Qingfeng: title spam and download traps

Qingfeng (清风) began as an algorithm against title deception and, from version 2.0, targets deceptive downloads. Baidu’s definition of a download site is broad: anything offering software, games, novels or video for download.

The three principles

1. The site itself must provide genuinely available resources that meet the user’s need.
2. Download resources and services must not be dead.
3. No inducing users to download through content unrelated to the resource.

What “title” means here

Baidu is explicit that the algorithm judges the <title> element in the HTML, and requires consistency between the title, the description and what the page actually delivers. Where the download runs through a cloud drive or a download manager, that must be stated in the title.

The rulings from Baidu’s own Q&A — the most useful part

• Title says “download novel X”, body says “download our app to get novel X” — bundling is heavily harmful and the algorithm catches it.
• Title says “game download”, body offers a game accelerator — must be corrected; the accelerator has to be named in both title and body.
• Linking iOS software to the App Store — fine, no violation.
• Linking to a cloud drive — fine, provided what arrives matches the title.
• A pre-release game page with no download yet — permitted if the title says so and the page states the release date.
• A PC resource adapted to mobile where mobile users cannot download — the page must warn that the resource is PC-only.
• Requiring a QR-code follow before the download — change it. Offer the download directly; you may invite a follow afterwards, but never as a condition.

The principle underneath

Every ruling reduces to one test: does the page deliver what its title promised, without a toll on the way? Not the mechanism, not the host — the match between promise and delivery.

No self-check tool

Baidu confirmed there is no tool for this. Compliance is an editorial review of titles against what each page actually provides.