How to Open a Baidu PPC Account in 2022
Opening a Baidu PPC advertising account is hard and takes time. Let Shifu guide you through the process to make it easier.
As an online marketing company known for being focused on the Chinese market, we receive a lot of inquiries regarding Baidu PPC advertising every week.
I’m not going to lie to you - opening a Baidu PPC account is hard and takes time.
But don’t be scared. If you follow the steps in this guide, I can guarantee you a much smoother, less painful application process.
(Or to have an even better sleep at night, just apply via Shifu. We are a Baidu Ads reseller now.)
Below is the list of steps:
- Prepare your business license
- Have your Chinese website ready
- Prepare a screenshot of your homepage
- Find your company information on a government website
- Prepare a business bank account statement
- Contact Baidu
- Sign Baidu’s contract
- Make the initial deposit to Baidu
- Baidu sends you the login
In the list, Item 1 to 5 are the documents required by Baidu. I recommend you get them ready before reaching out to Baidu, for less back and forth.
You can either quickly navigate to the item you are interested in or scroll down from here to read the post.
1. Prepare Your Business License
Baidu requires a scanned copy of your business license in full color. The license can be in any language, but preferably in Chinese or English.
The copy needs to have your company stamp or a signature of a staff member of your company.
Besides the scanned copy of the above license, you also need to provide a copy of the same business license translated into Chinese Mandarin.
The translated copy also needs to include your company stamp or a signature of a staff member, as well as a short handwritten statement “翻译件与原件一致”, which means the translation matches the original business license.
Below is an example for your reference:
By the way, Baidu doesn’t accept applicants from industries that are illegal in China, such as porn, gambling, guns, and surrogacy.
Baidu also has an even more strict review process for the industries that can potentially have a severe impact on one’s health and assets, such as the financial service industry and the medical/healthcare industry.
For example, applications by foreign forex trading platforms and overseas private hospitals are usually rejected by Baidu.
2. Have Your Chinese Website Ready
Baidu pay-per-click advertising is a Chinese advertising platform, so it only accepts Chinese websites or landing pages.
They can be under a top-level domain, a subdomain, or a subdirectory.
If your website doesn’t have a Chinese translation yet, hire a translator to localize it into Chinese first. Please note you should not use machine translation such as Google Translate, which works poorly between Chinese and English.
Now pay extra attention to your About Us page and Contact Us page. To prove you are a legitimate business, Baidu requires you clearly display your company information on those two pages.
On the About Us page, there should be a short introduction about your company. The company’s name must be the same with the one on the provided business license.
Below is a quick example:
Another recommendation is to make your website fast in China, both the PC version and the mobile version.
A former client was rejected by Baidu for several times before coming to us. It turned out that Baidu’s system couldn’t access their website at all.
That doesn’t mean you have to host your website in China though - it can be hosted anywhere as long as its load speed in China is good.
3. Prepare a Screenshot of Your Website’s Homepage
Your Chinese website is ready. Now you need to take a screenshot of your homepage - remember to include the address bar of the browser.
The copy also needs to have your company stamp or a signature of a staff member of your company, as well as a handwritten statement “与网站内容一致” (“it matches the content of the website”).
Here is an example:
4. Find Your Company Information on a Government Website
Baidu also wants to conduct a business record check for each applicant.
To do that, Baidu requires a screenshot of a government web page where your business information is publicly listed.
The screenshot must include the address bar of the browser, as well as your company stamp or a signature of a staff member.
A translated copy of the screenshot is required too. Luckily the quality of the translation doesn’t have to be good this time, so you can use Google Translate to translate the web page.
The translated copy also needs your company stamp or a signature of a staff member, as well as a handwritten statement “与网站内容一致”.
Below is an example for your reference:
5. Prepare a Business Bank Account Statement
This is the last document Baidu needs to verify your business entity. It can be anything from your bank as long as it includes:
- Your business name in full, which must be the same with the business name on your business license
- The record of one or a few recent transactions
It needs to have your company stamp or a signature of a staff member.
A translated copy is also required, with your company stamp or a signature of a staff member, as well as a handwritten statement “翻译件与原件一致”.
Below is an example:
6. Contact Baidu
Phew, finally, you have all the documents required by Baidu ready.
Now it’s time to get in touch with Baidu and apply for an account.
You have two options here - working with a local branch of Baidu, or a Baidu reseller.
I highly recommend working with a Baidu reseller , because it has the following benefits:
- a reseller can help you prepare the required documents
- less back and forth
- a reseller is more motivated to get your account ready sooner
- a reseller has special offers sometimes
- a reseller is more experienced in working with English speaking clients
In case you still want to do the dirty work yourself, you can go to Baidu’s official site and submit your contact details. Baidu should usually call you back very soon.
7. Sign the Contract
If you have filed all the documents to Baidu and everything looks good, Baidu will send you the service contracts.
By the way, don’t forget to ask for the English version of the contracts if it’s easier for you to process.
8. Make the Initial Deposit to Baidu
When Baidu opens a new account, they charge an initial deposit of 5000 RMB, which you can see in your account balance and use for your campaigns later.
Baidu currently only supports wire transfer. They don’t accept credit cards or PayPal.
9. Baidu Sends You the Login
Once Baidu receives your payment, the account should usually be activated within 4–5 business days.
You will receive the username and password via email.
Now you can do the magic of Baidu pay-per-click advertising and start to promote your company in China!
Quick Takeaways
- Have your Chinese website, Chinese business license, a government page where your business information is listed, and a bank statement ready before applying
- You don’t have to host your website in China
- You don’t need to have a Chinese company
- Working with a reseller is better than Baidu directly
- Foreign drug sellers, hospitals, and financial service providers face a much higher chance of rejection
- When opening a new Baidu advertising account, you need to make a payment of 5000 RMB or above to Baidu
Needing help get a Baidu PPC account? Contact us today →
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Ryan Chooai