In China, the use of Baidu for internet searches is huge, with the company holding a current market share of around 80%.

When it comes to mobile search in particular, the figures are even higher – at 91% dominance according to some reports, possibly as a result of Baidu having invested very heavily in it. Mobile search is also reported to provide the company with around 30% of its revenues, and account for two-thirds of its search traffic.

Mobile search is massive overall in China, with more than 80% of ‘netizens’ making use of it – up from 65% five years ago.

Some other facts about Baidu search engine

• Approximately 94% of Baidu users reside in China. The rest come from the US, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
• It is more than a search engine – offering games, travel booking, social networks, an e-commerce platform, and various other services.
• According to China Internet Watch (CIW), mobile search revenues had overtaken that of desktop by the end of 2014, and during 2015, the most looked-for content was around lifestyle, education, people, and news.
• CIW also states that mobile users are often seeking local resources and fresh content, and that Baidu has updated its algorithms in line with these trends.

How to optimise your mobile site for Baidu

If you don’t currently have a mobile site, you can create one using Baidu’s webmaster tools. Optimising your mobile site for Baidu is also vital in order to rank well online in China. Important considerations include:

• Content – this needs to be rich, high quality, current, unique and relevant. Poor quality or duplicated content could earn you a stiff penalty.
• Tags and descriptions – it’s important to ensure that these meet Baidu’s requirements. Also, meta descriptions are used for ranking with Baidu, which means they should ideally include search terms or keywords.
• Keywords / search terms – it’s important to do keyword research, but make sure that they are not overused in content.
• Language – content and tags should be in simplified Chinese.
• Quick loading times – on a mobile site, this requires limited use of videos and images that could slow down page load speeds.

How Baidu characterises poor mobile sites

According to CIW, Baidu considers these factors as possible indicators of a poor quality mobile site:

• Lack of content.
• Outdated content.
• Broken links.
• Overuse of keywords.
• Spam redirections.
• Inappropriate architecture.

If you haven’t optimised your desktop website for mobile search in China, you could be missing an opportunity to increase traffic and grow your brand presence. For assistance in getting the most out of Baidu, talk to the specialists at our China Online Marketing division.