Baidu Basics…. (6)
I was reading an article that merely posed the question: “Can Google Gain Ground on Baidu?”
The benign and oft asked question then regressed into odd xenophobic commentary and a recanting of long traveled urban myths about the world’s #3 search engine Baidu (百度)…
Some of the feedback:
“I heard china were banning US based search engines (yahoo,msn,ask,google) in a politically driven move.”
–I think we should ban bad grammar in post-based nonsense. No, Google (New Motto: “Do a Little Evil“), Yahoo! and the others voluntarily censor themselves in pursuit of the almighty Yuan.
“Baidu’s PPC management tool is far less advanced than that of Google. However, they simply dominate the Chinese market. It would probably change as search marketing industry matures in China.”
–Another English major heard from….Actually, Baidu has a number of tools and programs that I prefer over Google. They can, and will, work side-by-side with companies to ensure maximum exposure. They are now opening up API access to distributors and analytics firms to ensure the best ROI.
“Baidu has only page rank of 7 i think the chinese just dont feel home in google. you forgot to mention google have a local version in china called SOSO.
“another factor is in china end users cannot manage their adwords account only by special adwords brokers appointed by google if every chinese would have made one link for me i was happy man ”
–The above mentioned blog has a diverse, albeit moderately literate, readership. First (or is it “firstly” Des?), Google ranks sites in countries relative to each other. Were Baidu in America it would likely be an 8-9. Anyway, Baidu’s Page rank (capital ‘P” ’cause it is named for the inventor, not the function) is not likely to affect its keywords in western searches. Secondly, SOSO (搜搜) belongs to the “QQ” people at Tencent (note: 搜，which in Mandarin sounds like the English word “so,” means “search” in Chinese). Thirdly, i too was happy if every one of the 230 million users in China would made one link for me.
“Surely google will deserves a position wherever it may be…”
–Insert your own punch line here______.
“You shouldn’t take Baidu’s dominance at full face value, remember that the Chinese government essentially turned google off a couple of years ago and redirected all traffic to baidu. In fact, on a recent visit to China a good friend of mine found it’s still happening intermittently. Not that he minds the free movie and mp3 downloads…”
–1. There is no Google master switch in president Hu’s office. 2. My friend thinks he gets lottery numbers from re-runs of It’s a Wonderful Life. 3. Baidu (百度) is now pursuing contracts with artists and companies and even branding legitimate mp3 players for musicians and advertisers. The Chinese invented noodles and fireworks and may have discovered America, but they did not come up with bit torrent. 4. Current data shows Baidu’s market share in China to be at about 60%. Baidu says that the 60% figure may be accurate for total searches done through a China-based portal, but Baidu claims a 70-75% share for queries originating from in-country. Google is running a distant second and Alibaba is limping in at 3rd. Tencent’s SOSO is an also ran…
“baidu is targetting Only China , but Googole is targetting all the world , so google will have all the previleges to be the n 1 in the world”
–Baidu, in a questionable moment of marketing sanity, just launched a Japanese search engine. “Googole” may be targeting the world, but it is missing the bullseye and shooting itself in the foot in Korea (ever heard of Naver?), China, Russia (Yandex) and other markets. In the David and Goliath wars, my money is on David with his home-field advantage.
Any savvy marketer, blogger or SEO provider needs to understand the mechanics of regional search. For starters:
- Use properly translated keywords in your tags and text. Baidu and Google.cn are more likely to pick you up.
- Submit your URL to Baidu at: http://www.baidu.com/search/url_submit.html
- Be wary of foreign based SEO players outside of China that do not have an on-the-ground presence in country, or purport to know the market while telling you things like, “Simplified Chinese will be sufficient to serve all markets.” A good SEO will optimize for the various ethnic groups and service or product targets you choose. China has 56 ethnic groups and a minimum of 6 distinct markets that can require special understanding and consideration.
- Get an authorized Baidu agent to place any ads for you. Do not buy from any company that claims Baidu has a set-up service fee. Ask for a copy of their contract with Baidu and access to your own control panel, even though it will be in Chinese.
