Baidu is China's most popular search engine, with about two-thirds of the Chinese market. This means anybody marking to the 400 million or so Chinese Internet users should at least get a primer on Baidu SEO. Here are five quick tips:

1) Baidu places more emphasis on the quantity of links and less on the quality of links. This makes the SEO job simpler, although keep in mind that it is simpler for all SEOs so if you are in a niche in which you are competing with other professional SEOs, be prepared to build a lot more links that you would need for Google.

2) Baidu is a Chinese-language search engine. To get indexed, you should have Chinese-language content and you must have links from other Chinese-language websites indexed by Baidu.

3) Your website will be blocked if it has sensitive political content or adult material. For most small businesses, there is no need to be concerned - if you are selling screwdrivers, you have nothing to worry about. These rules will affect social websites on which anybody can post. You'll have to make sure to clean up that content as quickly as possible.

4) Baidu does look at description and keyword metatags, so make sure to include those on any of your pages.

5) Being hosted in China helps, but isn't required. However, if your users are Chinese, it is advisable to be hosted in China to ensure good site performance.

About the Author

Tim is a specialist in Baidu SEO, as well as Chinese-language online marketing in general.