SEO in China, Part 2: Baidu Optimization

In this post I continue to look into SEO for Baidu and how it differs from more familiar Google-based optimization.

SEO for Baidu is not just a one time job but, just as in the case of Google, is a continuous effort. Algorithms and weights of various factors change all the time and, in a way, Baidu seems to be following Google’s logic, although with a considerable delay.

Of course, since Baidu targets Chinese audience, it has its own way of doing things in order to stay more relevant both geographically and linguistically. Since Baidu accounts to up to 70% of Chinese search engine market it’s important to understand how it assigns ranking, what factors are considered important and what could be harmful.

The factors below are listed in the descending order of importance to ranking (based on BaiduGuide.com research):

Broad Algorithms Factors

1. Trust and the Authority of the domain;
2. Link Popularity of the domain;
3. On-page keyword usage;
4. Anchor text or external links to the page;
5. Traffic data;
6. Site age and registration data;
7. Social metrics;

 

On-Page Ranking Factors (Keyword)

1. Keyword use in the title tag;
2. Keyword use in internal link anchor text;
3. Keyword use in external link anchor text;
4. Keyword use in H1 tag;
5. Keyword use in the page URL (pinyin);
6. Keyword use in image alt tag;
7. Keyword use in domain name (pinyin);
8. Keyword use in H2 – H6 tags;
9. Keyword use in meta description tag;
10. Keyword use in image name (pinyin);

 

On-Page Ranking Factors (General)

1.  Unique content;
2. Domain name age;
3. Sitemaps (XML, video, image);
4. Number of indexed pages;
5. ICP license registration;
6. Site architecture (should be as flat as possible);
7.  Freshness and ratio of the new pages;
8. Ratio of code to text in HTML;
9. Citations of the domain in Baidu Baike;
10. Spelling and grammar mistakes;

 

Link Popularity Ranking Factors

1. Topical relevance of the external links;
2. Quality of external links;
3. Keyword focused anchor text from external links;
4. Keyword focused anchor text from internal links;
5. Diversity of link sources;
6. Age of external links;
7. Links from trusted domains;
8. Quantity of external links;
9. Keyword focuses internal links;
10. Links for restricted TLDs;

 

Social Metrics

1. Baidu like data;
2. Baidu share data;
3. Weibo like or share data;
4. Renren.com like or share data;

 

Geo-Targeting Factors

1. Country code TLDs (.cn ranks higher then .com etc.);
2. Links from targeted country domains (Preference to Mainland China);
3. Geo location and IP address of the domain (preference to Mainland China);

 

Negative Ranking Factors

1. Frequent server downtime;
2. Malicious hidden texts;
3. Links to low quality sites;
4. Duplicated content;
5. Links from low quality and spam sites;
6. Keyword stuffing;
7. Purchased links;
8. Server response time;
9. Low traffic to the site;