Where to Put Keywords in Baidu SEO: Titles, Meta, and URLs

Keyword Strategy in Action #1

Intro: Keywords only work if you put them where it counts

Finding the right keywords is only step one.

In Baidu SEO, where you place them often matters more than how many you have.

Unlike Google, which relies more on overall site authority and semantic signals, Baidu still puts a heavy weight on surface-level structural cues—especially titles, meta descriptions, and URLs. These are often the first elements crawled, indexed, and displayed. And yet, many international teams skip this step or treat it as an afterthought.

This article walks through the three places where keywords most directly impact your visibility on Baidu: title tags, meta descriptions, and URL slugs—and how to think about them strategically.

1. Title Tags: Signal clarity, not just presence

Baidu heavily prioritizes the <title> tag. It’s often shown directly in search results, and used to understand page relevance.

But many sites make one of two mistakes:

Keyword dumping: stuffing multiple search terms into the title in a robotic, comma-separated list
Brand-first mindset: placing the brand name at the front of every title, pushing real content to the back

A better approach:

Start with the primary keyword or phrase
Use natural, descriptive language—titles should read like headlines, not checklists
Keep it under ~30 Chinese characters (or ~60 English characters) to avoid truncation

💬 Example (bad):
SEO, China SEO, Baidu SEO, Keyword Strategy – Brand Name

💡 Example (better):
How to Build a Keyword Strategy for Baidu SEO | Brand Name

2. Meta Descriptions: Support the main term with user intent

Baidu does index and display meta descriptions, though it’s more selective than Google. These summaries influence both click-through rate and query matching.

Here’s what helps:

Include the primary keyword, ideally within the first 50 characters
Support it with related terms or question formats (e.g. “how to,” “best way to,” etc.)
Write in a way that answers search intent, not just describes the article

You don’t need to overoptimize—think of this as a mini pitch:

“Why should this page be shown for this search?”

👎 Weak:
We offer digital marketing and localization services.

👍 Strong:
Learn how to apply keywords for Baidu SEO—from title tags to page structure.

3. URLs: Clean, consistent, and readable

URL slugs aren’t everything in Baidu SEO—but they contribute to crawlability, structure recognition, and user trust.

Common issues:

Overly long or meaningless slugs (e.g. /1234-abcd/)
Inconsistent use of pinyin, English, or Chinese characters
Duplicated slugs caused by poor multilingual setups (e.g. /contact-2/)

Best practices:

Keep slugs short and relevant to the keyword or topic
Stick to one language per slug structure (e.g. all English for /articles/, pinyin for /zh/)
Avoid generic terms like /page/, /item/, /news/

📌 And most importantly: make sure each slug reflects the page’s core idea—don’t just translate literally.

Conclusion: Structure is part of strategy

Baidu’s search engine still favors structural clarity. That doesn’t mean stuffing keywords into every field—but it does mean placing your main signals where the crawler can easily find them.

If your keywords are buried, disconnected, or inconsistent across meta fields, they won’t help you rank—no matter how relevant they are.

This is just one layer of keyword execution.

In the next article, we’ll talk about how to use keywords within the body copy—without sounding like a robot.

By The Olivia
Content & SEO Strategist for China Market.

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