Baidu Webmaster Tools (Ziyuan)

TL;DR — Baidu Webmaster ToolsThe free, first-party consoles search engines give site owners — Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools — to see how their pages are crawled, indexed, and ranked, and to fix problems. The legacy name is 'webmaster tools.' is Baidu’s webmaster dashboard — think Google Search ConsoleA free Google service that reports how a site performs in Google Search and surfaces problems with how Google crawls, indexes, and serves it. It's first-party data straight from Google — but you don't need it to appear in results., but for Baidu. Its current official home is the Baidu Search Resource Platform at ziyuan.baidu.com. After obtaining account access, you verify your site and can use Baidu’s own link-submission tools.

What Baidu Webmaster Tools is

If you want your site to show up on Baidu the way you’d want it on Google, Baidu Webmaster Tools is where you go. It’s Baidu’s own free console for seeing and improving how your site does in Baidu search — verify that you own the site, hand Baidu a list of your pages, and check which ones it has foundA 302 (\"Found\") is a temporary redirect: it forwards users to a new URL while telling search engines the original URL should stay in the index. It's a weak canonicalization signal, not the zero-equity dead end of SEO folklore. and indexedStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed..

You’ll see it under a few different names:

• Baidu Search Resource Platform (百度搜索资源平台) — the current official name.
• Baidu Ziyuan — from its address, ziyuan.baidu.com (“ziyuan” = 资源 = “resource”).
• Baidu Zhanzhang (站长 = “webmaster”) or just Baidu Webmaster Tools — the older names you’ll still see in English guides.

They’re all the same tool. Baidu’s crawlerA crawler — also called a spider or bot — is an automated program that fetches web pages, extracts their links, and queues new URLs to visit. Search engines use crawlers to discover and download content for their index. — the bot that actually fetches your pages — is called BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan)., the same way Google’s is GooglebotGooglebot is Google's web crawler — the software that fetches pages so Google can index and rank them. It comes in two variants, Googlebot Smartphone (primary, under mobile-first indexing) and Googlebot Desktop, and runs an evergreen Chromium renderer..

The wall most people hit first

Before any SEO, there’s a sign-up problem. Since May 2022, Baidu stopped accepting overseas phone numbers — you now need a Chinese mobile number to register an account. The interface is also Chinese-only. For a lot of teams outside China this means working with a China-based colleague, an agency, or a local partner just to get an account.

There may be a second gate too: one industry write-up says that in November 2023 Baidu started requiring real-name ID verification on the account itself, and that it’s only available to Chinese citizens. That’s from a single source, so treat it as “reportedly” rather than settled fact — but it’s worth knowing before you promise a client you can self-serve.

Getting set up (once you have an account)

1. Verify your site. Baidu gives you a code to prove you own the site — you either add a meta tag to your homepage or upload a small file to your server.
2. Submit your pages. You can submit URLs by hand, upload a sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing. (a list of your URLs), or use Baidu’s fast API push.
3. Check what got found. Baidu shows you which pages it has indexed and lets you test whether BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan). can reach a page.

The thing to remember

Submitting a page only helps Baidu find it faster — it does not guarantee the page gets indexed, and it doesn’t make you rank better. Baidu says this itself on its submission page.

Want the full version — the ICP-license confusion, the API push endpoint, why MIP is dead, and where Google Search ConsoleA free Google service that reports how a site performs in Google Search and surfaces problems with how Google crawls, indexes, and serves it. It's first-party data straight from Google — but you don't need it to appear in results. habits don’t transfer? Switch to the Advanced tab.

TL;DR — Baidu Webmaster ToolsThe free, first-party consoles search engines give site owners — Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools — to see how their pages are crawled, indexed, and ranked, and to fix problems. The legacy name is 'webmaster tools.' is the Baidu Search Resource Platform (百度搜索资源平台) at ziyuan.baidu.com. It provides site-management and Baidu-specific link-submission workflows, but submitting a URL is a discovery request rather than an indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. guarantee. Treat account and verification requirements as live platform constraints: confirm them in the current interface instead of relying on an older third-party setup guide.

