Baidu Ecosystem: The First Milestone of Marketing in China

With around 600 million monthly active users, Baidu dominates the Chinese search engine market and is among the top five in the world. According to a group of data posted by MarketMeChina, in Mar 2022, Baidu's market shares on all platforms, desktop and mobile, were 84.3%, 57.9% and 94.51%, respectively.

But there's more to Baidu than just its search service. Baidu is also a leading artificial intelligence (AI) developer and has developed a robust ecosystem that helps customers navigate their buying journey. The internet giant has been broadening its focus from a simple search function to comprehensive one-stop services.

Baidu's ecosystem is made up of its flagship search engine, Baidu-branded apps, and a series of products and services that span search, cloud storage, online video and maps etc. Baidu incorporates AI into all these services, helping personalize each user's experience and increase engagement with the platform.

As of 2021, the Baidu ecosystem has 57 apps or subsites, including Baidu Baike, Baidu Zhidao, Baidu News, Baidu Baijiahao, Baidu Maps, Baidu Translate, Baidu Cloud, Baidu Videos, Baidu Music etc.

All these apps and subsites work together in Baidu's ecosystem, creating one super app. Thanks to its AI efforts, Baidu has been able to create a seamless user experience. For both users and marketers, this is a win. Better integrated Baidu apps mean that marketers can now take full advantage of the ecosystem of apps and have more opportunities to gain exposure while a better experience is pleasant for users.

Chinese users prefer local websites in their own language. If you want to enter the Chinese market, already have an online presence in this country, and want to increase your conversion rate, then you need to be in Baidu's ecosystem. 

The Baidu app enables users to access search, feeds, content and other services from their mobile devices. Harnessing cutting-edge AI tech, the Baidu app search plus feed twin engine can deliver highly accurate search results and a truly personalized content feed for its users.

Baidu has been focusing on providing users with a closed-loop service within its app, allowing users to quickly and easily get the content they want without leaving the original app. Through the building blocks of Baijiahao accounts, Mini Programs, and Managed pages, Baidu Apps provide users with a single sign-on, native app-like experience for a wide range of information and content scattered across isolated mobile apps and HTML5 websites.

The traffic of the Baidu app has been steadily growing in the past two years. In September 2022, the app recorded around 634 million monthly active users, according to Statista.