China SEO: Quality of Baidu Search Results

I have always written about the fact that Baidu has a different user group than Google, e.g. in this article: compare Baidu and Google. This is true for both SEO and SEM results. The basic difference between the two search engines is that Baidu has more uneducated users who live in rural areas and/or are students. The latter is preferred by white-collar workers, decision makers, scholars, etc. Those with a need for good quality search results

So far, this information resulted from some studies and personal observations and discussions. Now, this news: “Alibaba pulls ads from ‘low-quality’ Baidu“.

According to this press release, Alibaba ended its search engine advertising contract with Baidu due to unsatisfying marketing results. Alibaba says that they get too much low-quality traffic from Baidu which doesn’t convert into business. Besides, click fraud rates are on the rise.

a) Start your Baidu SEM campaign on a low level, include a test phase to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

b) You can still get a lot of eyeballs through Baidu, so it depends on your online marketing strategy: awareness vs. conversion. What counts more?

c) Clear and good ad text copywriting. Make it clear what the user will get when he clicks on the text ad.

d) Perfect landing page. No confusion or user losses allowed here.

e) Tracking and daily campaign optimization