What are Baidu's ranking factors?

Search for Baidu ranking factors and you’ll find confident lists with no sources. One from 2013 counts Renren likes.² A 2024 list of nine factors cites no Baidu document at all.³

This page does something simpler. It sorts each factor by the evidence behind it, with dates. It’s part of our guide on how Baidu SEO differs from Google. For a plan of action, see how to rank on Baidu.

Does Baidu publish a list of ranking factors?

No. Baidu’s own mini program guide says its ranking strategy has “always been strictly confidential”.¹

What it publishes are principles, on-page advice, penalty rules and one short list for content creators. Every other list is someone’s inference.

So we graded each claim on this page by where it comes from.

Evidence	What it is	Its limit
Baidu wrote it	An official text, with a date	Baidu said it then. It may have changed since
Measured	A correlation study of ranking pages	Shows what top pages have, not why they rank
Opinion	An agency’s claim, with no text or data	May be right, but can’t be checked

What does Baidu say it ranks on?

Baidu says results are sorted by how well they meet the user’s overall need.⁵ Relevance and the main intent behind the search come first as the basic requirement. Then four dimensions apply.⁵

Dimension	Baidu’s definition	Weighs most for
Content quality	The value the page itself delivers	Everything. Baidu calls it the most important
Authority	The expertise of the producer	Medical and legal topics
Browsing experience	How smoothly the user gets through the page	Not specified
Freshness	Publishing date and how current the content is	Breaking news and prices

There’s also a gate. Baidu says three kinds of content are “not admitted”: content that breaks its algorithm rules, low-quality content, and content that costs too much to access.⁵

It doesn’t define that last group, or say whether “not admitted” means not indexed or not ranked.

For a more recent view, read Baidu’s August 2023 list of problem pages, the latest such text we found.⁶ It’s concrete:

• Content: garbled text, stitched or repeated passages, low-quality scraping.
• Relevance: content that doesn’t match the title or the site’s field.
• Availability: empty pages, dead links, broken downloads and videos.
• Titles: repeated, cut off or hidden.
• Ads: placed inside the text, or floating at the top or bottom.
• Layout: pages that don’t fit the screen, main content under 50% of the first screen, slow loading.

Baidu calls these low-quality or violating pages. It doesn’t say how much each one costs you in rankings.

An unsigned 2023 guide on Baidu’s platform comes closest to a list, but it’s written for content creators. Its key factors are relevance, how fully the content answers the need, content quality, interaction data and freshness.⁷

On interaction, it says likes, comments and saves have “some effect”.⁷ It doesn’t mention click-through rate or websites, so don’t assume this applies to yours.

Which on-page signals has Baidu named?

Fewer than most guides suggest. Baidu’s 2017 article says it judges a page through its title, page keywords and H tags, with anchor text in support.⁸

This table sets each signal against what top pages showed in a 2023 study.¹¹

Signal	What Baidu wrote	Top pages, 2023 study 11
Title	Used to judge content (2017) 8. Keep it concise and on topic (2019) 9	Average 25 Chinese characters. Exact keyword in 36%
H tags	Used to judge content (2017) 8	71.2% have exactly one H1. Exact keyword in 21.1%
Meta description	Not part of weight calculation, may be the snippet (2019) 9	Exact keyword in 22.2%
Meta keywords	“Page keywords”, tag not named (2017) 8. A “reference” for mini programs (2019) 10	Not measured in what we read
Image alt	Helps engines understand images (2019) 9	55.4% use it. Keyword in 12.8%
URL	Short and descriptive. Normal dynamic URLs have no effect (2019) 9	Average 48.25 characters. Chinese characters in 0.8%
HTTPS	Preferred between sites of equal weight (2015) 13	69.6%

Two rows deserve a note. On meta keywords, the SEJ article says a Baidu spokesperson named Lee called them no longer considered. It links no document, and we couldn’t find one.¹¹

We know of no gain from the tag, and a short, honest one carries no known risk.

