SEO & SEM Search Marketing (Baidu / Bing)
Website SEO, off-site SEO, and Baidu and Bing SEM advertising — one playbook built on how people in China actually search, so international brands get found, clicked and converted, and are ready for AI search.
Why search is still the backbone of B2B lead generation
B2B buying is never impulsive: engineers check specs, buyers compare suppliers, management checks reputation, and almost every step starts with a search. Across thousands of websites, organic search drives about 53% of traffic and paid search about 15% — together the largest source of traffic for most corporate sites.
China's search landscape is different. Google is largely unavailable; Baidu holds about 46.65% and Bing about 21.76% of search (StatCounter, September 2026, all platforms), with Bing stronger on desktop and among professionals. Translating a global site into Chinese and applying a Google playbook usually means slow indexing, weak rankings and few leads.
Website SEO: make Baidu and Bing understand your site
Your website is where all search traffic lands. We make your Chinese site work for search engines and people alike — technically, in content and in experience.
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01
Keyword and search-intent research
Using Baidu Index, Bing keyword data and competitor rankings, we map the searches your buyers really make at each stage — category, problem, comparison and brand queries — and assign them to the right pages.
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02
Technical SEO
We fix indexing, crawling and speed: mainland hosting and ICP filing, mobile readiness, page speed, sitemaps and submission to Baidu and Bing webmaster tools, URL and internal-link structure, and structured data (schema).
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03
Content gap analysis and page optimization
We find the topics competitors cover and you don't, plan product, solution, case and knowledge pages, and tune titles, descriptions, structure and FAQs so each page answers the buyer's question.
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04
User experience and conversion paths
Traffic has to turn into leads: clear navigation, credible cases and certifications, short forms and WeChat / WeCom entry points.
Off-site SEO: give your brand a credible footprint in Chinese
Baidu and Bing judge credibility by what others say about you, not just your own site. Off-site SEO puts accurate, consistent, citable information about your brand on trusted platforms:
- Baidu ecosystem: Baidu Baike, Baijiahao, Baidu Zhidao and Aicaigou for core brand and product information.
- Trade media and vertical platforms: press releases, expert articles and industry listings for quality links and brand mentions.
- Knowledge platforms: real answers on Zhihu and industry Q&A, which search engines and AI also cite.
- Competitor share of search: ongoing tracking of your visibility versus competitors on core keywords, to find gaps you can win.
SEM: Baidu and Bing advertising
SEO takes time; SEM puts you at the top of results right away. We run Baidu and Bing search ads end to end:
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01
Audience and keyword analysis
Keywords and negatives planned by product line and buying stage, with search volume and cost-per-click estimates, so the budget goes where it pays.
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02
Ad creative and landing pages
Ad copy written for Chinese search habits, paired with dedicated landing pages to raise quality scores and lower cost per click.
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03
Bidding strategy
Manual bidding combined with smart bidding such as Baidu oCPC, optimized for lead quality rather than clicks alone.
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04
Account management and reporting
Weekly optimization of structure, budget, scheduling and regions, with clear reports: what you spent, how many leads came in, and the cost per lead.
How we work: from audit to continuous improvement
SEO brings lasting, free visibility; SEM brings immediate, controllable traffic; social content amplifies the brand. Run as one strategy, they cover acquisition and conversion, visibility and touch points, and branding and engagement.
- Audit: a full check of your site, indexing, rankings, competitors and ad accounts.
- Strategy: keyword map, page plan, off-site channels and SEM budget split.
- Execution: technical fixes, content, off-site placement and campaign launch.
- Measure and iterate: monthly tracking of rankings, traffic, leads and cost, with ongoing adjustments.
SEO and SEM alone are no longer enough
More and more buyers skip the results pages and simply ask Doubao, DeepSeek, Yuanbao or Qwen which supplier to trust. In September 2026 Doubao alone had 419 million monthly active users, Qwen 158 million and DeepSeek 123 million (QuestMobile), and Gartner forecasts that traditional search engine volume will drop 25% by 2026 as AI chatbots take over queries.
An AI gives one answer, not ten links — if you are not in it, your ranking gets skipped. So alongside SEO and SEM we extend the same content assets into GEO (generative engine optimization), getting your brand understood, cited and recommended by AI.
Want to see where you stand? Run our free AI visibility check.
What to have ready before we start
The more you have ready, the faster the audit and the sharper the plan. Anything missing we can sort out together in the first call:
- Website and hosting: CMS access or a developer contact, where the server is, and your ICP filing status
- Analytics access: Baidu Tongji / Baidu Search Resource Platform, Bing Webmaster Tools and any other analytics you use
- Existing ad accounts: Baidu and Bing ad accounts if you have them, plus past campaign data
- Business material: product and solution overviews, target industries and buyer personas, your main competitors
- Goals and budget: the outcome you want (e.g. enquiries, brand-keyword rankings), timeline and budget range
- Contacts: the marketing owner, plus whoever reviews content and handles technical changes
Key Data & Sources
| Data | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| China search engine market share, all platforms (Sept 2026): Baidu / Bing / Haosou | 46.65% / 21.76% / 12.26% | gs.statcounter.com |
| Share of website traffic: organic search / paid search (thousands of sites) | 53% / 15% | www.brightedge.com |
| Monthly active users of AI-native apps in China (Sept 2026): Doubao / Qwen / DeepSeek / Yuanbao | 419M / 158M / 123M / 37.3M | www.questmobile.com.cn |
| Gartner forecast: drop in traditional search engine volume by 2026 due to AI chatbots | 25% | www.gartner.com |
FAQ
How is SEO in China different from SEO on Google?
The main engines are Baidu and Bing, not Google. Baidu favours mainland hosting, ICP filing, quality Chinese content and its own ecosystem (Baike, Baijiahao); Bing is strong on desktop and among professionals. Keywords need fresh research in Chinese, not translation.
How long does Baidu SEO take to show results?
Once technical issues are fixed, indexing usually improves within weeks; clear gains in core rankings and organic traffic typically take 3–6 months, depending on competition and your content base. SEM can fill the gap in the meantime.
Can a site hosted outside China rank on Baidu?
It can be indexed, but speed and stability are usually weaker and rankings suffer. We generally recommend a mainland-hosted Chinese site or compliant in-China acceleration, with ICP filing.
Should we start with SEO or SEM?
Plan both: SEM brings traffic immediately and shows which keywords produce good leads; SEO turns those valuable keywords into lasting free traffic. With a tight budget, we start with an audit and recommend a split.
Baidu ads or Bing ads?
It depends on your audience: Baidu reaches more of the general and mobile market; Bing is often more cost-effective for multinationals, professionals and desktop users. Many B2B brands use both and shift budget by cost per lead.
If we do SEO and SEM, do we still need GEO?
Yes. More users ask AI assistants like Doubao and DeepSeek directly, and the AI recommends only a few brands. GEO gets you into those answers, and good SEO content is its foundation, so the two are best planned together.
How do you measure search marketing results?
We track rankings, indexing, organic and paid traffic, lead volume and cost per lead in one dashboard and report monthly, so the return on every yuan is visible.
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Whether you are an enterprise seeking a new perspective on the Chinese market, or a professional company looking to improve marketing performance, we provide expert services and insights.
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