This is the second part in the series about “Baidu Chinese Paid Search“. In this post, we will cover Campaign set up.
2. Baidu Paid Search Campaign set up:
First thing, there is no option for setting up your own account using foreign credit cards (meaning credit cards that are not registered in China)
The only payment method for Baidu is PrePay via bank transfer if you are an overseas client/agency. There is, however, no minimum amount (as far as i know) you should transfer though. You can transfer as much/little as you like. Yet, the rule of thumb is depending on the level of spend, you will receive very different level of services.
Secondly, for Baidu and Yahoo in China, it may take up to 4 weeks from fund transfer to verification and activation from search engines’ end so be prepared and settle the financial stuff way in advance if you are tight in time line.
This is just to show you how lagging behind Baidu and Yahoo are compared to Google (One Platform to rule them all no matter how many territories, ad formats, currencies etc… )
“The staff are able to converse in simple English. since there are SEM terms used by people who are used to google-speak so there could be instances of misunderstandings.” Liz advised.
Liz also said “While trying, I would think it is not a huge problem compared to account creation and the lead time for campaign to be activated.”
Baidu PPC Campaign Creation:
Once fund transfer have been confirmed by Baidu, advertisers can utilize their help in terms of ad copy creation and keyword analysis.
Advertiser/agency should try to make it as clear to Baidu staff as possible of what they expect:
- Target demographics of the campaign
- Main products
- Unique selling points
- Landing pages
These information will help Baidu’s staff to understand better the products and be able to come back with relevant keywords/ad copies.
The other option would be to utilize what you already have from other Search Marketing campaign (like from Google/Yahoo).
I would recommend to use at least the same set of keywords from Google and expand more.
As for ad copy, the character limit is bigger for Baidu so you can mention more promotions etc…
“For those who may be starting a campaign from scratch, it might prove to be rather challenging and it might take a longer while to have the issues sorted out.” Liz commented.
It is fortunate if you already have a campaign structure in mind and convey that to Baidu because the way they structure the campaign may not be ideal. Also, for Baidu, advertisers can have multiple campaigns in one account. Yet they don’t have multiple ad groups in one campaign but rather just keywords and 1 ad copy. This actually will force advertisers to change their account structure quite a bit from Google/Yahoo to Baidu.
On a separated note, “I have not experienced asking Baidu for help in translating keywords or ads to Chinese so I do not know how competent they are in this aspect or if they are willing to do so. It will not be surprising if their level of service is tied to the budget you have, which also explains my frustrations when they weren’t able to offer much help with ads and keywords.”
Liz said.
(Who doesn’t provide the level of service based on the spend! Yet Baidu is slightly more aggressive in that aspect :P) ~ from Chandler
Below is the screen shot of Baidu Paid Search Summary Page
On this page we can see:
Left column:
- Account Centre Summary
- Amount spent
- Current Account Balance
- Estimated days budget will last
- Change in rankings (Yesterday)
- Daily Budget/Geographic targeting
- Button : Enter Account Centre main page
- Business Center
Right Column
- News Centre (based on main keyword)
- Main Keywords Trend
- Business Discussion
- Learning Centre
Next is Baidu Account Centre Main Page
From the Top:
- Account login pages: http://jingjia.baidu.com or http://www2.baidu.com
- “Your account was activated on DDYYYY, the total amount in account is ￥ $ RMB，the amount spent to date is ￥ $ RMB。Remaining budget is ￥ $ 元。
Left Column:
- Latest Baidu News/Updates
Contact Baidu
- Enter Business Centre
Right Column:
- Keywords Management
- Manage Keywords
- Add Keywords
- Keyword Information
- Set Geographical targeting & Daily Budget
- Campaign Planning: Day Part targeting, Campaign Expiry
- Financial Management: Transaction History,Daily Reports
- Account Settings: Edit Account Information, Change Password
Baidu Paid Search Ad copy:
The ads are tied to the keywords which also means, there are no options for rotating ads or landing page testings.
This is really frustrating since testing multiple ad copies/landing pages are two very basic PPC techniques.
Baidu Paid Search Keywords:
“In the Chinese language context, unlike English, keywords that are mid-long tailed in nature are not common nor effective. It has to do with the surfing habits of Chinese netizens who prefer using generic terms.” Liz’s insights
This in turn affects the number of keywords and their variations you may have.
As mentioned earlier, generic keywords are more popular in Baidu. Considering the large number of businesses/companies in China, it is hardly surprising if you have more than a thousand advertisers bidding on the same keyword you have chosen. So what happens? You pay more! It is not surprising to have to pay a CPC of more than US$5.00 for these keywords.
Of course, this is not Baidu-centric and in fact is happening across all different search engines especially in highly competitive markets.
But taking into account the smaller keywords list and higher CPC, it is a important factor to remember and take note of.
This concludes today’s post about Campaign Set up with Baidu Paid Search Program. Tomorrow we will share about campaign optimization.
Cheers,
Chandler
P.S: You may want to read Baidu Chinese Paid Search Part 3