel groups.

In this article, we’ll discuss how hotels can plan their keywords to maximize SEO in China’s new travel normal.

Hotel Site SEO in China

SEO is one of the most critical digital marketing methods, particularly for the long-term, which is where many brands are refocusing post-pandemic. Some companies have even reduced PPC budgets to focus on SEO and content marketing on Baidu, China’s #1 search engine.

Keyword planning is an essential step in SEO work—it can make or break a hotel’s SEO strategy. Hotel customers will use myriad keywords to search on Baidu for relevant information about myriad accommodations and offers. As a hotel marketer, you must capture those critical keywords in your content so that customers can find your website—not your competitors’.

This becomes a classification problem to solve by optimizing for the search intent behind the keywords used to find your content.

In terms of search intent, hotel keywords can be divided into brand keywords and product/service keywords.

Hotel Site SEO in China: Brand Keywords

For many established hotels, their brand names are recognizable and often searched. If people are searching for your brand or hotels by name, they’re likely deeper within your sales funnel. Branded keywords have higher conversion rates when compared to non-branded terms.

For brands or hotels well-known enough for branded search terms to be relevant to users, it’s critical to understand exactly how users discover your hotels—which terms they use in their local language to find your brand name—so you can target these branded search terms in your content.

Below are some examples of Chinese-language keywords used to find English-language hotel brand names.

Keyword Translation Baidu Monthly Searches
上海w酒店 Shanghai W Hotel 4,839
上海四季酒店 Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai 3,035
上海外滩悦榕庄酒店 Banyan Tree Shanghai On The Bund 2,387
上海香格里拉酒店 Shangri-La Hotel Shanghai 2,119
上海浦东文华东方酒店 Mandarin Oriental Pudong, Shanghai 1,131

Brand Keyword Examples

Hotel Site SEO in China: Product/Service Keywords

Product or service keywords are those related to specific products or services sold by a hotel.

For example, if a traveler wants to stay at a hotel in Tokyo for a business trip, he/she may directly search for “Tokyo business hotel” on Baidu. This is a generic product/service keyword. Such keywords can be among the first considerations for hotel site SEO, as they cast a wide net for potential customers.

Hotel product/service keywords can be divided into 4 categories:

  • Property type
  • Location
  • Hotel amenities
  • Exclusive features

Property Type

In a post-COVID-19 China, people are preferring high-quality hotels for business trips and travel. High-quality means better service and hygiene, making people feel more at ease and safer as they are staying outside of their homes.

In China, the quality of a hotel is generally expressed by stars, and the more stars, the better the hotel. In recent months, keyword phrases that include “five-star hotels” have attracted more attention with higher search volumes.

Ensure that your hotel website includes compelling content with keywords about your hotel’s property type (i.e. luxury, resort, star level, etc.) to get more traffic.

Keyword Translation Baidu Monthly Searches
上海五星级酒店 Five Star Hotels in Shanghai 2,153
上海四星级酒店 Four Star Hotels in Shanghai 298
上海三星级酒店 Three Star Hotels in Shanghai 253
上海豪华酒店 Luxury Hotels in Shanghai 217

Property Type Keyword Examples

Location (Cities & Popular Business Districts)

People tend to want to stay near popular attractions and business areas. If your hotel is nearby to these, you can cover location-related keywords, which bring a higher conversion rate and thus better SEO.

Take Shanghai as an example:

  • The Bund is a very popular area. Many people will search “Shanghai Bund hotel” or “hotels near Shanghai Bund.”
  • Disneyland also receives significant search attention for people who wish to stay near the attraction in Shanghai; people often search for “hotels near Disneyland,” for example.

Even if you’re not in close proximity to tourist destinations in your area, you may wish to still include how the distance your hotel is to these locations, for example, a quick 15-minute taxi ride to the Bund in Shanghai or an easy 20-minute train ride to Shanghai Disneyland.

Capturing locational keywords in your content not only helps your audience understand your proximity but more importantly shows that you understand your audience’s needs by clearly articulating that proximity.

Keyword Translation Baidu Monthly Searches
上海外滩酒店 Shanghai Bund Hotel 1,317
上海外滩附近酒店 Hotels near Shanghai Bund 1,174
浦东机场附近酒店 Hotels near Pudong Airport 544
上海迪士尼周边酒店 Shanghai Disneyland Hotels 513

Location Keyword Examples

Hotel Amenities

Hotel amenities that receive significant search attention include weddings, conferences, and family-friendliness. In fact, there is significant demand for family travel at the moment, as many families travel with their children during the summer, autumn, and winter holidays.

Summer vacation is in July and August. Autumn vacation is during Golden Week (the first week of October). And winter vacation is in February.

If your hotel has family rooms, kids’ clubs, family dining packages, etc., include these keywords in your content.

Keyword Translation Baidu Monthly Searches
上海亲子酒店 Shanghai Family Hotels 1,218
杭州亲子酒店 Hangzhou Family Hotels 803
北京亲子酒店 Beijing Family Hotels 767

Parent-Child and Family Keyword Examples

Unfortunately, the search demand for wedding and conference hotels has decreased during the pandemic. It is worth noting, however, that as work resumes and the pandemic eases, at the end of the year, many large companies may choose to hold their annual meetings in-person, and they will need hotels with large meeting rooms.

If your hotel provides such services and conference rooms, you can also target these amenity keywords.

