Created in 2000, Baidu is a Chinese tech company that is well known for its search engine. Similarly to Google, it lets you search for web pages, maps, images, videos, and more. Additionally, it offers several web-based tools.
But why is it worthy of your attention?
Well, it is the largest internet company as well as the most used search engine in China. In the year 2019, its market share in China reached 64%. This means that Baidu controls most of the Chinas search market.
It is important to note that Google is banned in mainland China. Therefore, most Chinese people choose Baidu as their primary search engine. However, this search engine is forced to censor the search results according to Chinese regulation.
Why online marketers should consider Baidu?
So, why are we covering a Chinese search engine in the SEO FAQs?
While there is still a long way to go for Baidu to reach the Internet penetration levels of most countries, its influence in China is steadily growing. Every year more and more Chinese people come online and the local search engine giant is doing everything in their power to meet the needs of these customers.
For online marketers, this means one thing – that there is an untapped potential of billions of searches per month.
However, optimizing for this Chinese tech giant is not the same as for Google. To succeed with Baidu SEO, you must acquire a deep understanding of how their search engine works. The issue here is the lack of available Baidu SEO resources in English or even in Chinese for that matter.
Ranking for page one in this Chinese search engine comes with its own challenges. Any outsider trying to rank for Baidu will have to face complex language issues, different user behavior, cultural differences, legal issues, technical considerations, and even censorship.
Despite the challenges that the Chinese search market presents, online marketers that do succeed with optimization for local search engine will ofter reap great rewards. Therefore, we feel that every online marketer should be aware of Baidu and its potential.
For those interested in expanding their online marketing efforts into China by performing Baidu SEO, this resource offers a great guide.
If you have other Search Engine Related Questions visit our SEO FAQ section.