Is your Japanese website not performing in China? Baidu can help with that

RUNNING a website in China? You may have to check whether it’s China-friendly through a Baidu service, targeted at Japanese businesses looking for a foot in the door in one of the world’s most open and policed Internet spaces.

According to reporting by Nikkei Asian Review, the Baidu service from the company’s Japanese unit will help your website get easily seen in China, where censorship is the rule and foreign sites frequently get blocked. The service is looking to leverage on the increased travel between the two East Asian nations by creating its own loophole amidst the tightening of China’s Internet space.

In recent months, social media sites, media outlets and have seen a spreading crackdown on websites that cause them to load slowly or fail to show any content whatsoever.

The service is being pushed out in partnership with Tokyo-based LXR, which creates Chinese-language sites, and will contribute by evaluating and reporting on how China-friendly clients’ sites are. According to Nikkei, the Baidu service will begin by running a site through a simulation of the China’s Internet environment in order to troubleshoot any potential problems such as failures to display content and download pages within a 90-second period.

Just like how English website works where Google webmaster tools are also installed at the backend, you also need to open a Baidu Webmaster account to access the features. https://t.co/w4bpnJnIJB #Chineselocalization #Chinawebsites

— Sophie A. (@sophie_azloc) December 5, 2017

Though seemingly small, these issues can be devastating to the consumer experience, and can drive users away to local sites. It’s an old game in China’s uneven markets that has helped drive the rise of its local digital giants.

And now Baidu is looking to make some profit off helping people skirt around this old problem. The company could use its huge data banks to help clients build effective Chinese-language sites through redirection, search optimization and big data flows. LXR would pitch in by suggesting embeds of Chinese sites and services aimed at Chinese customers, such as Youku over Youtube or WeChat over Twitter.

Baidu is leaning into its advantageous position over foreign sites by helping them become better in China while simultaneously boosting its own profile by spreading its service around other sites. So far, the company has received orders from household goods manufacturers and hotels.

The service will cost roughly JPY350,000 (US$3,900) for a performance analysis and its accompanying report.

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