Do you need Baidu Baike and Tieba to be visible on Baidu?

Search a product category on Baidu and you’ll soon see its own encyclopedia, forums and Q&A pages. That’s why so many guides tell you to get on Baike. The advice is easier to give than to follow.

This guide separates what’s measured from what’s repeated. For the wider picture, start with Baidu SEO: how it differs from Google.

Does Baidu favor its own products in search?

They’re very visible, but nobody outside Baidu can show how they’re ranked. The numbers below measure presence, and they don’t prove a rule that favors Baidu.

Source	Date	Finding	Limit
Pentzek, in Search Engine Journal	2023	34.91% of top-10 results, 60.13% of first positions 3	10,000 keywords. How results were classed isn’t described
Searchmetrics, as cited by Pentzek	2020	24.70% of top 10, 39.00% of first positions 3	We didn’t open the original study
Ryte	2022	Baidu products in top 3, 10 and 30 in all 5 sectors 4	About 24 keywords shown, full set not given, all generic
Dragon Metrics	2016	Average of 40% of page 1 5	No method published, and now old

So about 1 in 3 top results came from Baidu in the 2023 study. The first position figure is the striking one.

Baidu itself answered this argument once. In January 2019, Fang Kecheng wrote that Baidu had become a search engine for Baijiahao, its publishing platform.

He said Baijiahao filled more than half of page 1 for some searches.⁶ Baidu replied that Baijiahao was less than 10% of total results, per Caixin, or about 10%, per The China Project.⁶⁷

Fang called that a meaningless number, because most people only read the first two pages.⁷ He had a point: a share of all results says little about the top of the page.

What counts as Baidu’s own results?

Mostly its content products, and each works differently. Ryte listed 17 Baidu products, including these five, Maps and video.⁴

Property	What it is	What you can do	What stands in your way
Baike	Encyclopedia	Try for an entry	Sourcing rules, below
Tieba	Forums	Read, then take part	Advertising ban, below
Zhidao	Q&A	Answer questions	Commercial ads are removed, per a 2018 report 23
Baijiahao	Publishing platform	Unclear	One agency says only China-registered businesses qualify, in 2022 28
Wenku	Shared documents	Publish documents	Baike doesn’t accept it as a source 1

Editing Baike takes a registered account,¹² so expect the same elsewhere. Baidu’s help pages conflict on foreign numbers,²¹²² so read the phone number problem first.

Ryte calls publishing on these products “SEO for China” and notes some call it parasite SEO.⁴ Either way, you’re building on a platform you don’t own, under rules it can change.

Can a foreign company get a Baidu Baike entry?

It may be possible, but we can’t confirm the route. The two Baike help pages we read describe company entries, but they don’t mention foreign or overseas companies.¹²

The only description we saw is a search extract of an agency guide from The Egg. It reports a separate form for foreign firms, including those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, using the full English name on the business license.¹³ Its field list also shows a Chinese company name.

We couldn’t read that guide, because its address now shows a different article. Treat it as a lead to check, not as a procedure.

Sampi adds that editing an existing page means claiming it first, with a real name, a local phone number and the company’s authorization.¹² It gives no source.

What does Baike require?

An outside authority for every key fact. The agency guides we opened don’t cite this rule, and it’s a hard one for a company unknown in China.

Baike’s FAQ says each key information point needs proof from an authoritative website.¹

• Accepted for companies, products and brands: news organizations’ sites, national and local newspapers, news reports on portals, and filings with regulators such as the business registry.¹²
• Also listed in general: vertical sites, journal articles, and notices from schools or government sites.²
• Not accepted: your official website, because you can change it freely.¹
• Not accepted: Baidu Wenku and Baike itself, because users write them.¹

If only your own site supports a claim, Baike says to delete the claim or find an outside source.¹ Its example: an entry covers location, honors and products, but only two have sources. That counts as too few.¹

Two traps follow from the same FAQ.

• Filings only go so far. The link must open the right page, and it proves only part of the entry.¹² A company with no Chinese entity may have no such filing to show.
• Placement can look like promotion. Baike’s example is a product article sitting in a portal’s farming channel. It may be treated as a promotional piece, and not as reporting.¹²

Which channel you use depends on what the entry describes.

Entry about	Channel	Same sourcing rule?
A legal entity, such as “XX Co., Ltd.”	Enterprise channel 1	Yes 2
A brand or trademark	Regular creation 12	Yes 2
A product, site or project	Regular creation 12	Yes for commercial entries 2

So a brand entry avoids the enterprise channel, and it doesn’t avoid the sources.

Tone rules apply too. Baike’s create page bans advertising content such as contact details and official website links, and it warns of account suspension.³² Review rules, seen in extracts, add QR codes and slogans and ask for a neutral third person.⁸

Baike gives no review time. It says entries are checked “within a period” after submission, and its help menu lists an appeal for rejected entries.¹

How do you build the sources first?

Earn coverage before you apply, not after. One agency, Nanjing Marketing Group, describes this sequence in 2022:¹¹

1. Publish about three articles on authoritative Chinese sites.
2. Keep them editorial, at about 800 characters, with roughly 30% on the company.
3. Wait until they’re indexed, then apply.
4. Start with a basic, informative entry.
5. Update it about twice a year once it’s accepted.

It says this can take up to six months, and that notability is judged first.¹¹ That’s one vendor’s view, and it sells the service, so treat these numbers as a guide and not as a rule.

