Since Google withdrew from China, many overseas companies have always needed clarification about how to conduct search engine marketing (SEM) and which search engines they should invest in China. Before doing search engine marketing, here is what you need to know.

1. Baidu and So.com --- China’s most popular search engines

Baidu, founded in 2000, is China's largest desktop and mobile search engine. It has more than 634 million monthly active users. Having the most desktop and mobile users makes it a great search engine marketing option for all industries.

So.com, founded in 2012, is China's second-largest PC search engine and a favorable search engine marketing choice for B2B brands. Despite being relatively new, it has over 418 million monthly active users. Since So.com was originally developed by Internet security company Qihoo 360, its users are mainly PC users, and many companies use So.com as their default.

2. Create a successful Chinese keyword strategy with Baidu Index

An effective Chinese keyword strategy is crucial for doing search engine marketing in China. After all, search engine rankings are primarily about relevance. Baidu and So.com have launched sites that analyze popular search queries in their search engines. These sites are great tools for overseas companies to refer to and formulate winning Chinese keyword strategies. Let's look at the features of Baidu Index and see how they can help.

2.1 Trend Study reveals keyword traffic over time

A line graph is displayed on the trend study page, showing the traffic change for a keyword over time, so overseas companies can check if the traffic of a certain keyword has changed over time to understand the keyword's potential and decide whether to invest in the keyword.

2.2 Demand Map accurately provides hot search keywords

Baidu Index’s Demand Map displays many popular terms similar to your keyword in map and list form. Red dots represent increasing search trends; green dots represent decreasing search trends. The closer the similar words are to the light blue circles, the more traffic they receive during the month. Overseas companies can refer to the demand map and measure if similar keywords are worth purchasing.

2.3 Crowd Map lets you know at a glance where your potential audience is

Baidu Index’s Crowd Map lets you know where your potential audience is on the map of China, along with some demographic information so that you can be very specific in your ads by gender, age, location, and interests.

If you find these functions useful and would like to obtain more detailed statistics, do not hesitate to get in touch with us at enquiry@so360.hk.