Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for museums and cultural institutions that want to enhance their digital presence. Although this can be a complicated process on Google and other Western search engines, it can become even more tricky when working with Baidu, China’s popular search portal. Check out the crash course on Chinese SEO for tips on how to get started and avoid.

1. Host a Native Domain

Although some .com and .net websites are ranked by Baidu, they prefer websites hosted in China with a .cn domain (China’s country code top-level domain (ccTLD)). Baidu’s optimized .cn subdomain (extension “.com.cn”) or gTLD (Generic Top Level Domain) also has the correct subdomain.

2. Get Certified

In order to comply with China’s Internet laws, all websites hosted on servers in Mainland China must apply for an Internet Content Publishing (ICP) license. Without it, it would be difficult to rank high on Baidu. ICP can be protected from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China and needs to be clearly displayed on the website (usually in the footer).

3. Translate Text

Websites indexed on Baidu must be in Chinese, and all site copies and SEO resources /meta tags must be translated into Mandarin, preferably Simplified Chinese characters. Have professional translators and local market experts review the translated copy to ensure it is comfortable to read and consistent with the brand image and target audience. Beware: Baidu identifies deciphered transcripts and may penalize websites for using incorrect machine translation.

4. Boost Site Speed

Consider of this shocking statistic, if a web page loads more than 3 seconds, 57% of users will abandon the web page. Due to the size of the country and the China Firewall (GFW), the best way to increase the speed of Chinese websites is to implement a Content Delivery Network (CDN). The system allows visitors to receive information from the nearest available server, rather than where the website is hosted. This greatly increases the speed of content delivery. There are several CDNs on the market, but Cloudflare is highly recommended because it has an extensive server network in mainland China and has established a partnership with Baidu.

5. Develop a Keyword Strategy

Baidu often requires higher keyword density than other search engines (about 8% -12%). However, quality outweighs quantity, and the company recently updated its spam cracking algorithm. Keywords must be contextual and avoid “keyword filling”, a phenomenon that occurs when brands try to achieve high keyword density through unnatural placement of target keywords.

6. Cut Blocked Content

Before launching on a Chinese server, please check the website content to ensure that it does not contain blacklisted keywords or sensitive content such as offensive comments, political content, gambling, pornographic content. Baidu indexes all “disgusting” content and is likely to close. To avoid being blocked by Baiduspider (Baidu’s official web crawler), please provide pure HTML alternatives to Flash, iFrame and JavaScript content. Also, even if Western websites are not explicitly blocked, remove outbound links to non-Chinese websites to avoid loading errors. Instead, use links from highly authoritative Chinese sites that are industry-relevant. Another tip: Sign up for Baidu’s webmaster services tool to collect basic statistics, upload updated site maps, identify / fix broken links or site issues, and audit site security or URL features.

7. Localize Social Media

While re-purposing landing pages for the Chinese market, remove links to social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google Maps. Popular western platforms should be replaced with their Chinese equivalents: WeChat, Youku, Sina Weibo, Baidu maps and so on. Brands with an existing Chinese social media presence should incorporate links or QR codes to those sites on webpages. Those without accounts should still add “share” and “like” buttons to shareable content platforms to increase social traffic and crawl speed. Furthermore, embedded videos hosted on YouTube or Vimeo won’t play in China so webmasters should setup an account on YouKu, the Chinese YouTube counterpart or alternative Chinese video hosting sites.

While relocating the landing page for the China market, delete links to social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google Maps. The popular western platforms should be replaced with China platform equivalents: WeChat, Youku, Sina Weibo, Baidu Map, etc. Brands with China social media presence should include links or QR codes on their web pages to these sites. Those without an account should still add Share and Like buttons on shareable content platforms to increase social traffic and crawl speed. In addition, embedded videos hosted on YouTube or Vimeo will not be playable in China, so webmasters should set up an account on YouKu, YouTube ’s Chinese counterpart, or other Chinese video hosting sites.

8. Be Mobile Friendly

More than 95% of web surfers in China use their smartphones to connect online. Websites that are not mobile-friendly rank lower on Baidu and have a higher bounce rate from mobile users. Consider designing a separate design for the mobile version of your website that contains the basic information of “compromise” and minimizes scrolling and clicks on text links.

Resource from : https://viceclicks.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1700&action=elementor