All Baidu Ads Explained (By a Human)

With Google blocked in mainland China, Baidu is the country’s go-to search engine with more than 670 million monthly active users. While there is some competition – from Qihoo 360, Sogou, and Soso – their market share is much smaller than Baidu’s chunk of the industry. Therefore, showing up at the top of Baidu’s search results is a must for all brands, domestic and international, to succeed in the Chinese market.

How can you achieve that? 

We’ll share our “secret sauce,” tested in hundreds of Baidu campaigns we have run, and continuously refined over 15 years. Squeeze the most out of Baidu ads and achieve maximum impact with your Chinese ad budget. Plus, we’ll advise you on when to use which ad type.

Let’s take a look.

Reasons for Brands to Be on Baidu

Being visible on Baidu allows Chinese netizens to discover your brand, get to know your products and services, and ultimately buy them. 

You can get to the top of Baidu organically (SEO) by providing valuable content for online users, and through paid ads.

Baidu Ad Types – Overview

The following Baidu ad types are pay-per-click ads (PPC).

Basic Search Ads

Display Ads (Advanced Search Ads)

Ads for Direct Conversion

Direct Interaction Ads

Other Ads

Are you curious about how Baidu ads compare to WeChat and Google ads? Click here.

Basic Search Ads

Good old text ads are never out of fashion: They are the most popular Baidu ad types, and fundamental on other search engines.

There is one title line (50 characters) and two description lines (80 characters). Next to the URL, if applicable, you can see the “Advertising” (广告) notice (for ads, obviously) and “Baidu Guarantee” (which aims at combating fraudulent offers).

Text ads are best for driving traffic to a website or generating leads through keyword targeting, allowing brands to engage with users actively searching for products or services.

Display Ads (Advanced Search Ads)

These visual ads are very powerful. Let’s examine the four options.

Baidu Image Ads / Image Extensions (Basic)

Image ads on Baidu come in various sizes and formats. Do you know the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”? Well, in our experience, this is true as image ads tend to have higher click-through rates. 

Fun fact: Baidu allows marketers to upload images of different sizes and randomly choose one to be shown in the largest format.

Baidu image ads are particularly effective in raising brand awareness across industries.

Multi-Image Ads (Advanced)

This format is effective for visually highlighting diverse offers and engaging users. Varied content can improve click-through rates compared to single-image display ads.

This ad type is ideal for e-commerce brands to showcase their products and variety. Clicking on one of the images usually leads people to browse an online shop.

Multi-Text & Link Ads

This format combines the regular title and description from text ads with an additional image and text links. It allows marketers to list multiple services and advantages to attract users. Every link can point to a specific landing page.

These ads are also referred to as “navigation ads” because they allow users to easily click through to different parts of a website or specific landing pages from the ad, acting as a navigation tool within the Baidu search results​.

Multi-text and link ads are ideal for testing different CTAs or landing pages.

Video & Text Ads

Did you know that the videos start playing automatically when the ad appears? This is ideal for capturing the attention of audiences online.

Video ads can be more engaging and memorable, making them great for brand awareness campaigns, products, and services requiring a bit more explanation.

Ads for Direct Conversion

As the name suggests, these ad types are optimized for mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), aiming to capture digital users on the go.

Phone Number Extension

Setting a “call” button for mobile devices is easy and fantastic to generate leads.

Service providers and local businesses can leverage this straightforward setup to incentivize customer engagement through direct phone contact.

App Download Extension

While app download extensions are a bit more complex to set up than the “call” button, they are well worth it. Marketers can promote an app, and most importantly, drive downloads from the iOS or Android stores.

This type of ad is great for all brands with apps.

Direct Interaction Ads

In addition, Baidu offers ad formats to directly interact with online users and further promote brands.

Ads with Contact Form Submission

Marketers can add small contact forms to their Baidu ad campaigns. In this example, we see a dropdown menu where users can select what they want to do, the city, and the phone number. There are other fields to choose from when creating the ad like the email address or WeChat contact.

This type of ad is ideal for lead generation. Keep in mind to create a clear CTA.

Ads with Customer support

Similar to ads with contact form submission, the ads that include customer support in the form of a “consult now” button allow for direct interaction with online users. Marketers can interact with existing and prospective clients directly via live customer support chat on their brand’s website. 

This ad also displays the number of processed inquiries (e.g. 50 inquiries in the last 30 days). This serves as social proof, which is very important in Chinese culture.

Baidu customer support ads allow businesses to provide direct customer support options, including live chat or callback requests. With that in mind, it is ideal for businesses that offer more complex products or services, such as technology, healthcare, or real estate. It’s important to remember that advertising restrictions apply in China in industries like finance, healthcare, and education.

Other Ads

Baidu Brand Zone is the ultimate ad, making a powerful statement at the top of search results. We’ll show you a solid example below in the case study section. These ads can include images, text, and links, but they are pricey and usually run by larger global brands.

This premium ad format on Baidu allows brands to dominate the search results. They are pricey and ideal for established brands with strong recognition and an extensive product or service range. This could be

• multinational corporations, 
• luxury brands, or 
• leading companies in their respective fields.

Case Study: Apple

Apple needs no introduction, and the tech brand is very popular in China. On Baidu, they are pulling out all the stops: A brand zone up top, two ads on the first page, and organic results in the form of text, images, and videos.

Are you keen to get started with promoting your brand on Baidu now?

Get Started with Baidu Ads

Although an official account is not mandatory to run ads on Baidu, an advertising account is needed. This costs 600 RMB per year and requires an initial deposit of at least 5,000 RMB from which the ads are deducted.

Baidu PPC ads have a higher return on ad spend (ROAS) than WeChat, for example, with the average ROAS on Baidu being 400%. 

On Baidu, ad prices are determined by keywords rather than ad formats.

The Takeaway

Besides WeChat, Baidu is THE place for brands to have a presence. Appearing in the top ranks on the first results page helps brands raise their profile in China, drive leads, and generate sales.

With this article, we have provided you with a comprehensive overview of the advertising options on Baidu. But it’s now up to you to read up on the Baidu PPC advertising options, familiarize yourself with each of their USPs, and when best to use them. 

Are you keen to get started with Baidu advertising? Drop us a message and book your free consultation here.