What You Need To Know In 2021

• 1. Bring In a Chinese SEO Professional

• Not every web designer/developer knows a thing about Chinese SEO. They focus on the interface's aesthetic, whereas a search engine optimization expert focuses on keyword research, UX experience and conversion rates.

• How Does SEO Help My Business?
  By hiring both professionals, you will LIKELY achieve better ranking results and avoid a hefty SEO work cost later.

• 2. Avoid Politic & Social Issues

• In 2018, the Chinese government took down the Marriott site because the hotel listed Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and Macao as an individual country. This shakedown is a warning to you and every business owner.

  

• How Does SEO Help My Business?
  Do not discuss or involve any sensitive subjects. Your website will likely index by Chinese search engines.

• 3. Know Baiduspider's Limitations

• Let’s face it:
  While Googlebot is more advanced with technologies such as JavaScript, Baiduspider is still lagging behind Google.

• 4. Get Dedicated Hosting

• Hosting your website in China will require you to apply to the China Ministry of Industry. An alternative option is to get either a web hosting provider in HK or your country with a CDN.

• A slow website not only damages your company's reputation but also hurts the visitor experience. For that, Baidu may kick you out.

• 5. Understand The Firewall

• The Great Firewall blocks western sites like social media, news, streaming apps, blogging websites, etc., because the Chinese government deems this content inappropriate.

  Sometimes, websites that don’t contain political or “sensitive” content can see some disruptions at a sensitive time, but not all business sites are blocked.

• 6. .Com Domain Vs. Cn Domain

• According to Search Metrics, having a .cn domain does not guarantee any ranking advantage. Websites with .com extension do rank in Baidu.

• 

  Whether it's .com or .cn, it does not matter in Baidu search engines; What matters is what your target audience thinks.

• 7. Get SSL Certificate

• Notice the "HTTPS" at the beginning of my URL above? This HTTPS is how Baidu identifies secure websites from non-secure ones.

  

• How Does SEO Help My Business?
  In 2015, Baidu stated that it gives a small ranking boost to HTTPS sites.

• 8. Create Trust & Confidence

• Your website should create a seamless experience for the Chinese audience.

  

  Give Chinese users a familiar web environment by adding these items to your site:

  • A QR code
  • Testimonials with photo
  • Install Wechat Messenger, QQ, etc.
  • Address and phone number Listed
  • Chinese social media icons

• 9. Get Responsive Design

• According to the China Statistical Report August 2017, China has an online population of 751 million and over 95% are using mobile devices to access the Internet. While your mobile version shares the same URL as its desktop version, Baidu uses m.baidu.com for its mobile search engine.

• How Does SEO Help My Business?
  According to the Baidu Mobile Search Optimization Guide 2.0, It lists these tips to help your mobile version:

  • Develop a mobile version using HTML 5
  • Use a descriptive text of a link
  • Write a well-descriptive, standardized, and simple URL
  • Each page should have a unique title, preferably more than 17 Chinese characters
  • Put important content to the left
  • Develop these useful pages: 301, 404 and 503
  • Submit your mobile version using a mobile sitemap submission tool

• 10. Create Perfect HTML

• You might NOT know your website include some terrible codes, but these codes can impact your SEO. Check your site quality yourself on W3C's validation tool and Link Checker.

  

• 11. Measure Your Page Loading Speed

• Slow websites are associated with lessened credibility and lower perceived quality. You can test your website speed with these free tools:
  • Webkaka
  • Site 24X7

• 12. Get CDN

• CDNs are a collection of servers distributed across the globe that all hold copies of your website. When someone from China visits your site, it chooses a server closest to the user to load the website. This way, he does not wait too long to see your site.

• How Does SEO Help My Business?
  According to CDNetworks, Chinese visitors will wait about 33.1 seconds for a Western website compared to 4.8 seconds for those located within China. Surprise them with a faster website!

• 13. Reduce File Sizes

• Original files are large and make your website loading very slow. 

  Here's what you should do:

  • Minify HTML
  • Minify Javascript
  • Minify CSS
  • Use Htaccess Script For Website Optimization
  • Compress Your Images

• Apply a lazy loading technique to each image, which loads a picture when needed, and this makes the HTML pages a small file size and thus load incredibly faster.

  How Does SEO Help My Business?
  By compressing those files, you significantly improve the user experience.