Baidu is currently China’s number one search engine in its country, and many webmasters who does not naturally reside in China may want to build their own Chinese websites to expand their online business’ exposure. Unfortunately, Baidu English uses a different page ranking algorithm and follows a different rule. So if you want to increase your webpage rank in Baidu search engine, you should at least observe the following rules.
Rule 1: Avoid Sex Related Content
If you want to gain a good page rank in Baidu English keep your website free from sex related discussions or contents. Always keep in mind that China is not keenly open to sex talks. Openly discuss about this topic and your website won’t even exist in Baidu’s searches.
Rule 2: Avoid Contents that Attacks Chinese Government
Another thing to avoid is to display, write, or submit articles or other related contents that contain malicious and harmful information against the Chinese Government. Baidu does not allow such act.
Rule 3: Chinese Pinyin Domains
Baidu loves Pinyin domains. Pinyin domains are mostly written in as a .cn, .org.cn, and .com.cn domains. They love domains like this and are reflective in their search engine responses. So if it is possible to keep a domain name in these formats, its better to name your domain title this way.
Rule 4: If it’s Possible, Host your site in Mainland China
Baidu highly prioritizes websites with Chinese IP’s. They instantly give it high page rankings higher than websites that contain non Chinese IP. So it’s highly preferred to host your site in their mainland as Baidu gives in more weight to its local websites.
Rule 5: Avoid using ISO-8885-1 Coding
Instead of using web script in your webpage, use GB2312 or UTF-8 instead to gain higher points in rank. In addition, if you’re using a free CMS web script, it’s highly recommended to convert these scripts in to a Chinese script.
And instead of using Joomla CMS and WordPress, opt for China’s Dede which is CMS’s English counterpart, and so on. Customizing the site should also be simple. Avoid using too much flash, Frames, iFrames, and Javascript.
Rule 6: Webpage Content
The number one to be followed in content is to keep everything 100% original. It is also imperative to update the website frequently, at least once a week with fresh and unique features.
The minimum word requirement in Baidu should not be less than 700 words.
Rule 7: Redirects 301
And finally, after managing to change your websites domain name and URL structure, use 301 to redirect your webpage from its old domain version to its new one. Baidu also gives ranking points for 301 redirects so it pays to keep this mind.
Maybe hosting the site on Chinese server could be beneficial for Chinese SEO, but it also has very clear drawbacks: much slower for traffic outside China, and danger of being banned at any moment.
100% agree with you!