Keyword Translation Baidu Monthly Searches
上海婚宴酒店 Shanghai Wedding Hotel 268
上海商务酒店 Shanghai Business Hotels 265
上海会议酒店 Shanghai Conference Hotel 118

Wedding and Conference Keyword Examples

Exclusive Features

Some hotels offer exclusive features, such as spas or hot springs. And people choose these hotels not only to have a vacation, but also to have a relaxing experience. For example, when the weather is hot, many people tend to go to hotels with swimming pools, and when the weather is cold, many people tend to go to hotels with hot springs.

If your hotel offers these types of exclusive features, it’s critical to include related keywords in your content so that your target customers can find you.

Keyword Translation Baidu Monthly Searches
上海温泉酒店 Shanghai Hot Spring Hotel 185
上海Spa酒店 Shanghai spa hotels 68
上海泳池酒店 Shanghai Hotels with a Pool 84
北京温泉酒店 Beijing Hot Spring Hotel 553
昆明温泉酒店 Kunming Hot Spring Hotel 1,139

Exclusive Features Keyword Examples

It is worth noting that the search volume examples in this article represent data taken from mid-August 2020 through the Baidu keyword planner tool; this data is constantly changing. It’s also important to consider the hotel business cycle (low season and peak season) to find the most suitable terms. Finally, while finding the right keywords for your hotel is critical, it is also critical to create corresponding compelling content so that users can find your website, want to click on it, and convert into guests.

***

In a post-COVID-19 world, hotel digital marketers should plan, research, and optimize keywords within the above-mentioned categories to not just capture traffic but give relevant information to potential guests.

It’s particularly important to find diverse ways to drive traffic and conversions for the travel industry, as it has struggled in the wake of COVID-19, but there is still tremendous opportunity in China’s new normal.

Need help optimizing your hotel site to reach Chinese travelers?

Get in touch!

How Can We Help?

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The post Keyword Planning for Hotel Site SEO in Post-Pandemic China appeared first on The Egg.

]]> Bouncing Back in China: Baidu launches new ‘Power Wind’ algorithm https://www.theegg.com/seo/china/seo-recovery-in-china-baidu-search-launches-new-power-wind-algorithm/ Wed, 08 Jul 2020 08:42:59 +0000 https://www.theegg.com/?p=31442 The post Bouncing Back in China: Baidu launches new ‘Power Wind’ algorithm appeared first on The Egg.

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While COVID-19 has no doubt affected many industries, domestic companies in China have resumed business with online marketing becoming ever more critical.

In digital marketing, search engines are a crucial channel. And in China, Baidu is the biggest search engine.

Today, let’s deep dive into Baidu’s new Power Wind search algorithm launched in the wake of COVID-19.

What is the Baidu Power Wind algorithm?

Baidu consistently updates its algorithm to ensure a strong user experience in its search results. Surfacing high-quality content is particularly important to ensuring a good UX.

But not all websites publish good content; in fact, some websites use malicious constructs to create aggregate content pages with no actual value at all just to attract clicks.

To address malicious aggregate pages, Baidu Search released a new algorithm called Power Wind. This algorithm covers all websites and smart applet resources within Baidu Search and penalizes maliciously constructed aggregate pages.

What is a malicious aggregation page?

An aggregate page is one that does not have actual content, but is rather an index of links to multiple external pages around a specific topic. It’s essentially an information integration page that collects content links. There are healthy and unhealthy aggregate pages.

Unhealthy pages use malicious constructs to aggregate links just to obtain search rankings and clicks. This type of malicious aggregation page generally has no relevant content and a poor UX.

Malicious aggregation includes the following four types:

Irrelevant Content

The content of the page does not match the overall site, the overall site does not have a dedicated field, and/or the content is mostly made up of collection from other sites.

Example: The content of the site is scattered

Mismatched Content

The content of the page does not match the title or the tags on the page.

Example: The content of the page does not match the title

Static Content

There is a static search results page generated by the website’s internal search function.

Example: Internal search function generates static search results page

Thin Content

The page is empty, has thin content, and/or no related information.

Example: Aggregate pages without valid information

Eradicating these four types of malicious aggregation pages is the main focus of Baidu’s new Power Wind algorithm.

How do I avoid being penalized by the Power Wind algorithm?

In general, we recommend removing low-quality aggregate pages altogether and ensuring that your pages are rich in high-quality content. Follow these steps to avoid fallout from Baidu’s Power Wind algorithm:

1. Review your website and remove malicious aggregation pages.

Even if you feel you don’t have malicious aggregation pages, it’s still best practice to review all your pages and remove any even borderline content. Quality is key, and Power Wind will find and penalize low-quality malicious aggregation.

2. Don’t create malicious aggregation pages in the first place.

It’s easiest for you as a webmaster, for your users as people, and for Baidu as a search engine if malicious aggregation just doesn’t exist in the first place. While search engine algorithms may make mistakes sometimes, it’s best to not take any risks—just create high-quality content at the outset.

3. Ensure your content is high-quality.

High-quality content means that the text, pictures, and videos on the page are highly correlated and the content answers the searcher’s query. These are the basics for users and Baidu to judge the quality of a page and whether or not it abides by Power Wind.

So, if your content is of high-quality, there’s no need to worry about this new algorithm.

Need help optimizing your site for Baidu?

Get in touch!

How Can We Help?

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