Last Updated on April 24, 2023
With Baidu being the most popular search engine in China, it’s an undeniable good place to start when it comes to reaching Chinese consumers. Brand positioning plays a fundamental role for facilitating this reach and brands need to utilize search in a way that ensures their advertising resonates with the right audience in the most compelling way.
Baidu PPC has been a proven Chinese search marketing platform for both large companies and SMEs. And as long as Baidu remains the largest search engine in China, Baidu PPC advertising should always be the first choice among pay-per-click campaigns for brands looking to reach Chinese consumers. To start your Baidu PPC campaigns, we’ve put together a step-by-step ultimate guide of everything you need to know for setting up an account.
Getting Started with Baidu PPC
Baidu pay per click (Baidu PPC) advertising offers a fast and effective form of digital promotion with instant results. Brands can create rich ads using relevant keywords to target their desired audience. When Chinese consumers search for those targeted keywords, Baidu PPC will show the most relevant search advertisements and website banners on the search results page. You can also target specific audiences or customize the location and time for your ad to appear.
How to Open a Baidu PPC Account in 2020
1. Prepare your business license
Firstly, a scanned copy of your business license in color is required with a company stamp or signature. The license can be in any language, but Chinese or English is the preferred language. You also need to provide a translated copy of the same license in Chinese, including the company stamp and the handwritten statement “翻译件与原件一致”, which means the translation is the same as the original license.
2. Build a localized website
Secondly, Baidu PPC only recognizes Chinese websites and landing pages. It is always best practice to hire a specialized team or translation if you need a Chinese website. When translating your website, Baidu requires for companies to clearly display company information on the About Us and Contact Us pages. Your company name must be the same one that is listed on the business license.
3. Take a screenshot of your website’s homepage
Thirdly, once your Chinese website is ready to go, take a screenshot of your homepage with the address bar included. The screenshot also needs to have your company stamp or signature, as well as the handwritten statement “与网站内容一致”, which means it matches the website content.
4. Locate your company on a Government website
In addition, Baidu wants a legitimate business record check of every business that applies for a Baidu PPC account. Therefore, simply take a screenshot of Government website where your business is listed for public view. The screenshot must also include the address bar of the browser, including your company stamp or signature. A translated screenshot is also required with the company stamp or signature, as well as the handwritten statement “与网站内容一致”.
5. Prepare your business bank account statement
Certainly, this can be any document from your bank as long as it includes:
- Your full business name, which must be the same name on your business license.
- A brief record of your recent transaction history.
This document also needs your company stamp or signature along with a translated copy, including the signature and the handwritten statement “翻译件与原件一致”.
6. Contact Baidu
Once you have all of the above documents prepared, you can reach out to Baidu to apply for your pay per click account. You can work with a local branch of Baidu, a Baidu reseller or do the process yourself. It’s recommended to use a reseller because the reseller can streamline the process and help you prepare the required documents. Sekkei Studio has been helping many companies with establishing Baidu PPC accounts, contact us to know more.
7. Sign your Baidu PPC contract
Once everything meets Baidu’s account requirements, Baidu will send you the service contracts. You can also request the English contracts.
8. Make an initial deposit to your Baidu PPC account
Please take note, the initial fee to open a new Baidu account is 20,000 RMB, where 19,000 RMB will be deposited into your account, and 1,000 RMB will be deducted as a Baidu Technical Support charge. Currently, Baidu does not accept credit cards or PayPal. Alternatively, your deposit would have to be paid via wire transfer.
9. Get started with Baidu PPC
Lastly, once your payment is received, Baidu will send your account details within 4-5 business days and you will receive your username and password via email.
Note: Baidu may have new requirements from time to time, get a consultation from us.
How to Setup Your First Baidu PPC Campaign
1. Enter your login information
You can login to your Baidu PPC account directly from the Baidu PPC advertising official website (www2.baidu.com).
2. Find Search Ads Promotion
After logging in, you will be able to see an overview of your account, including network and search promotion. Directly click “Search Ads Promotion” on the left-hand side of the page.
3. Preview your Account Structure
You can play around with some of the features on the search promotion page to get a better understanding of the account structure. Different factors and settings are included at each level.
4. Build your Baidu PPC Advertising Plan
After you are familiar with your account, it’s time to start the first steps of setting up your campaign plan. One account can set up to 100 campaigns. You can name your ad plan according to your business, products or brand characteristics.
5. Select your Ad Target Location
Your promotion can be set to your target location, which is important for getting the right ad campaigns to the right customers.
6. Select the Time to Run your Ad
You can select anytime you would like for your campaign to run and customize to meet your target customer needs.
7. Campaign Bidding Price & Budget Setting
Select the primary device either PC or mobile and the bidding proportion for devices. After that, fill in the campaign budget and any other audience groups or keywords matching mode.
8. Setup Ad Group for Baidu PPC Account
After the campaign stage has been setup successfully, you need to start building the Ad group. You may name your ad group either by using your product name, campaign name and so on. Again, fill in bidding price. Please note this is at the ad group level only, it will not affect or exceed what you have filled in at the campaign level.
Next, adding keywords is the most important step of your campaign. If you don’t have any keywords, then your ad cannot be displayed and your promotion will not be effective at all. You can use the keyword add tool to search keywords and manually add them.
9. Strategize Creative Content
Now, it’s time to customize your campaign ads with content that will entice users to click. A Baidu ad consists of a title, description and display url. The title cannot exceed 50 Chinese characters and the description cannot exceed 80 Chinese characters. Do not forget to include at least one image to add to the creative section.
10. Add any Additional Info in Baidu PPC account
Furthermore, you can add additional supplementary informational within the advance creative section if you think will be beneficial to potential customers, including your business phone, app, add extension etc.
11. Utilize Baidu Analytics and Live Chat
Before your campaign starts, you can link your PPC account with the free analytic tools to better keep track of performance, monitor and track visitor behavior. Meanwhile, you may consider to activate the Live Chat feature provided by Baidu Shangqiao to increase your chances of receiving inquiries.
12. Analysis Results and Make Adjustments
In conclusion, effectively analyzing your data can reduce your advertising costs and improve conversions. This will also give you the insights you need to make the right adjustments to your campaign.
Above all, as you can probably see by now, advertising in China can have its challenges. Brands looking to effectively utilize Baidu PPC need to understand how Baidu PPC works and how Baidu ads differs from Google ads. Ultimately, this will help brands leverage Baidu tools and features for an ad campaign that will yield results. Sekkei Studio knows the ins and outs of Baidu PPC advertising and is here to get you setup with your own account. If you’re ready to expand your business or want more insights, contact us.
Refer to another related article to setup Baidu Feed Ads : https://www.sekkeistudio.com/blog/baidu-advertising-setup/
