Understanding China’s Dominant Search Engine: Baidu

Mike Motherwell – Lined Media

China & Me

• Worked In Search For 15 Years

• Got asked repeatedly for Chinese PPC – decided to investigate

• While Visiting Beijing in 2013, I Attended China ICT a - big startup conference

• Had No Idea How Big Tencent Was

• Shocked by the size of opportunity

• Formed a joint venture to become a Baidu reseller

• SERP – Search Engine Results Page

• SEM – Search Engine Marketing. Sometimes synonym for advertising.

• Organic Results – “Free” Part of the results.

• SEO – Search Engine Optimisation. Increasing the traffic from the free part of the results.

• PPC – Pay Per Click. Advertising model for Search

• Keywords – what a user types into a search box

Jargon

A Google SERP

A Baidu SERP

Search &

The World

Google Irrelevant

Google Still 2nd

Source: http://searchengineland.com/google-worlds-most-popular-search-engine-148089

Source:http://searchengineland.com/google-worlds-most-popular-search-engine-148089

% Share Of World Searches In Billions

Source:http://searchengineland.com/google-worlds-most-popular-search-engine-148089

Individual Searchers (aka PEOPLE)

Source:http://searchengineland.com/google-worlds-most-popular-search-engine-148089

5 Year Search Trend

Search

In China

Three Players

Search Market Share: August 2014

Search Engine Usage

Baidu 56.33%

360 search 29.01%

Sogou 12.75%

21cn 0.75%

Microsoft Bing 0.71%

Google 0.27%

Other 0.18%

Source: http://engine.data.cnzz.com/main.php?s=engine&uv=2&st=2013-08-01&et=2013-08-31

Search Engine Usage

Baidu 60.47%

360 23.10%

Sogou 12.77%

Google 1.65%

Microsoft Bing 0.77%

Other 1.24%

Source: http://engine.data.cnzz.com/main.php?s=engine&uv=2&st=2013-12-01&et=2013-12-31

Search Market Share: December 2013

Source: http://engine.data.cnzz.com/main.php?s=engine&uv=2&st=2010-12-01&et=2010-12-31

Search Engine UsageBaidu 80.42%Google 10.21%Sogou 3.55%Soso 3.91%Wealth 0.60%Bing 0.55%Yahoo 0.50%Qihoo 0.03%

Search Market Share: December 2010

Source: http://www.iresearchchina.com/views/5780.html

China Search Market Share Of Spend

A Local Frame

Of Reference

Baidu Is The Closest Thing

To A Chinese Google

Vs

Self Service vs Requires Approval

Innovation is SEO Focused vs Innovation is PPC Focused

Advertiser UNfriendly vs Advertiser Friendly

Dominates most of the world

minus China, Russia (Yandex)

& Korea (Naver)

vs Mostly China (and Chinese worldwide

- 102nd in Alexa for Australian sites)

Baidu’s

Product Set

Products Sponsored

Search

Baidu Sponsored Search (PPC)

Similar to AdWords.

Baidu offers Paid Search: Choose keywords that your

potential customers may use to search your products.

Your ads are then displayed at the top of those related

search result lists. You pay each time someone clicks your

ad; that's why paid search is also called pay per click or

PPC.

Left Side: Logos

Logos Only Show on

the left hand side

Right Side: Picture Promotion

• Only shows when Ad

is in position 1

• Picture can be

anything except a

corporate logo.

Right Side: Video Ads

Video Ads only show when

the ad is ranked in the 1st

position on the right hand

side of the Results.

Brand Zone

Brand Zone

Brand Zone: Gucci

Brand Zone

• Triggered when users type specific brand searches – need significant

brand search volume

• Dominates the entire top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page)

• Brand Zone is equivalent to a “home page take over”.

• Payment is a fixed monthly fee – not CPC

• Great way for Baidu to add value while “encouraging” brands to pay for

their own brand traffic.

Mini Zone

Mini Zone Example

Baidu

Mobile

In China, mobile internet usage is huge.

Mobile

Baidu Mobile – SEM

Baidu Mobile – Brand Zone

Should I Advertise

On Baidu?

Who should try Baidu?

• Tourism

• Financial Advisors and Banking

• Real Estate

• Lawyers

• e-Commerce

• High-end Consumer Goods

• Fashion

• Recruitment

• Education

• Immigration

• Heavily monitored by Government

• Currency Conversions

• News

• Porn

Baidu Limitations

The 7 (/8) steps to opening a Baidu account

1. Company Name

2. URL

3. Company Registration Certificate

4. Screenshot of your Home page (With Seal and

Signature)

5. The Industry you belong to

6. Governmental website for more info

(abn.business.gov.au)

7. Letter of Commitment (template provided)

8. List any unusual requirements (if any)

Check List

Drop us a line…

Mike Motherwell

@motherwell

Suite 7, 174 Pacific Highway,

North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia

Phone: 1-300-526-934