Google ostensibly tried to level the playing field years ago by creating an algorithm that returned search results more relevant to the user than paid listings or simple keyword matches. They were heralded as great innovators for allowing organic (non-advertised) search results to appear in the top listings and for segregating pay for click ads and placing them only on the right side of the page. But, instead of leveling the playing field, hoping for quality content too rule the day, they gave rise to a 10 Billion US dollar SEO industry of “experts” looking for every exploitable opportunity to manipulate the patented mathematical formula.

SEO in the west has become so sophisticated that there are thousands of sites, books and programs dedicated to the topic. Experienced consultants can expect to bring in six-figure salaries for their expertise; Free listings are hardly that and “innovation” means giving preference to companies with deep pockets or well-schooled talent. There are even sites and companies that will undo a competitor’s hard work, for a price.

The basic strategies for the Chinese Internet market are a bit dated by western standards, but too are so decidedly different than that of any other country that special expertise is needed to master them. The Internet marketplace has distinct social, and technological features that any savvy advertiser or potential client should know about.

Socially, traffic on the Internet is primarily directed to Bulletin Boards (BBS), Chat Interfaces (such as QQ and MSN Messenger) and Online Game Sites and information searches. To effectively develop a strategy for online marketing a company new to mainland users, the world’s largest Internet population, must have of working knowledge of each of these netizen destinations.

Baidu.com, the world’s third largest search portal and owner of one of thousands of China BBS boards, recently surpassed the 240,000,000 individual post mark on their BBS site. These boards have great authority in Chinese search engines and comments made on them often dominate search results. Sam Flemming, CEO of CIC, and IWOM research company in China, writes: “BBS, or topic-based online bulletin board systems, serve as the online nation’s “water cooler” for every kind of situation and topic imaginable. While bulletin boards in the West have existed for years, in China, they have not only been in existence for sometime, they actually dominate with 35.5 percent of the 210 million Chinese netizens who use BBS on a regular basis.”

The ramifications for a product, service or brand’s reputation management and PR are enormous: the top ten listings on a search page could well 50% BBS commentary. Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM) in China can make or break a company. Careful research must be done in advance of any online campaign launch to determine appropriate target markets, overcome consumer objections, and identify appropriate language and buzz phrases needed to reach potential buyers/users. Many companies hire firms to ethically (and unethically) soft-seed BBS comments and manipulate results to ensure positive reputation management.

Post campaign monitoring is needed for any Search Engine Marketing or digital advertising as IWOM spreads faster in the Chinese Web-sphere than anywhere on the planet. One only has to look at the viral spread of articles, photographs and comments related to the recent Hong Kong “Photogate” scandal for evidence of the incredible velocity of Internet driven information. And the recent backlash against western media for suspect reporting in Tibet was initiated by a single You Tube video that quickly garnered over 500,000 views and was immediately re-posted on thousands of Chinese BBS sites and spread across dozens of social networks.

Instant Messaging and SMS are the cheapest and hence, most used methods of communication in China. Holistic marketing programs should include some mobile advertising especially with the launch recently of 3-G technology in select larger cities. With over 1 billon SMS messages sent daily, and Internet capable phones now able to connect to the Web, phone searches will steadily grow.

Online gaming enjoys such a huge audience in China that brands such as the Cartoon Network and Disney have major gaming expansion plans in the works. Online gaming accounts for up to 80% of gross revenue for industry giants such as Tencent (QQ). The efficacy of online ads in the gaming sector is still in question as many branded product promotions are hard to fit into fantasy environments and existing interactive game frameworks, though some advertisers, like Pepsi, have had enormous success with interactive contests.

Other social networks platforms and methods of interaction are becoming very popular. Xiaonei for example, the Facebook knockoff in Chinese, has seen logarithmic growth in recent months and applications like Twitter—one Chinese version can be found at taotao.com—are gaining ground. A viable China SEM provider will know these platforms and how to commercially and ethically exploit them to your advantage.

When searching for information on the Internet, Baidu is the reigning king in China. Baidu accounts for 60-65% of all searches done worldwide through Chinese portals and rakes in 75-80% of all in-country queries.

Baidu recently yielded to criticism from competitors and the media regarding its paid inclusion program and now only the first four listings on any Baidu results page may be paid ads. And Baidu only allows “branded products” to own an entire page of “power links”—15 links to self-selected products or services page—for their company or trademarked names. For me, I see no difference in paid ads dominating the top slots as opposed to SEO expert manipulated results appearing in their place. They all cost money.

Urban myth holds that .CN sites have greater authority with the engines than do .COM or other extensions. This is untrue. Chinese search engines do however rate sites with Chinese language content higher than those without. Too, research indicates that geographically targeted language and dialect specific word and product offerings are essential to mainland China and its 56 distinct ethnic groups all with varying tastes and modes of expression. The other most prevalent myth is that of redirection or hijacking of, by government or commercial forces, website traffic to a Chinese carrier or portal. It just does not happen.

SEO is a poorly regarded term in China primarily due to early self-proclaimed experts in the field who used “black hat” or dishonest listing techniques meant to be prohibited by Western engines. Early SEO providers in China also exploited Baidu’s lack of obvious differentiation between paid and organic listings and charged technician’s wages for simple ad placements.

