To use Baidu Ads, you open an account through Baidu or an authorised reseller, pass qualification checks with business documents, build Chinese-language campaigns in the Baidu Marketing platform (Baidu Tuiguang), and send traffic to fast, Chinese-language landing pages that work well inside mainland China. The steps are similar to Google Ads, but the paperwork, keyword language and hosting requirements are different.
Baidu remains the leading search engine in mainland China. For foreign brands it is often the first paid channel tested in China, alongside platforms such as WeChat, Douyin and Xiaohongshu.
Step 1: Check eligibility and gather documents
Baidu verifies every advertiser. Foreign companies usually open an account through an official overseas reseller, because direct accounts are mainly designed for companies registered in China. The reseller submits documents and handles the deposit.
- Business registration certificate, translated into Chinese where required
- Proof of trademark or brand authorisation if you advertise a brand
- Industry-specific licences for regulated categories, such as medical, education, finance or travel
- A website that is accessible from mainland China
- An initial deposit and an account setup fee, which vary by reseller
Regulated industries need extra approval and some categories are restricted. Ask the reseller early whether your product category is allowed, before spending time on campaigns.
Step 2: How do you prepare a landing page that works in China?
Speed and access matter a lot. Sites hosted outside China can be slow or partly blocked, especially if they load Google Fonts, Google Maps, reCAPTCHA or other services that are unavailable there. Remove those dependencies from the landing page or replace them with local alternatives.
Hosting inside mainland China requires an ICP licence (ICP Bei’an), which in turn usually requires a local entity. Many foreign brands use Hong Kong hosting or a CDN with good China performance as a middle option. Test the page from a mainland location using a speed testing service that has China nodes.
The page should be in Simplified Chinese, with local contact options such as a WeChat QR code or a mainland phone number, and a lead form that works without third-party scripts that may be blocked.
Step 3: How do you research keywords in Chinese?
Translating English keywords directly is a common mistake. Chinese searchers often use different terms, abbreviations and word orders. Use Baidu’s Keyword Planner (关键词规划师) inside the advertising platform, which shows search volume estimates and suggested bids. Baidu Index (百度指数) shows trends for popular terms.
Work with a native speaker who understands your industry. Ask them to list how a customer would describe the product, the problem and competitors. Then check each term’s volume and related suggestions in the planner.
- Brand terms in Chinese characters and Pinyin, plus your English brand name
- Product category terms and their common synonyms
- Problem or need terms, such as “how to” queries
- Location modifiers, for example city names, if you serve specific regions
Step 4: Build the campaign structure
Baidu’s structure is similar to Google’s: account, plan (campaign), unit (ad group), keywords and creatives. Set budgets and schedules at plan level, and group closely related keywords in each unit.
Baidu offers match types including exact, phrase and smart match. Start with exact and phrase for core terms, and add negatives as soon as search term data arrives. Set geographic targeting to the provinces or cities you actually serve; national targeting can spend quickly in regions you cannot deliver to.
Ad creatives
- Write titles and descriptions in natural Simplified Chinese, within character limits
- Use wildcard insertion carefully; awkward insertions read badly in Chinese
- Add extensions such as sitelinks, phone and images where your account qualifies
- Make sure claims are allowed under China’s Advertising Law, which restricts absolute terms like “best” (最好)
Step 5: How should you set bids and budget?
Baidu uses cost-per-click bidding with quality factors, similar to Google. Start with manual bids based on the planner’s suggestions for a test period, then consider automated bidding options once you have conversion data.
As an example for a B2B industrial equipment supplier testing China, a pilot might run for two to three months with a small daily budget per campaign, focused on a narrow set of product terms and a few target provinces. The aim of the pilot is to learn cost per lead, not to scale. Check the reseller’s minimum deposit and fees, which add to media spend.
Step 6: Set up tracking and reporting
Baidu Tongji (百度统计) is Baidu’s analytics tool and integrates with the advertising platform for conversion tracking. Google Analytics may not load reliably for visitors in mainland China, so many advertisers use Baidu Tongji for China traffic and keep other tools for the rest of the world.
Define conversions such as form submissions, phone clicks and WeChat QR code scans. QR code scans are hard to track directly; using a unique WeChat account or QR code per campaign helps attribute them.
Step 7: Optimise during the first months
Review search terms weekly, add negatives and move strong terms to their own units. Watch for click fraud signals such as many clicks from one region with no engagement, and report suspicious activity to the account manager.
Check landing page performance from inside China regularly, because external services can become blocked without warning. A form that silently fails will make a working campaign look like it produces no leads.
Common mistakes foreign advertisers make
The most frequent mistake is treating Baidu as a translated copy of a Google Ads account. Keywords, ad copy and landing pages written in English and machine-translated tend to read awkwardly and convert poorly. A second mistake is ignoring mobile: much Baidu search traffic is on phones, and a desktop-first page with small text and heavy images will lose most visitors.
Another error is launching national campaigns for a business that can only serve a few cities. Costs differ by region, and national targeting can spend much of the budget in places where leads cannot be handled. Start with the regions where you have sales staff, distributors or delivery coverage.
- Machine-translated ads and pages
- Landing pages that rely on blocked external services
- National targeting without regional delivery
- No local contact option such as WeChat or a mainland phone line
Working with the reseller
The reseller or account manager can help with qualification, policy questions and sometimes keyword suggestions. Agree in writing on who controls the account, who sees the data and how the deposit and fees are billed. Ask for login access to the advertising platform so your team or agency can see campaigns directly, rather than relying only on monthly reports.
Where to start this week
Contact an authorised Baidu reseller and ask two questions: which documents are needed for your industry, and whether your category is restricted. In parallel, test your current landing page from a mainland China location and list every external service that fails to load.
Then ask a native speaker to draft 30 to 50 keyword ideas and check them in the Keyword Planner once the account is open. That gives you a realistic picture of cost and volume before the first campaign launches.
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