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Baidu SEO - How to optimize onpage for the Chinese market!

What do you think of when I say "China"?

Now maybe you're thinking of the Great Wall of China, Communist capitalists, or even the fun fact that people in the Middle Kingdom like to go for foot massages as a group. All things that the West immediately associates with China.

What I never thought of until a few days ago, however, was the Chinese Internet. How could I? In Western Europe, it is mainly Google that sets the pace for online marketers. Accordingly, Germany rarely deals with "China SEO".

I think it's time to catch up on this and address a previously neglected aspect of Search Engine Optimization in China: onpage content.

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Baidu - the Chinese Google?

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News, social media, and website content - content optimization for Baidu

In the Middle Kingdom, too, the following applies to SEO: Content is king! However, in a somewhat different way than is the case in Europe and the USA...

If you consider the following points in future optimizations, your content will convince both Chinese users and the Chinese search engine.

Chinese is spoken in China

Actually obvious: A good Baidu indexing stands and falls with the Chinese translation of your website content.

In doing so, it is especially important that you...

  • use traditional Chinese characters and
  • take into account the multiple meanings of the individual characters.

Especially the second point is extremely important for intercultural communication! Because if you are misunderstood, your content will of course sell nothing.

It is therefore particularly recommended to work with native speakers who are familiar with common puns and linguistic idiosyncrasies in general.

Same product does not mean same target group!

Simply translating one's own content into Chinese would fall short and not do justice to the intended target group.

Even if you sell the same product, they are two completely different markets with their own cultural rules.

Would you like an example? In China, the rebirth of a human being must be approved by the state. Just one fact that impressively underlines the cultural difference of the Chinese.

To ensure that your content reaches the preferred target group, you should...

  • conduct its own target group analysis for the Chinese market.

To find out exactly how to do this, download our free Content Marketing Whitepaperthat you can download here:

contentbird Whitepaper

Chinese don't like to copy (at least when it comes to content)

Duplicate content is penalized by Baidu even more than by Google.

According to this, stolen content demonstrably harms your ranking. Even though the Chinese are often accused of copying successful products: This is clearly not true in the area of content.

As with writing German or English website texts, care should be taken to ensure that every text, without exception,...

  • is unique (unique content) and
  • includes at least 300 words (better more).

More content is better than less (and it should be up to date)

In this respect, Baidu is in no way inferior to its western competitor Google: High-quality content in large quantities has a positive effect on the ranking.

In addition, current content in news format can also contribute to an increase in ranking. Accordingly, it is obvious...

  • a blog or
  • a news section

into your own website and to maintain it regularly. Preferably also here by a Chinese native speaker.

Big Baidu is watching you

The Chinese government systematically bans searches for controversial terms. Here is a brief overview of the most important taboo words:

  • Chinese Communist Party
  • resign from the Chinese Communist Party
  • Dissolve the Chinese Communist Party
  • the end of the rule of the Communist Party
  • Dictatorship
  • One-party system
  • not to love the party
  • Human rights in China
  • Tyranny
  • Government rule
  • Brainwashing
  • Removal of kidneys from living people
  • Nine comments ( -> critical book about the People's Republic of China)
  • Epoch Times ( -> international magazine)
  • Gao Zhisheng ( -> human rights lawyer and Chinese dissident)

The list makes no claim to completeness, but the original document covers a total of 13 categories. In case of doubt, inquiries should be made in advance.

From an economic point of view, the forbidden words usually do not pose any problems. However, anyone planning to set up a comment column or forum for their own community should be scrupulously careful to avoid discussions on these topics.

Nothing works without social signals

Despite taboo topics: Nothing works in the land of smiles without social signals. Because the Chinese also love to exchange ideas in networks and apps like WeChat and Weibo.

In order to be found better in the Chinese search, it is therefore useful in networks such as:

  • Sina Weibo
  • Tencen Weibo
  • Renren
  • PengYou
  • QQ
  • Douban
  • Diandian
  • Youku
  • WeChat
  • Jiepang

to be active and to attract attention. Regular content publishing, both on your own blog and on the social web, sends exceptionally good signals to Baidu.

And of course: generate backlinks (with content)

Acquiring high-quality backlinks is particularly difficult in a foreign-language environment. Simply relying on German links that link to the Chinese instance is rarely crowned with success.

In this point, Baidu is again similar to Google: Inferior and mass links from abroad (for example, from Eastern Europe, Pakistan or India) that point to a German page are generally weighted less than high-quality links from same-language, topic-relevant pages.

To get high-quality links from Chinese website owners, ...

  • content cooperation in the form of guest articles is recommended.

Ultimately, every website operator is dependent on content, because it is virtually its own ranking factor. So why not kill two birds with one stone?

Funfact: Our software was also linked on a Chinese website some time ago!

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Conclusion - Overcome the Chinese ranking wall with our practical tips

Good content has always prevailed. This is true for Europe as well as for Asia (and while we're at it, for all other continents as well).

To help you keep track of Baidu SEO in the future, here are all the tips one after the other:

  1. Use the traditional Chinese language for your website content!
  2. Conduct a Chinese target group analysis for your product!
  3. Avoid duplicate content of any kind!
  4. Create high-quality content in blog or news format!
  5. Avoid taboo words (even in comment columns and forums)!
  6. Be active in the Chinese social networks!
  7. Generate high-quality Chinese backlinks with content cooperation!

In this sense: Wán dé kāixīn yōuhuà (Have fun optimizing!)

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