What it is, and how I’d frame it

Baidu Webmaster Tools is Baidu’s free webmaster console — the closest thing China’s dominant search engine has to Google Search ConsoleA free Google service that reports how a site performs in Google Search and surfaces problems with how Google crawls, indexes, and serves it. It's first-party data straight from Google — but you don't need it to appear in results. or Bing Webmaster ToolsMicrosoft's free portal for monitoring and improving how a site appears in Bing search — the peer to Google Search Console, plus IndexNow instant indexing, richer backlink data, and keyword volumes. Because Bing's index also feeds Microsoft Copilot, it doubles as a window into AI-search visibility.. Current official branding is the Baidu Search Resource Platform (百度搜索资源平台) at ziyuan.baidu.com (“ziyuan” = 资源 = “resource”); older English coverage calls it “Baidu Zhanzhang” (站长, “webmaster”). The crawlerA crawler — also called a spider or bot — is an automated program that fetches web pages, extracts their links, and queues new URLs to visit. Search engines use crawlers to discover and download content for their index. behind it is BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan)..

Here’s the framing I’d push, because most guides bury it under screenshots: for a Western SEO, the interesting story of Baidu Webmaster Tools isn’t its feature list — it’s the access wall in front of it and the handful of places where Google Search ConsoleGoogle's free tool for monitoring crawling, indexing, and search performance. instincts actively mislead you. This is one page in this site’s international-SEO cluster; the market-specific SEO hub frames Baidu as one of its per-engine deep dives, and this is that deep dive.

Why it matters — with the market-share caveat

Baidu is dominant inside China and marginal outside it, and mixing those two up is a classic mistake. As of Marcus Pentzek’s May 2026 Search Engine Land piece, Baidu is “still the mobile heavyweight, with a ~70% mobile market share” and its app is “installed on over 724 million monthly active devices (as of early 2026).” All-device China figures are much more volatile — Alphametic’s frequently-updated tracker put Baidu at 53.47% (with Haosou 17.09%, Bing 16.93%, Google 2.07%) on 3 July 2026, but that page changes without version history, so date-stamp any figure you cite and re-check it before you publish. The takeaway: who actually needs this is anyone targeting mainland China specifically — not just anyone with Chinese-language content.

Requirements before you can even start

This is the part that surprises people, so I’ll be blunt about the sequence.

1. A Chinese mobile number (registration gate). Jademond’s setup guide states plainly that “As of May 2022, Baidu has ceased accepting foreign phone numbers for account sign-ups,” and Chinafy confirms the requirement the other way round: “Please note that in order to register for a Baidu Webmaster Tools account, you will require a Chinese Phone number.” This single requirement blocks most foreign SEOs from self-serving.

2. Real-name authentication (reportedly, Nov 2023). One write-up — Deep Digital China — reports that “on 11th Nov, Baidu webmaster tools officially announced that all Baidu accounts must take a real name authentication,” otherwise “websites under these accounts will have limited page inclusion and display,” adding that “this verification now is only available for Chinese.” I’ve only foundA 302 (\"Found\") is a temporary redirect: it forwards users to a new URL while telling search engines the original URL should stay in the index. It's a weak canonicalization signal, not the zero-equity dead end of SEO folklore. this in a single source and couldn’t corroborate it independently, so I’m flagging it as reportedly — but if true it’s a materially higher barrier than the phone number alone, and it’s under-covered in English-language SEO writing.

3. ICP license — know exactly what it gates. This is the most-confused point, so here’s the clean version: an ICP license is not a Baidu Webmaster Tools requirement and not a requirement to rank on Baidu. Chinafy states it directly — “An ICP license is not required to rank on Baidu, but it is required to legally host a website on servers in mainland China.” ICP is a hosting/access/speed lever behind the Great Firewall, plus it gates Baidu’s higher “VIP membership” tier. This site’s market-specific SEO hub already frames ICP as “effectively required… to be fully accessible” in mainland China, and that’s the position to stay consistent with. (Jademond has floated, with their own skepticism, that Baidu may be starting to flag non-ICP sites with on-SERP security warnings — treat that as an emerging signal to watch, not settled policy.)

Site verification methods

Two methods are consistently reported as current:

• HTML meta tag in your homepage <head>.
• File upload to your site root.

The third, CNAME/DNS verification, is where sources disagree — and this is a case where I’d trust the live product over any secondary guide. Jademond (a 2026-dated source) says Baidu “dropped that option” as of January 2023; Chinafy’s 2024-refreshed guide still lists CNAME as active. Check the live verification flow in ziyuan.baidu.com yourself before you plan around CNAME — don’t trust either write-up blindly. Jademond also notes it “may take up to 24 hours for your site to be verified.”

