The search engine landscape in China is very different from the Western world. Baidu is the most popular search engine and takes up the majority of the market share for desktop and mobile searches. However, like other Western-word search engines, Baidu provides pay per click ads, something that is heavily used by companies looking to run search engine marketing efforts in China. For barely-know brands or those that operate in niche segments, brand awareness activities like social media and display ads help better before you dive into Baidu SEM. However, if your brand or business is well-recognized, here are some tips to grow it with Baidu, more specifically its pay per click program.

# 1 – Work on good quality, authentic Chinese content

Baidu is a Chinese platform and your primary audience are the people of that land. So, it only makes sense that you have someone fluent in the language, taking care of your copy and other ad efforts. This is important not just to pick the right keywords but also to manage the account interface well. This is an exercise that is much more than just translating your English ad copies into Chinese. Your copywriter needs to know the local market and its trends. Also, how to respond to customers who need more information or in order to talk to Baidu support to run your campaigns. Good knowledge of the language is crucial.

# 2 – Use ICP and hosting in China

Advertising on Baidu needs to compliant with the laws of the Chinese land and this search engine platform does not want to be in a state that sends internet users to websites not vetted by the Chinese government. For this reason, it becomes important to register a .cn domain name and also get an Internet Content Provider License (ICP). Simultaneously, host your website in China, because it makes your website faster and ensures that you’re in the good books with Baidu and the government.

# 3 – Stay clear of the commotion

Baidu ads typically take up a lot of space as opposed to other search engines. While the number of display ads has been brought down recently, a variety of formats including pictures, videos etc.can be displayed in the space for ads. As a result, there can be a lot of clutter and people searching for your brand, product, or service keyword can get drowned in what is displayed on the screen. To steer clear of this problem, make use of the BrandZone feature if your brand has even minimal recognition among the users. This helps you occupy the top position of your brand terms and trademarks all the time.

# 4 – Drive cost-efficiency

As with any other marketing or advertising campaign, Baidu SEM can be successful only if you work towards driving cost-efficiency. This is possible through continuous mining of keywords that matter to your product or service, as well as to your brand, using Baidu’s keyword planning tool. When you are at it, also remember to make effective use of Baidu’s bid strategies and utilize bid modifiers to bid differently for different devices. The results based on device, audience, extensions, etc. can vary, so remember to adjust your bid accordingly.

# 5 – Test continually

Planning and implementing strategies is one part, continually modifying them, the other. The latter helps bring you closer to your business goals and growth through Baidu SEM. As with other search engines, Baidu comes up with new features from time to time. When used right, these features can give you the best results for your Baidu PPC campaign. One such example is the Baidu industry target feature. It helps you reach out to audiences similar to that of your competitors based on how those people searched or visited your competitor. This helps your business website ads to target the right set of the audience while reducing cost per click and improving brand awareness and conversions. Staying abreast with changing needs and features thus can fetch you better results and ROI through Baidu search engine marketing activities. But remember to measure them from time to time so that you can make necessary tweaks to achieve desired results.