A special Baidu Basics seminar will be held on-line March 6th and is free. Click on the banner above and head for the contact page and drop us a note. We will try and save you a spot and email you information. Whether you are a blogger, businessman, or SEO provider, there will be information on how you can successfully interface with Baidu on behalf of your clients.
Posted 3 February, 2008 in UK SEO EXPERT, SEO China Expert, 中文, Korea, Tencent, QQ, Yandex, Soso, seo expert services guangzhou china, alibaba.com, Chinese Media, Search Engine Marketing, Intercultural Issues, Asia, China Humor, China web 2.0, China Business, 中国, Seach engine Optimization, SEM, SEO, Chinese Internet, China SEO
China SEO Expert Services (0)
SEO Consulting China
For paid campaign work, inclusion in Baidu or partnerships in keyword advertising on Chinese search engines please fill out the contact form at: Culture Fish Media
Unlike many other search engine consulting (SEO) firms, I can be quite flexible as I work with clients individually. From simple search engine optimization to full scale consulting I can assist. Work for Non-profits agencies is free.
SEO, SEM China Client Profile
Typical Search Engine Optimization Consulting Clients are owners of websites with a dedicated team of webmasters and programmers, or are internet website owners who can handle the basic coding required to undergo a successful search engine optimization campaign or have an employee who can assist them.
If you have no Internet expertise, I can provide team members who can do this work as independent contractors.
The Search engine consulting client (or the client’s webmaster) should be able to implement suggested changes with as little assistance as possible (or see above). I send all suggestions via email or transmit them telephone/Skype. I make things as simple to follow and and never complicate things.
The Search Engine Consulting client must commit to a minimum of 5 hours of SEO consulting. Ongoing work beyond the first five hours is negotiated after the first month. All search engine consulting services are on a pre-fund (up front) basis. Once your hours have expired, you must purchase more time via pay pal.
For search engine consulting clients, there are no guarantees: no minimum PR value and no guaranteed search engine positioning unless of course you purchase a PR package. I can then talk to you about guaranteed Page Rank in the engines.
I can advise on adwords campaigns, but will not manage the campaign. I take no commission from Google for any advertising. This policy leaves me free to make the best decisons for you.
Cost for Search Engine/ Chinese Market Consulting
$100-$200 per hour depending on needs…Free for non-profits
Writing Meta-tags and such are done at the same rate. It is always my goal to teach you or your team to do as much of this as possible yourself.
Most smaller websites can have all major problems dealt with in under 10 hours of consulting…
Posted 22 January, 2008 in SEO China Expert, 中文, UK SEO EXPERT, chinese serach engines, china expert seo services guangzhou, seo expert services guangzhou china, Search Engine Marketing, Seach engine Optimization, The Internet, 中国, Seo China, Internet marketing China, SEM, SEO, China SEO
China SEO Expert…. (3)
I am not at the top of the rankings as a Martian Search Engine (SEO) expert ( I am only 3rd), but I might be after this post! The algorithms that govern what is and is not registered by search engines like Google and Yahoo! are shape-shifters: They catalog combinations from blogs and websites that can mystify, amuse and swindle you. For example, I am #2 in Google for Adult Pampers Makers even though I can’t remember mentioning diapers on this blog. Maybe, I am too old to remember using them and too young to worry about them just yet. I believe, like Robin Williams, that diapers are like politicians and should be changed frequently because they are both full…
But, I digress…
I know about this listing because someone searched for the term, and my analytics program identified from whence they came. There are other authentic one-hit wonders for which I rank highly, though I am clueless about why people searched for them or why I showed up tops. They ALL beg for an aside, but I am resisting, thinking that you can use your imagination: Pocket Fisherman Diagram, Plentiful Breast Pictures, Professor Asshat, China Olympic Professor Blog, Hairy Chinese Women, Wedding dress Market Report in China, I had my hepatitis shot, but the test says I have no immunity, Naked nurse teaching in China, Anais Nin commerative coin, American Prostitute Self, Naked nurse teaching in starbucks china, quota of America to China, You Tube Hong Kong Free Sex Video, How culture affects the way we use utensils, and Cartoon Photos of a man being massaged among hundreds of others…
Some SEO “Experts” list some of the keywords they claim to have earned in Google’s top ten rankings. They claim that these listings attest to their prowess, and they use these words to convince you that they can move your blog, site or company into a position where you will get more hits and gain international fame and fortune. Most of the words are like the ones above.
