Baidu SEO Optimization Case Study: From Inaccessibility to Rankings
Kurucuk & Associates Law Firm
Kurucuk & Associates is an Istanbul-based law firm offering comprehensive legal services to individuals, businesses, and international investors in Turkey. With a multilingual team and strong cross-border expertise, the firm also provides dedicated legal support to Chinese investors in areas such as investment, real estate, and immigration.
Client's Requirement
The client contacted our marketing manager, Sally, to discuss enhancing their website’s digital presence in China.
Challenges of the Project
- New Website with No Digital Presence: The company’s Chinese website was launched only about a month ago and currently has no established digital presence. Nowadays, it is increasingly difficult for a new domain without authority or history to be indexed and ranked by search engines. Search engines usually have a “sandbox” period for new websites, during which indexing and ranking may be limited while the site’s quality, trust, and relevance are being evaluated.
- Website Not Accessible in Mainland China: Our team conducted a thorough technical audit and found that the website was not accessible from mainland China. Baidu crawling test results confirmed that the Baidu spider was unable to access the server.
- Content Quality Issue: The website content is a mix of Traditional and Simplified Chinese and contains noticeable machine-translation errors, a common issue on sites relying heavily on AI or automated translation tools.
Chinese Copywriter's Approach
- Our team conducted an in-depth technical audit and identified issues that were causing access to be denied when the Baidu spider attempted to crawl the website. We worked closely with the website developer and hosting provider to resolve these issues and remove all access restrictions.
- After updating the blocking rules, we carried out Baidu crawling tests, further technical audits, and accessibility and speed tests across more than 60 cities in mainland China to ensure full accessibility and strong technical performance.
- We then conducted comprehensive keyword research and SEO audits, and fully localized the website into Simplified Chinese with a Baidu SEO optimization strategy.
- In addition, we set up the website in Baidu Webmaster Tools, accelerated indexing, and executed targeted marketing within the Baidu ecosystem to strengthen the site’s credibility and visibility.
Result
- The website is now fully accessible, indexed on Baidu, and ranking for several relevant keywords. Note: This is a significant achievement, as it typically takes 2–3 months for Baidu to index and rank new websites that have no prior digital presence and do not have an ICP license.
- Baidu AI is citing the brand name and the website, increasing brand visibility and trust.
- In addition, our news articles and influencer posts about the business are featured and ranked on Baidu News and the Baidu App.
Notes: Maintaining consistent rankings on Baidu requires ongoing Baidu SEO optimization. The screenshots showing the Baidu website indexing and rankings were taken within 3–5 months after the project was completed. The results you see now may differ from those shown in the screenshots.
Sally Wong
Curated and Impactful Chinese Localization
Sally is a Baidu Certified Marketing Consultant and Google Certified Analyst with 15+ years of experience. Since 2009, she has been helping international businesses craft and execute effective content marketing strategies tailored to the Chinese market.