Baidu SEO: Play with the Big Boys to Win
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Transcript of Baidu SEO: Play with the Big Boys to Win
FOCUSED
PORTALS
Content marketing
Baidu SEO: Only the Big Boys Win
$$$
With some hard work and determination, a dynamic, well-built site can go far in Google’s natural
rankings, even TOP 10.
In terms of SEO, Google is still the land of opportunity.
Spoiler Alert: SEO on Baidu
is not so simple…
If you Google “cosmetics”, for
example, you’ll see that after a Wikipedia article and news story
come two official, private label
websites.
Well done, M.A.C!
Now let’s try searching
“cosmetics”on Baidu.
M.A.C is popular in China too, but how does it fare on Baidu?
Uh oh — no luck for M.A.C in Baidu land.The first three results are paid, as can be determined by
the grey “推广” (tui guang) at the end.
(Showing results 1-3)
Western brands are also paying to appear (see Olay,
Guerlain, and Loreal below) on the right side of
the results page, underneath the sponsored
logos of 3rd party ecommerce platforms.
(Showing paid results on right panel of SERP)
The first natural result
is from Baike, China’s Wikipedia
equivalent.
After that comes Weigou, one of
Baidu’s ecommerce platforms. No, Baidu
doesn’t sell the makeup, it just clips
the ticket.
Other big platforms, such as JD and Yixun, pay for their relevant products
to be listed in the pictures.
(results 4-5)
The next natural result is Temai, another Baidu
property. This one specializes in
discount sales.
You may think, “Why don’t we just crank up the SEO and get our Chinese site on the first page naturally?”
Forget it. It’s Chinatown.
(result 6)
A TIP: Don’t compete, but do advertise, brand, and forsake Weibo for social media activity
on focused portals such as this one.
Next on the natural top ten comes PC Lady, a specialized portal for cosmetics which also links to
sales on Tmall and JD.
Packed with news, reviews, ratings, and 700k members, PC Lady is robust enough that Lauder’s own
site couldn’t possibly keep up.
(result 7)
The next result belongs to Yoka.com, a newish portal with a fashion magazine façade, and every
conceivable method of interactivity, including ecommerce.
Again, rather than fight, give them budget.
(result 8)
At this point, you may wonder– “Why aren’t JD and Tmall in the results? They’re much bigger than Jumei!”
True. ...which is why Baidu maintains a passive-aggressive
state of cold war with both platforms. Did we mention this was Chinatown?
Next comes Jumei, which IPOd in May to the tune of $245m.
(results 9-10)
Cosmetics was a $27 billion dollar market in 2013, and big players—
portal and ecommerce alike
— relegate even the biggest
private brands to
PPC land.
To sum up the last few natural results – more focused portals and another Baidu property.
Takeaway:
For competitive keywords, successful Chinese SEO is for large 3rd party platforms. Even global brands must play
Baidu’s game, and pay per click.
For more China marketing tips, visit: www.web-presence-in-china.com