By KoMarketing Associates
Web Hosting & Servers
Why should foreign companies operating in China host a version of their website on Chinese servers?
As an international digital marketing agency, we often work with US companies who want to enter China via syndicated Chinese websites. One of the most frequent questions we’re asked is: Why do we need to host in China? There are two key reasons:
First, the Great Firewall of China has a significant impact on the Chinese user experience of your site. A study from CDNetworks shows that the average loading time of international sites is 33 seconds. In our own experiences with clients, loading time for sites not hosted in China ranges from 10 to 40 seconds.
Obviously, no one will have the time (or patience) to wait that long for a website to load. Users will close your site while it’s still loading.
Second, like other search engines, website speed is critical to Baidu. A slow loading website is difficult to crawl and index and may be identified as an unstable site by Baidu.
How can a foreign company operating in China host its website on a Chinese server?
To host in China, you need to work with your site developers closely for creative options. Some of our clients opted to set up a brand new site hosted in China; others chose a content delivery network (CDN) to boost site speed, and some chose to use a mirror site on the China server, but only serve priority pages to the Chinese audience. You need to evaluate the costs and benefits of each option to make the judgment for your business.
The role of an Internet Content Provider (ICP) license in helping foreign companies host content on Chinese servers?
An ICP (Internet Content Provider) license, issued by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, allows a website to be hosted on a mainland Chinese server and to publish content. It needs to be clearly displayed on your website, typically in the footer. Applying for an ICP license is a must-do for any site hosted and operated in China.
Can a Chinese Internet Content Provider (ICP) licenses influence your website rankings on Baidu?
Baidu has never officially claimed that an ICP is a factor for ranking. However, a website with ICP establishes credibility with Baidu and will be given a better visibility than those without it. If you take a closer look at the websites that rank on the first page of a Baidu SERP, you will find almost every site has an ICP license. Even Baidu puts the ICP license at the footer area.
Where should your company in China display its internet content provider (ICP) license?
Use of Keywords in Baidu SEO
What keyword match types are available on Baidu and how do these differ from Google AdWords?
In AdWords, there are four keywords match types – broad, broad modifier, phrase, and exact match.
In Baidu paid search advertising this is not the same case. Because of the unique spelling in Chinese text, words can have very different meanings if they are grouped with same characters but different sequences.
Therefore, there can be more variety in Baidu advertising keyword match types.
First off, there is no broad modifier match type in Baidu Paid Search. In addition, phrase match is divided into three different phrase “types”.
In total, there are five match types in Baidu:
- Broad Match
- Phrase Match – Core Phrase (Broad Phrase)
- Phrase Match – Synonym Phrase
- Phrase Match – Exact Phrase
How does a broad match on Baidu differ from a broad match on Google AdWords?
Similar to the broad match type in AdWords, the ads are triggered by search terms that are relevant to the target keywords, even if the characters are not specifically in the keywords.
Compared to the AdWords, Baidu PPC Broad Match can be much broader than the original meanings because the broad match is based on each Chinese character, unlike the AdWords that are based on the English words.
How is a broad phrase match triggered on Baidu?
Baidu will show the ads when someone searches for a term that contains the same core meaning of your target phrase, including synonyms or phrases with different sequences. In my experience, Core Phrase Match in Baidu is more like broad match found in AdWords.
How is a synonym phrase match triggered on Baidu?
These ads are triggered when someone searches phrases containing synonyms of target phrases.
How is an exact phrase match triggered on Baidu and how does this differ from a phrase match on Google AdWords?
These ads are triggered when someone searches phrases containing an exact target phrase. This is more like the typical phrase match type found in AdWords.
How is an exact match triggered on Baidu and how does this differ from Google AdWords?
Exact Match works similarly to AdWords – the ads can only be triggered when people search for the exact same terms.
How does bidding for keywords on Baidu Compare to AdWords?
With Google AdWords, an easy way to set keyword bids is to set a maximum cost per click to cover all keywords at the ad group level.
B2B marketers can also put the same keywords with different match types in one ad group, and set a single bid for all of them.
In similar fashion, Baidu paid search allows advertisers to set a firm bid at the ad group level to control all keywords at once.
How does Baidu treat ad campaigns targeting the same keyword and multiple match types?
Baidu doesn’t allow the same keywords to be put within one ad group even if they are with different match types. If you need to use the same keywords with different match types in your campaign, you can only set up a broad match group, phrase match group, and exact match group for some or all the keywords respectively.
This can make the account management very complicated, and the account structure cumbersome.
How can marketing managers in China manage Baidu campaigns with the same keywords targeting multiple match types?
Baidu introduced a new feature at the ad group level in 2015 – bid adjustment based on match types.