Chinese netizens still use immature search strategies and type in very broad keywords (“gifts,” flowers” and so on) to locate products and services. This is called “short-tailed” search in western circles where specific queries are made when looking for information. This makes buying keywords on Chinese engines much easier provided you know the local names for products. Cell phone buyers will simply type in a brand name or the words “cell phone” (and a savvy marketer will use the local term for each as the words differ in the North and South) in ads or website content.

Unsophisticated SEO firms in China will charge by the keyword for services. A short-tailed word is called a “hot word” in China and SEO firms will charge up to 30,000 RMB per word per year for a hot word/phrase that places in the top ten such as “English Classes.” A “cool word” or phrase like “Languages Lessons Guangzhou” might bring in 10,000 RMB for a front-page appearance. Top twenty listings for either a hot or cold word can cost from 10-20,000 RMB each.

Technological factors are a huge consideration in a responsible SEM program. Interface between provincial switches in China is sometimes problematic. Download speeds will vary from city to city based on user location and the hosting base for the site being visited. Some services and sites may require some redundancy in certain geographical regions of China.

Sites in the US are at a distinct disadvantage over China based ones. Censorship predominantly comes in two distinct forms: keyword blocks that can black out a particular page and full URL blocks that will cause your site not to display. And Chinese viewers have great difficulty viewing and downloading content that requires a great deal of bandwidth. You would do well to have a China hosted site with a redundant server on standby in your own country or region. This is also important because data bottlenecks, as mentioned, are not uncommon internally between cities or provinces and should be planned for by any online marketing team. And the Taiwan-based earthquake last year that damaged intercontinental transmission lines affected inbound and outbound international traffic for months in virtually every area of China.

The bottom line, pun intended is this: SEO/SEM basics that serve companies well in the west also apply in China and take precedence: Good content, general cultural and linguistic aptitude, knowledge of regional markets, an in-country presence for your SEO/SEM marketing staff, and social platform and Internet technical expertise with the assistance of an established online digital marketing company in China will help you weather any governmental storms or acts of nature. SEO is a must to improve your chances of succeeding online in China.
Paul Denlinger,, says there “is a need for a new kind of ad agency warrior who can go out there and slay the dragons, and collect the valuable information and give it back to the creative teams and client so that they can act on that information in its product and marketing cycle.”

He lists job requirements for the job that fit anyone good holistic SEO/SEM online ad provider anywhere:

“ * Information researcher, able to use Internet and mobile tools to monitor client-relevant information in real-time;
* Able to engage with client at all levels (executive and manager) to understand evolving client needs, and to report in real-time on rapid changes in market situation;
* Able to understand client’s corporate position and voice, and act as a responsible spokesperson and advocate in the digital realm while upholding client’s integrity;
* Understands how to communicate to different clients on different levels and is able to quickly adjust accordingly
* Can quickly analyze and learn and communicate this information back to creative and media teams and back to client on a frequent basis;
* Proactively pushes out information to other team members and clients for their use;
* Comfortable working with amorphous teams which are changing on a constant basis;
* Is comfortable communicating in at least two human languages”

I would add that a good SEO/SEM manager/consultant must also know a fair bit about old SEO methods in America as they still exist here in abundance. The new warrior must be able to traverse time like a character in the movie Back to the Future. There are only a handful of companies and consultants that are addressing prehistoric and cutting edge holistic/cultural SEO/SEM/Advertising in China. But, they do exist and will definitely benefit your ROI.

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Professor Lonnie Hodge currently teaches language, culture and global marketing in southern China and is the creator and CEO of Culture Fish Media at Http://culturefishmedia.com

Lonnie, a twenty-year resident of Asia, has been a consultant and Search Engine Marketing specialist for SMEs and Multi-National Corporations for eight of those years. Professor Hodge holds degrees in Communications, Fine Arts, Education and Engineering as well as a certificate in East-Asian Studies; he is the past founder and director of the Rocky Mountain Training Institute, a global consultancy to Ministries of Health and Education in various countries. He owned and developed one of the Internet’s first online bookstores and was a member of the US Army’s first Global Internet think tank in the 70’s. He is a member of the Coleman Research Group’s Executive Forum on Asia and Internet Consulting. He is also listed with the China Speaker’s Bureau and Standard and Poor’s Society of Industry Leaders.

He is a well-known lecturer worldwide, covering topics such as Asian culture, international trade, search engine marketing (SEM), cultural marketing, ESL, Creativity, Humor and personal growth and development, blogging and New Media strategies. He has delivered talks to hundreds of private, educational and business concerns: The Kellogg Leadership Program, The Fetzer Institute, University counseling Center Directors, The American Association of Marriage and Family Therapist, The Center for International Business Ethics and more. Lonnie, a widely published poet, is also a past recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the highest juried award given by the government to American writers He is the co-founder of the online China Dreamblogue project which provides digital internships for exceptional students while raising funds for educational charities and a board member for the US literacy project, The Reading Tub.

In past incarnations Lonnie has been a professional actor, widely anthologized poet, champion archer, martial arts instructor and military officer. Professor Hodge now concentrates his efforts as a China SEM, business and education and creative strategies consultant for emerging and established companies and institutions seeking to better brand or improve market visibility in Asia.

Contact Culturefish Media here: http://culturefishmedia.com/contact.html