Baike’s FAQ doesn’t say how many sources you need, or whether foreign-language press counts.

Our guide to backlinks for Baidu covers the same line.

Will a Baike link help your site? Nanjing Marketing Group says linked sites seem to gain traffic and indexation,¹¹ with no data. Yet Baike’s create page lists official website links as advertising.³² We found no measurement, so don’t budget on it.

Free check

Is your website visible on Baidu?

Enter your website. We check Baidu, access from China and how your site is set up, then email you the report.

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Should you pay someone for an entry?

Be very careful. Agencies sell this service, yet Baike’s public position is that no such official route exists.

1. 2014The Enterprise Baike project goes live.
2. May 2017Offer at 6,998 yuan per year promoted by Baidu's marketing center.
3. June 2017Renamed 百科微站.
4. July 2017Baike states that creation is free, with no official or agent paid editing.
5. August 2017Service withdrawn.

• 2014: Enterprise Baike went online, per a report on Jiemian. Baike’s PR head confirmed the project existed.¹⁰
• May 2017: Baidu’s marketing center promoted it at 6,998 yuan a year. Buyers could lock their main content, and a signed commitment letter improved the odds in review.¹⁰
• July 2017: Baike said creating and editing are free, and that neither it nor any agent offers paid editing.⁹
• August 2017: The service, renamed in June, was quietly taken offline.¹⁰

Baike also reported several rounds of action against people posing as its agents. With Taobao, it said it removed over 13,000 listings in 2016 and over 4,700 in 2017 up to July.⁹ That statement is from 2017, and we found nothing newer that replaces it.

So ask any seller which sources they’ll use, and what happens if the entry is edited or removed. If the answer is “we have a contact at Baidu,” walk away.

Sampi also mentions a paid route that isn’t an entry at all: display advertising on Baike, through a Baidu advertiser account.¹² See Baidu SEO or Baidu Ads for that decision.

Is Tieba worth your time?

For most foreign companies, it’s worth reading and not worth posting on. It’s a smaller place than old guides suggest, and it’s hostile to promotion.

The outlet Shixiang, in a piece hosted on Tencent News, put Tieba at 8 to 9 million daily users in early 2025, and about 30 million monthly.¹⁵ It cites an unnamed third party for 2015: nearly 25 million daily and over 300 million monthly.¹⁵

Reducing ads, in moderation, was among the 2025 goals it reports.¹⁵

Rule layer	Who sets it	What it means
Tieba agreement	Baidu	Published versions ban any form of ad, with deletion or suspension 14
Bar rules	Volunteer moderators	Vary by forum, and can be stricter 1418
Forum rules, in force from October 2017	Cyberspace Administration of China	Operators and staff can’t seek improper gain by posting, deleting or steering results 1727

History explains the caution. Baidu sold moderator rights from 2014, and in January 2016 a hemophilia forum sold to a hospital drew public anger.¹⁸ Baidu then pledged to stop.¹⁸

Two legitimate uses remain.

• Listening: Search your brand and category. Threads can rank, sometimes above brand sites, says E-Commerce China Agency.¹⁹
• Helping: The same agency suggests contacting moderators and offering accurate technical answers.¹⁹

There may also be an official bar route. A March 2025 article says Tieba reopened that entry point, for verified companies only, with a yearly check.¹⁶ Nothing we read covers foreign companies.

How do you check what your searches show?

Run a small check of your own before you decide anything. It replaces general claims with your actual results.

1. List your searches. Take your Chinese brand name, your English name, and 5 category searches in Chinese.
2. Search each on baidu.com. Skip anything marked as an ad.
3. Count the first 10 organic results. Note every address on a baidu.com subdomain.
4. Record the type. Look for baike, tieba, zhidao, wenku and baijiahao.
5. Read what’s said about you. Check any existing entry or thread for errors.

Baidu personalizes results, as Ryte noted,⁴ so this is a snapshot and not a measurement. Repeat it from a second device if you can.

Your brand search matters most, and it’s where evidence runs out. Ryte’s listed keywords were all generic, and Pentzek’s share isn’t split by keyword type.³⁴

Existing entries deserve a look even if you never plan to use Baike. In 2015 a woman sued Baidu after losing nearly 500,000 yuan to a scammer, through a fake support number listed on Baike, per Wikipedia citing a local paper.²⁶

Which move fits your case?

Decide from your check, not from a general rule. If you’re new to China, start at the first row.

What you find	What to do
No Chinese site yet	Build it first. See how to rank on Baidu
No press coverage in Chinese	Skip Baike for now, and earn coverage
Solid independent coverage	Check the live form, then try a neutral entry
An existing entry with errors	Correct it with sources or use Baike’s feedback center,1 or take advice on a removal request
Active threads about your category	Monitor them, and answer only if you can add real help

The bottom line

Baidu’s products take a large share of its results, so ignoring them is a mistake. Treating them as a shortcut is a bigger one.

Check what your own searches show. If you have real outside coverage, try Baike. If you don’t, put the effort into your own Chinese pages and into being worth writing about.

How Index in China can help

We work on your own site. We translate it into Simplified Chinese with a human reviewer, work to get it indexed on Chinese search engines and send a monthly report on Chinese traffic.

A Baike entry isn’t something anyone can promise, and neither are rankings. We’ll tell you if your case needs a local adviser. See what we do.

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