Far too many so-called expert Chinese SEO firms prey on clients using this strategy. And most businesses, woefully unaware of SEO methods, are bilked out of thousands of dollars every year. The cost for a “hot word,” one with search results in the millions (think “Buddha,” “free buffet,” or “online video game”), is staggering: the top ten in Google is 20,000 RMB a year ($2,500 USD). A “cold word” with low search returns (think “delicious rat recipes” or “Japan learned everything it knows from the Tang dynasty”) will pull 10,000 RMB ($1,250 USD) from your wallet.
So, as an example, “China Expert SEO Consultant,” at 2 million returns, would cost you 20,000 RMB and bring you absolutely no traffic. “China SEO Expert Guangzhou” will get you two hits a day. I’m always suspect of the word “expert” anyway: In bomb school, an expert was laughingly referred to as a “former drip under pressure”–never a good thing in explosives. It was a surefire way to tell someone was not what they purported to be.
I have many great search results I’m proud of, but were someone to actually come to them, I would worry about their mental health or my ego. I am number one for “American professor” in Google, hands down, and I frequently use this in lieu of a business card when I forget one. I am also in the Google China top ten for “American blog” (out of half a billion returns) and number 1 for “handsomest American in China” (move your Canuck ass over, Da Shan!) And in all humility, I found I rank quite high for “China blog about nothing” and “Lonnie isn’t exactly the sharpest guy in the world,” which isn’t exactly what you’d want when you are trying to build up your consultant site that’s already number 1 for “china business consultant blog” in Google, Google China and Yahoo.
If you are really interested in a legitimate search engine marketing provider, drop me a note at via Culture Fish.
FYI: I am doing SEO work or global marketing lectures free for nonprofit groups or companies who agree to donate my normal fee to the China Dreamblogue project.
For a quote or a assessment of an Expert China SEO/SEM project in Guangzhou or elsewhere you may need please fill out the form below at EXPERT SEO SERVICES CHINA
Posted 25 December, 2007 in Internet marketing China, Guangzhou, SEO, SEM, Seo China, Chinese Internet, Hong Kong Stars, The Sharpest Guy on the Planet, Censorship, The Internet, Seach engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, China Expat, Beijing Olympics, UK SEO EXPERT, china expert seo services guangzhou, China Business Consultant, SEO China Expert, Chinese Media, 中文, American Professor in China, Guangzhou China, 中国, Greater Asia Blogs, Asia, Japan, China Expats, Asian Women, Asian Humor, China SEO, China web 2.0, Humor, China Humor, Intercultural Issues, China Editorials, Just Plain Strange, cartoons, In the news, Top Blogs, Weird China, China Olympics, China Cartoons, China Business, Gratuitous Cheesecake, Uncategorized
Zaijian…. (46)
Books have been virtually replaced by blogs. But, puns aside, many of them showcase the transformative elements Pablo Neruda* suggests as essential to written art in Ars Magnetica:
“From so much loving and journeying, books emerge.
And if they don’t contain kisses or landscapes,
if they don’t contain a woman in every drop,
hunger, desire, anger, roads,
there are no use as a shield or as a bell:
they have no eyes and won’t be able to open them….”
Here I have I have tried to smooth the stubble of memory, share poetry, attempt humor, journal my social conscience, and reconcile my longings while shoutng to you in some far-off room. I leave here absolutely bewildered that anyone, other than my long-suffering friends, ever returned to listen. I am grateful you did.
