Baidu services explained, and how they look in the SERPs

Like Google, the Chinese search engine Baidu has a number of SERP feature cards for almost every search term entered, such as Baidu Guanggao (Baidu Advertising), Baidu Baike (Baidu Encyclopedia), Baidu Tieba (Baidu Forum), Baidu Haokan Video (Baidu Enjoyable Video), Baidu Zhidao (Baidu Knowledge), etc. 

Baidu search results are highly personalized. Different people or devices will get different search results even if they enter the same search terms. Even at different times of the day, different search results are displayed.

But one point remains true: Baidu takes a lot of time to show SERP features and introduce its own products, introducing new SERP features every few months. As a Chinese online marketer, it’s important to stay up-to-date on new Baidu SERP features.

[ Study] Does Baidu SERP domination make SEO impossible in China?

Overview of 17 Baidu services

1. Baidu Baike

Baidu Baike is similar to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia which is voluntarily maintained by users (but reviewed by Baidu staff):

Figure 1: Baidu Baike Snippet for the search term “美国“ – America / USA

2. Baidu Maps

This service is similar to Google Maps. Whenever the search query has local relevance, Baidu might show a map snippet within the SERP:

Figure 2: Baidu Maps Snippet for the search query “北京外国语学校地址” – Beijing Foreign Language School Address

3. Baidu Zhidao

Baidu Zhidao is similar to Quora, is a user-generated Q&A portal that provides answers to questions on almost any topic:

Figure 3: Baidu Zhidao Snippet for “四不从是什么” – what are the four things not to do

4. Baidu Video

This is similar to YouTube, and is one of the leading Chinese video search engines. It has a large number of Chinese video resources. With Baidu Video, users can find branded video resources on Chinese websites:

Figure 4: Baidu Video Snippet for “有趣的视频” – funny videos

5. Baidu Tieba

This is similar to Reddit. Baidu Tieba is an interactive platform that brings together like-minded people on interesting topics. 

Brands can post ads on pages with brand-relevant “ba” (a “ba” contains a specific topic) and leave their contact information:

Figure 5: Baidu Tieba Snippet for “搬家公司” – moving company

6. Baidu Wenku

This is similar to Google Books, an interactive online platform for sharing documents. On Baidu Wenku, users can read, download and share documents:

Figure 6: Baidu Wenku Snippet for “呼啸山庄” – Wuthering Heights

7. Baidu Jingyan

On Baidu Jingyan (Experience), you can find many proven solutions to real-world problems. Brands can recommend themselves and offer experiences and solutions at the same time:

Figure 7: Baidu Jingyan Snippet for “自制水果茶的做法” – How to make homemade fruit tea

8. Bai Jiahao

This is a content creation platform owned by Baidu that allows brands and experts to create content and advertising:

Figure 8: Baidu Baijiaho snippet for “如何节省汽油” – how to save gasoline

9. Baidu Ai Caigou

This is a B2B shopping platform that allows users to access products and manufacturers on Baidu and buy products online securely and conveniently:

Figure 9: Baidu Ai Caigou snippet for “烧结机油” – sintering machine

10. Haokan Video

This is a professional aggregation platform that provides users with extensive short videos:

Figure 10: Baidu Ai Caigou snippet for “发票粘贴” – invoice pasting

11. Baidu Health

This is a one-stop platform providing health knowledge and services to users. 

12. Baidu Baipin / Zhaopin

This is a search engine that aggregates the latest and general recruitment information on Chinese websites:

Figure 11: Baidu Baipin snippet for “会计招聘” – Accountant Recruitment

13. Baidu H5

This is an online production platform for H5 mobile websites, supported by the robust architecture of Baidu Cloud.

14. Baidu Zhuanjia Wenda

This is a platform that brings together authoritative bodies or experts with excellence in various fields to provide reliable questions and answers:

Figure 12: Baidu Zhuanjia Wenda snippet for “皮肤病” – Skin Diseases

15. Baidu Ningmeng Aimei

This is a service platform that integrates communities to share beauty information and information about beauty services. Users can view or share beauty content and purchase medical beauty services:

Figure 13: Mobile Baidu Ningmeng Aimei snippet for “牙齿可以整形吗” – Can teeth be reshaped?

16. Baidu Zhiliao Haoxue

This is a one-stop platform for education and training services, aggregating good courses and providing comprehensive and high-quality information about education:

Figure 14: Baidu Zhiliao Haoxue snippet for “学习书法的好处” – Benefits of learning calligraphy

17. Baidu Hanyu

This provides comprehensive and authoritative Chinese language data, including Chinese characters, words, phrases, poems, and other content. 

It uses artificial intelligence technologies such as question answering, photography, and speech, making interaction more user-friendly and efficient:

Figure 15: Baidu Hanyu SERP snippet for the search query “支付” – Payments

Closing thoughts on Baidu services

Baidu assigns a lot of weight to its products. Some people say that SEO is almost impossible for Baidu because Baidu claims most of the rankings. 

But a smart organic search (SEO) marketer also sees this as an opportunity to promote its brand. Although it's a Baidu-owned ranking, you can still try to make it your own by helping Baidu provide great content.

So with some SEO skills, you can publish brand-relevant content on Baidu-based products to drive traffic to your website/brand. 

After in-depth research on Baidu products, search marketers can develop more advertising skills. It's really fun to gain visitors and customers through Baidu Search. Let's go – you can do it!