On HTTPS, sources disagree. A 2020 summary said it wasn’t yet a factor, and the 2023 article calls it official, without a link.²⁴¹¹ Baidu’s own text is the 2015 one, and it only breaks ties.¹³

Title rules go beyond length. Under Xiyu 2.0, its algorithm for B2B content, Baidu bans a false “official site” label, stacked similar keywords, odd symbols and inserted offers.¹⁸

Baidu’s 2019 guide also asks for text, not JavaScript, for important content and links.⁹ See does Baidu read JavaScript?

What do the correlation studies show?

Two studies carry most of the data in English, and both point to links. They used different samples, so compare them with care.

	Searchmetrics, 2020 12	Pentzek, 2023 1114
Sample	50,000 keywords	10,000 keywords
Depth	Top 10	Top 20
Baidu’s own sites	Excluded from correlations	Exclusion not stated, except for domain data
Backlinks	0.9 correlation score, median 76,250	More referring domains go with better rankings
.com share	Over 75%	72.59%
Chinese domains	9.36% for all local extensions	.cn 14.06%, .com.cn 6.55%
Content length	Average 3,194 characters	Average 4,929, median 3,147
Exact keyword in the text	34%	49%
Chinese social media	99% mention a network	60% have integrations

Three findings hold up across both:

• Most top results aren’t on Chinese domains. A .cn isn’t needed to rank, though its share rose from 3.8% in 2020 to 14.06% in 2023.¹¹
• Content runs to thousands of characters. That’s a description of top pages, not a target.
• Links track rankings, with exceptions. Both report a positive link with rank.¹¹¹² Yet the 2023 article says the 50 lowest-ranked domains averaged just 1.1 linking domains by DataForSEO’s count, and reads that as room for sites with few links.¹¹

The limits go further, and few write-ups mention them.

The 2023 study isn’t independent. Jademond, an agency that sells Baidu SEO, describes it as its own, though the SEJ article’s text never names the agency.¹⁴¹¹ We read that article and Jademond’s page, not the full report.

The two studies aren’t independent of each other either. Jademond says Marcus Pentzek led both.¹⁴ We read the 2020 study through its press text, not the white paper.¹²

The published title scores run from -0.17 to -0.02, and the article doesn’t say whether negative is good or bad.¹¹ So don’t read them either way.

The 2023 data is also nearly three years old. We found no newer study.

Do links matter more than Baidu admits?

The data ties them to rankings, while Baidu’s words play them down. In 2017, it wrote that it relies on links less than before, that they remain the main route for discovering pages, and that a site’s brand matters far more.⁸

Those statements can both be true. Top sites may have many links because they’re strong brands. Baidu doesn’t define “brand”, and no study we read measures it.

Baidu’s other advice on links is about topic. It says links between sites on the same subject are more favorable, and asks for nofollow on advertising links.¹⁵

Agencies go further. SEO Sherpa says in-country links carry more weight.²⁵ That’s a reasonable guess about Chinese buyers, but we found no Baidu text saying so.

More in backlinks for Baidu.

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Which factors can pull you down?

Negative factors are the best documented, because Baidu names them. These are some of its published algorithms, each with what it targets.

Algorithm	Date	Targets
Luluo 20	2013	Buying and selling links, link brokers
Qingfeng 1.0 19	2017	Deceptive titles
Hurricane 18	Rules updated 2020	Bulk-collected and stitched content, content outside your field
Xiyu 2.0 2118	Notice 2019	Low-quality B2B content, such as supply listings and franchise pages
Jinglei 2.0 17	Rules updated 2020	Manipulated links and inflated clicks
Jinglei 3.0 32	2021	Faked user behavior meant to lift rankings
Fenghuo 3.0 17	Rules updated 2020	Hijacking clicks or the back button

Jinglei 2.0 is the one to remember, because its effects last. Baidu lists limited display, cleanup, a record in the site’s history, and a permanent ban in serious cases.¹⁷ Our Baidu SEO overview compares the sanctions. The 3.0 notice names B2B among its focus sectors.³²

Hurricane matters to foreign sites too. Publishing outside your field, or stitching pages together from other sources, is exactly what it describes.¹⁸

The most recent notices on Baidu’s news page, read on November 1, 2026, name no new algorithm.²² That doesn’t mean these stopped running, or that nothing has changed.