By turning on this feature, the bid of keywords within one ad group can be adjusted based on the match types, and the ads will be triggered by search terms with various match types.
For example, you can set your bid adjustment for one ad group as follows:
- Bid of broad match= the original CPC *0: it means the broad match search term will not trigger the ads.
- Bid of phrase match= the original CPC *1: it means the CPC will keep the same if the search term is the same as the target phrase.
- Bid of exact match= the original CPC *2: it means the CPC will be doubled and the traffic is more qualified if the search term is the exact match of your target phrase.
- Then, one keyword, “Global Freight” with a bid of $2 for example, will be triggered by the term “Global Freight Shipping” at the same CPC as $2, and the exact match “Global Freight” will be triggered at a bid of $4.
With this bid adjustment, B2B marketers don’t need to set separate ad groups for various match type keywords, potentially providing a great deal more flexibility with PPC bid management.
Operating Your Website
How can companies use simplified Chinese to maximize website ranking during Baidu’s indexing process?
Content is the core of Baidu SEO. Baidu prefers indexing sites in simplified Chinese, so if you want to target mainland China, it’s best to carefully translate your content into simplified Chinese. A professional translator is needed, but that’s not enough. You also need some local marketing experts who know your industry to make sure your content and website messaging aligns with your brand image and target audience.
How does the speed of indexing differ between Baidu and Google?
Unlike Google, Baidu indexes a new site very slowly. The Baidu spider doesn’t crawl a new site very often, especially if there are only a few external links on that site. Besides the long crawling process, you still need to wait for the site to pass an examination period by Baidu, which can be as short as a month or more than half a year. Being patient is the key during this waiting period.
How long is Baidu’s new website examination period and what can companies do to expedite this process?
Baidu’s examination period can be as short as a month or more than half a year. Being patient is the key during this waiting period.
While you are waiting for the site to be indexed, you need to proactively generate new content on the site and creatively build internal and external links.
Moreover, you can send messages to the Baidu Webmaster Feedback center to request feedback from Baidu staff regarding your site’s status.
How does Baidu’s weighting of meta data differ from Google?
Baidu values unique and updated content, just like Google. Baidu’s algorithm, however, gives more weight to the meta-tags compared to Google. Important meta data include:
Title Tag: Similar to Google SEO, incorporate the most important keywords into the title tags, but write it in a natural way. A good title is roughly 30 Chinese characters.
Meta Description: Baidu ranks sites with meta descriptions higher than those that overlook it. A well-written meta description is around 70-80 Chinese characters.
H Tags: Make sure you have at least one H1 tag on every page of your site, and use H2 and H3 tags to break down the pages with relevant keywords and content.
How does Baidu’s weighting of meta descriptions differ from Google?
How does Baidu’s weighting of title tags differ from Google?
How does Baidu’s weighting of H Tags differ from Google?
Website Link Building
Can B2B marketers post content to forums in China to build links?
B2B marketers cannot post any content with links in major forums, even if they are relevant links. Most likely, original posts or comments will be reviewed after publication. After a couple of hours, marketers will find that links are deleted — or, even worse, accounts are blocked. Forum managers respond to filter out advertisements that they think have a negative influence on user experience.
How effective are Baidu Baike, Baidu Zhidao, and Baidu Tieba at link building for launching websites in China?
You may also see many Baidu SEO guides share that Baidu products are good for link buildings, such as Baidu Baike (similar to Wikipedia), Baidu Zhidao (similar to Quora), Baidu Tieba (forum). It is true that links on these platforms are good for Baidu SEO. However, it is very difficult to acquire a link via these channels. Baidu Baike and Zhidao no longer allow links to be posted, while Baidu Baike is very strict with new accounts and new content.
What online products can your company use to improve link building efforts and web rankings on Baidu?
Try products from other search engines, such as Sogou Baike, 360 Baike, and HuDong Baike. These sites have high domain authority on Baidu and are less strict on posted content.
How does Baidu treat plain text links and how does it differ from Google’s treatment?
In contrast to Google, Baidu accepts a link that cannot be clicked. Baidu Zhanzhang (Baidu’s webmaster tools) counts plain text links as inbound links, which can help with keyword ranking. For example, you can try to post text links even if clickable links are prohibited on a forum or commenting platform.
Link Quality vs. Link Quantity on Baidu when ranking websites
Baidu’s algorithm puts more weight on the quantity of links, rather than quality (a departure from Google). Identifying relevant forums and blogging platforms is very helpful for marketers because they can build links there via content syndication efforts.
Why can’t Baidu’s web crawlers read Flash and Javascript?
These programming frameworks are unfamiliar to Baidu’s web crawlers and they will have trouble reading the content. According to Baidu’s SEO guide, it’s better to display important content via text.