(more…)
Posted 2 August, 2007 in Entertainment, Guangzhou, Travel in China, New Blogs, The Great Firewall, Guangzhou China, The Sharpest Guy on the Planet, Censorship, China Book Reviews, Charity in China, Beijing Olympics, China Law, UK SEO EXPERT, China Business Consultant, American Professor in China, 中文, Chinese Education, Hainan Island, 中国, In the news, Expats, Teaching in China, China Editorials, Intercultural Issues, China Expats, Hong Kong, China Humor, Hong Kong Blogs, China Cartoons, China Business, Confucius Slept Here, Just Plain Strange, Photos, Weird China, China Photos, Cancer Journal, American Poet in China, The Unsinkable Ms Yue, China web 2.0
# 1 Martian SEO Expert…. (6)
I am not at the top of the rankings as a Martian Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert in the universe, but I might be after this post! The algorithms that govern what is and is not registered by search engines like Google and Yahoo! are shape-shifters: They catalog combinations from blogs and websites that can mystify, amuse and swindle you. For example, I am #1 in Google for Adult Pampers Makers even though I can’t remember mentioning diapers on this blog. I am too old to remember using them and too young to worry about them just yet. I believe, like Robin Williams, that diapers are like politicians and should be changed frequently because they are both full…
But, I digress…
I know about this listing because someone searched for the term, and my analytics program identified from whence they came. There are other authentic one-hit wonders for which I rank highly, though I am clueless about why people searched for them or why I showed up tops. They ALL beg for an aside, but I am resisting, thinking that you can use your imagination: Pocket Fisherman Diagram, Moscow Prostitute, Pig League Facials, Plentiful Breast Pictures, Professor Asshat, China Olympic Athlete Blog, There is the sex that americans admit to, Hairy Chinese Women, Wedding dress Market Report in China, I had my hepatitis shot, but the test says I have no immunity, Naked nurse teaching in China, Anais Nin commerative coin, American Prostitute Self, Naked nurse teaching in starbucks china, quota of America to China, You Tube Hong Kong Free Sex Video, How culture affects the way we use utensils, and Cartoon Photos of a man being massaged among hundreds of others…
Some SEO “Experts” list some of the keywords they claim to have earned in Google’s top ten rankings. They claim that these listings attest to their prowess, and they use these words to convince you that they can move your blog, site or company into a position where you will get more hits and gain international fame and fortune. Most of the words are like the ones above: once in a Martian moon sighting you will get a hit. Some seem remarkably credible like “UK SEO Expert.” He sounds, or can make himself sound, like the marketing go-to guy in England–that is, until you do some research on Submit Express and discover that on any given day there are ZERO searches for that term.
Far too many Chinese SEO firms prey on clients using this strategy. And most businesses, woefully unaware of SEO methods, are bilked out of thousands of dollars every year. The cost for a “hot word,” one with search results in the millions (think “Buddha,” “free buffet,” or “online video game”), is staggering: the top ten in Google is 20,000 RMB a year ($2,500 USD). A “cold word” with low search returns (think “delicious rat recipes” or “Japan learned everything it knows from the Tang dynasty”) will pull 10,000 RMB ($1,250 USD) from your wallet.
So “UK SEO expert,” at 2 million returns, would cost you 20,000 RMB and bring you absolutely no traffic. I’m always suspect of the word expert anyway: in bomb school, an expert was laughingly referred to as a “former drip under pressure”–never a good thing in explosives. It was a surefire way to tell someone was not what they purported to be.
I have many great search results I’m proud of, but were someone to actually come to them, I would worry about their mental health or my ego. I am number one for “American professor” in Google, hands down, and I frequently use this in lieu of a business card when I forget one. I am also in the Google China top ten for “American blog” (out of half a billion returns) and number 1 for “handsomest American in China” (move your Canuck ass over, Da Shan!) and ridiculously #1 for America’s Best Blog. In all humility, I found I rank quite high for “China blog about nothing” and “Lonnie isn’t exactly the sharpest guy in the world,” which isn’t exactly what you’d want when you are trying to build up your China business consultant site that’s already number 1 for “china business consultant blog” in Google, Google China and Yahoo.
If you are really interested in a legitimate search engine marketing provider, drop me a note and I’ll turn you on to the likes of Fili, Ryan, CWM, or someone else who will be able to get their hands out of your Paypal pockets at some point. And if you’re considering marketing to Martians anytime soon, you know where to look…
FYI: I am doing SEO work or global marketing lectures free for nonprofit groups or companies who agree to donate my normal fee to the China Dreamblogue project.
By the way, with this many links in a post, doesn’t it look like Dan Harris wrote it?