This is the full list of ad types you’ll find on China’s most popular search engine, Baidu.
We’ve used all of these types of Baidu ads in some of the hundreds of Baidu campaigns that we’ve run. So we’ve also included some advice about when to use each type.
Plain Ol’ Default Text Ads
On Baidu, the default text ads include a title line and 2 description lines.
The title is limited to 50 characters and the description lines are limited to 80 characters.
Next to the URL, you can see three additional things…which users pretty much just ignore. 😉
- An“Advertising” (广告) notice, which indicates that it is an ad, not an organic search result.
- “Baidu Guarantee”, which means you will receive compensation if you are defrauded by this ad. Read more about it here.
Baidu Image Ads / Image Extensions (Basic)
Images can be added within ad groups, and those will show up in ads sometimes. This doesn’t cost extra.
This is useful for any industry. We use images quite a bit! We feel they help with branding while also achieving a higher clickthrough rate. You can upload different sizes of images and it will randomly choose which one to show in the largest format.
Multi-Image Ads (Advanced)
This ad type is used to showcase products. Each link doesn’t necessarily need to lead to an e-commerce site where they can buy, but it’s often used in that way.
Multi-Text & Link Ads
We usually call this ad type “navigation ads”. It can be composed of the regular title & description lines, as well as an image and text links. You can list multiple services and advantages here to attract users and each link can point to a specific landing page.
Video & Text Ads
This ad type allows you to display videos, which auto-lay when the ad shows up. But don’t worry, it will only cost you when a user clicks on the ads.
Phone Number Extension for Mobile Devices
Baidu can show a “call” button for mobile devices.
These are easy to setup and work well for driving leads.
App Download Extension for Mobile Devices
It’s possible to promote mobile apps directly within Baidu mobile search ads. These are good for driving downloads, although they require a bit more setup work than the “call” extension ads do. Ads link to the relevant store. That means the App Store for iOS devices, as it is around the world. For Android devices, it will link to the relevant Android store for the device, such as Huawei’s Android store for users on Huawei devices.
Ads with Contact Form Submission
Baidu allows a mini-contact form to be added to ad creatives. In the example above, the form has three components:
- A dropdown menu for what the user wants.
- City
- Phone number
You could also ask for a user’s email address or WeChat as well.
Ads with Customer support
If users click the “Consult now” button, they will be sent directly to the live customer support chat on the target website. It can also publicly show how many inquiries were processed recently as a show of social proof, such as “50 inquiries in the last 30 days”.
Automatically Adjusted Ads
Sometimes Baidu will automatically analyze keywords, ads text, and landing pages, then randomly show ads in various formats.
In the images below you can see Baidu showing automatically generated ad creatives in three different formats.
Brand Zone
Baidu Brand Zone allows brands to really make a splash, but it’s not like the normal search ads that performance marketers love. The Brand Zone area can include a variety of images, text and links. See this blog to know more about Baidu Brand Zone and how it works.