Baidu, the largest search engine in China, offers a huge number of opportunities for businesses to expand their business and reach their potential customers. But before you start investing in Baidu advertising, it is important that you should know the key things about Baidu advertising so that you can make most out of your advertising efforts.

Here is the list of things you should know before starting Baidu advertising:

Baidu ads display on desktop and mobile

Baidu displays a maximum of four ads at the top of the search result page on the desktop, followed by organic results and maximum of two advertised results at the bottom of the search result page. On mobile devices, a maximum of three paid ads is allowed at the top of the search results page, followed by the organic results and advertised results at the bottom. There is subtler reference below the ad text itself in-order-to distinguish the PPC ads at the top of the page from the organic search results. So, it is less clear to users which links are paid and which are organic. This also makes Baidu PPC advertising more effective because a user will not pay significant attention to little distinction and more likely to open the advertised links.

Localize your ad’s copy

When you are starting Baidu advertising, one thing you must keep in your mind that your ad copy has to be in Chinese. There is no point of investing in PPC ads if they are not in Chinese because no one will be going to open it. Even if someone does, he or she will jump from the website. Only a handful of Chinese people understand English. So localize your ads copy using on-the-ground experts who are able to tailor your ads to the local market and trends rather than simply translating your ad copy. Create a landing page in the Chinese language so that users can understand it. If your user keeps jumping from the website, it will adversely impact your quality score which effectively affects your ad placement.

More character are allowed on Baidu PPC ads

In Baidu PPC ads, you have more space to describe your products. There is a limit of 50 characters for the title and 80 characters for each line of ad text. You have two lines of ad text each of 80 characters in Baidu to describe your product whereas Google AdWords allows ad text lines of 50 characters only. But always remember, most of the times, the first line of ad text is going to show on the search result page. So try to create the first line of your ad that can stand alone and describes your message clearly.

Baidu Analytics

If you are planning to perform keyword and competitor research through Google AdWords, you will be going to commit a huge mistake. No doubt Google AdWords work in China, but it is of no avail. It does not work with Baidu advertising. Baidu has its own advertising platform and keyword research tool. When you set up a Baidu account, you get access to Baidu analytics which allows you to perform keywords and competitors research and manage your PPC advertising campaign.

Account creation and payment

You can create a Google AdWords account very easily, but creating a Baidu PPC account is not an easy task. It is because of strict Chinese cyberspace laws. You have to provide a long list of documents to create a Baidu PPC account, and there are certain eligibility criteria that need to be fulfilled to use Baidu advertising platform. So it is better to read the Baidu account creation guide before applying for a Baidu PPC account. And after setting up a Baidu PPC account, you have to deposit the initial fees in your account. This fee will be deposited in your account, and you can use it later for paying for your ads. Baidu only takes manual payments. Like Google AdWords, there is no option for automatic payment.

So these are the few key things that you need to know before starting Baidu advertising.