The main search engines in China are Baidu, Google China and Yahoo China.

At the moment, many SEO companies in China only optimise one or two keywords per search engine for a fee. Charges for SEO could even reach up to thousands of renminbi (RMB) for a very competitive keyword. Metafocus goes beyond keyword rankings - we provide a full Chinese Internet marketing service necessary to maintain and keep up with new search engine developments. Our service begins by analysing the right Chinese keywords for your industry. Finding the right balance for any keyword would ensure that you will have increased visitors to your site.

The principles of search engine optimisation remains the same for any country in the world, however at Metafocus we believe in creating localised and effective online marketing campaigns for all our clients. We work closely with our online marketing and advertising partner in China to ensure that your Chinese website will be effective and attractive to people in China.

Understanding Baidu

Baidu holds over 70% of the search engine market share in China (iresearch). Thus, although the principles of search engine optimisation are the same for most countries, there are differences in the way that search engines operate.

The search engine results page (SERP) shown in this example is a typical Baidu SERP. The most obvious difference between what we recognise as a traditional SERP on say, Google and Baidu are that there are pay-per-click results on the left side of the page which in the West is used only for organic or natural listings. The keyword entered in this example is 电脑 (computer). As it is quite a competitive keyword there are already advertised listings above the organic listings, defined only by the characters 推广 on the bottom right corner of each link.

Instead of pay-per-click listings on the right hand side, there are yearly fixed price listings instead, where the first 3 listings are rotated amongst themselves. 4-10th listings cost less and are rotated in order on a day-to-day basis. Price depends on how competitive the keyword is and the amount you are bidding. Baidu states that in the situation where two companies have bid for the same place for the same keyword, the company who pays first will get the position. Factors such as the quality of the landing page will also affect these positions.

Occasionally, a gray section, similar to Google’s blue “Sponsored Results” section will pop up on the search engine results page. However, these are links that are put up by Baidu when someone searches for a search term that has no paid links. Instead, links with keywords similar to the search term will be displayed.

In order to make sure that you are not listed beneath the paid advertisements, which could be up to and over the first 10 rankings on the first page of Baidu, you need have a targeted keyword strategy so that your site will be visible on the front page of Baidu.

Baidu vs. Google.cn

Baidu and Google China's combined market share is well over 90% (iresearch 2007). Individually, there are many statistics that will account for both the dominance of Baidu as well as the rise of Google within the Chinese search market.

While Baidu is still considered to be the main leader for Chinese language searches, it also commands a younger demographic than Google China. This is mostly due to the popular free mp3 downloads that are offered on Baidu. Research has shown that Google China is more popular with young, urban, white-collar workers with higher spending power.

Social Media Optimisation in China

Social Media sites are increasingly popular for effective online marketing in China. Here we list a few well known sites in the Chinese Internet world and how they can help to increase your online presence and draw relevant visitors to your website.

BBS

Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) or forums as they are more widely known in the west have been immensely popular form of communication in China.

Almost all Chinese websites have a BBS section where visitors can leave their thoughts and comments. Studies have shown that many Chinese netizens will often search on forums, blogs or review sites before buying a product, trusting the views of their fellow peers before investing in a product. Much like blogs, writing on well-recognised and popular forums can increase your online credibility and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Social Networks

QQ - Almost all Chinese Internet users will have used QQ or one of its services. QQ services include the very popular Instant Messaging service, QQ Spaces and even QQ currency! In fact, QQ bi (QQ currency) is so widely known in the Chinese Internet world that the Wall Street Journal has published an article on its effects on the Chinese currency, the Renminbi (RMB).

Xiaonei.com - In western terms, it is considered the “facebook” of China, with a front page remarkably similar to Facebook. However for the moment it is only available to Chinese college students and does not support third party applications. While facebook and myspace are also growing in terms of users (2 million registered for myspace.cn by March 2007, making it the one of the countries with the highest growing number of localised users within global myspace sites), there are also plenty of other local Chinese social networking sites used.

Video Promotion

The two big names of the Chinese video market are Tudou and Youku. Despite the worldwide success of Youtube, Tudou was actually launched a few months before Youtube. Tudou was also operating under the name toodou, meaning “potato” a reference to “couch potato”. Youku has recently released news about teaming up with Chinese myspace, to aid with the localisation of myspace for the Chinese market.

If you are looking to enter global markets, drop us an email or ring us on +44 (0)115 947 0011 to discuss how your website can reach the most populated country in the world, China!