Which popular factors lack evidence?

Many of them. These appear in published lists, and none has a Baidu text establishing it as a ranking factor.

Claim	Who says it	What we can check	Verdict
An ICP helps rankings	Sampi lists it 2	48% of top pages show one 11. Baidu’s 2020 guide asks for “registration and filing information”, without saying ICP 16	Unproven
.cn outranks .com	Sampi, Advance Metrics 227	Most top results are .com 1112. Baidu’s 2014 guide says the suffix has no effect on web search 34	Not needed
Domain age counts	Aumcore, Sampi 32	We read no Baidu text on it	Opinion
Keyword density	Aumcore lists it first 3. SEO Sherpa gives 1%, then 1% to 2% 25	Top pages average under 1% 11. We found no Baidu figure	Opinion
Click-through rate	SEJ’s author says unnamed experts recognize it 11	Not measured. Baidu punishes inflated clicks, without saying clicks rank 1732	Unproven
Social signals	Sampi, Aumcore 23	Top pages often show Chinese social links 1112. Baidu’s guide values sharing 16	Unproven
Hosting in China	Advance Metrics 27	Baidu warned of display problems for Chinese sites on foreign servers in 2017 29. No figures	Unsettled

For the two most asked, read can you rank on Baidu without an ICP? and does Baidu index foreign websites? On domains, see do you need a .cn domain?

Precise thresholds deserve the same doubt. They often disagree, and few trace back to Baidu.

Number	Guide	Source check
Title under 80 characters	Advance Metrics, 2016 27	No Baidu limit in its 2019 guide 9
Title under 32 characters	The Egg, 2022 26	Top pages averaged 25 in 2023 11
3,000 characters minimum	The Egg, 2022 26	Close to the 2023 median, but not a Baidu rule 11
Load within 1.5 seconds	The Egg, 2022 26	Baidu asks for 1 second for the first screen on mobile (2020) 28

Advance Metrics also recommended HTTP over HTTPS in 2016.²⁷ Dates matter on this topic. For speed itself, see how to speed up your website in China and Baidu mobile SEO.

What can’t ranking factors explain?

A lot of the page you’re competing on. Ranking well among websites doesn’t put you on top of a results page that Baidu’s own products share.

1. Top 10 · Pentzek 202334.9%
2. Top 10 · Searchmetrics 202024.7%
3. First position · Pentzek 202360.13%
4. First position · Searchmetrics 202039%

Pentzek study, 2023, compared with Searchmetrics 2020

That single study puts Baidu’s services in 34.9% of top 10 results, and 60.13% of first places, up from 24.7% and 39% in 2020.¹¹ It can’t tell you why. See Baidu Baike, Tieba and Baidu’s own results.

AI answers add a layer nobody has mapped. In September 2026, Baidu announced a tool reporting citations, impressions and clicks in AI search, with a staged rollout. Its notice says the data service isn’t live yet.²³

We found no Baidu text on what earns a citation. Read Baidu AI answers and foreign websites.

Which factors should you work on first?

Start where Baidu’s words and the data agree. This order is our editorial view, not a Baidu rule.

1. Avoid the gate. Baidu doesn’t admit low-quality content, and its 2023 list shows what it means by that.⁵⁶
2. Match the need. Write each page for the main intent behind one Chinese search.⁵
3. Stay on your subject. Baidu’s quality guide asks for focus and real expertise.¹⁶
4. Get the basics right. Use one clear title and one H1, as most top pages do, with the keyword used naturally.¹¹
5. Earn relevant links. Don’t buy them, given what Jinglei 2.0 can do to your site’s record.¹⁷

The bottom line

Baidu tells you what it wants: pages that meet the need, led by content quality. Studies add that referring domains go with higher rankings.

Past that, most factors you’ll read about are opinion. Work from what’s written and measured, check the date, and don’t pay for a shortcut.

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