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