Submitting URLs — three tiers, not three synonyms

Baidu gives you three submission paths, and treating them as interchangeable is a mistake. They’re speed tiers:

1. Manual / Normal Inclusion (普通收录). Baidu’s own link-submission page describes the Normal Inclusion tool, verbatim in Chinese, as “网站主动向百度搜索推送 数据的工具” (a tool for webmasters to actively push data to Baidu Search) that “缩短爬虫发现网站链接时间” (shortens the time for the crawlerA crawler — also called a spider or bot — is an automated program that fetches web pages, extracts their links, and queues new URLs to visit. Search engines use crawlers to discover and download content for their index. to discover website links). The same page carries the disclaimer everyone should read before promising fast indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed.: “不保证一定能够收录您 提交的链接” — it does not guarantee that submitted links will be indexed — paired with “本工具可加快爬虫抓取速度，无法解决网站内容是否收录问题” (this tool can speed up crawlingCrawling is how search engines use automated bots (like Googlebot and Bingbot) to discover URLs and download pages. A page has to be crawlable to be indexed, but crawling on its own isn't a ranking factor., but cannot resolve whether site content gets indexed).

2. SitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing. submission. You add a sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing. under Resource Submission (资源提交) → Normal Inclusion. One real gotcha versus Google/Bing: per Michael Bonfils in Search Engine Land, Baidu “doesn’t support sitemap index files and requires you to set up sitemap submissions instead” — so you can’t hand it one index file pointing at many child sitemaps the way you would Google.

3. API push — the fastest method. Baidu’s proprietary push endpoint follows the pattern http://data.zz.baidu.com/urls?site=www.example.com&token=TOKEN, with the token from the API tab of the link-submission tool. This is where GSC/Bing habits break: Baidu does not use IndexNowIndexNow is an open push protocol that lets you instantly tell participating search engines (Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, and Yep) which URLs you've added, changed, or removed via a simple HTTP request — and one submission is shared across all of them. Google does not use it.. Where Bing, Yandex, and Naver share the open IndexNowIndexNow is an open push protocol that lets you instantly tell participating search engines (Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, and Yep) which URLs you've added, changed, or removed via a simple HTTP request — and one submission is shared across all of them. Google does not use it. protocol, Baidu kept its own endpoint. And there’s a penalty for misuse — per Jademond, “if you frequently resubmit old links, Baidu will lower the site’s quota and you may lose access to the API submission function.” So don’t spray already-indexed URLs at it.

Monitoring index status and crawl diagnostics

• Index cadence is slow and variable. Per Bonfils, Baidu’s “index data updates can range from once a day to as infrequently as once a week” and “new sites typically undergo a three-month assessment period, during which the index may remain unchanged.” If a brand-new site looks stuck for weeks in Baidu, that can be normal — don’t panic-resubmit (see the API quota penalty above).
• Crawl Diagnostics tests what BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan). actually sees. Per Jademond, “each website is allowed up to 70 diagnostic requests per week,” and “the tool displays up to the first 200KB of content visible to Baiduspider.” It’s good for catching robots.txtA plain-text file at the root of a host that tells crawlers which URLs they may and may not request. It controls crawling, not indexing — a blocked URL can still be indexed if it's linked from elsewhere. blocks, 404s from deleted/renamed pages without redirectsA redirect sends browsers and crawlers from a requested URL to a different one. An HTTP redirect specifically is a 3xx status code paired with a Location header; meta refresh and JavaScript redirects achieve a similar navigation without being a 3xx response themselves. Permanent redirects (301/308) are Google's signal the target should be canonical; temporary ones (302/303/307) aren't., login-wall “Access Denied” responses, TCP read/write errors, and — the one I’d watch — JavaScript-rendered content that never reaches the bot (e.g. pricing loaded client-side). Those numeric limits can change without notice, so spot-check them against the live tool.

Mobile optimization and the MIP legacy

You’ll still find older guides pushing MIP (Mobile Instant Pages), Baidu’s AMPAMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is an open-source web framework Google launched in 2015 to make mobile pages load near-instantly via restricted HTML/CSS/JS and CDN caching. It was never a ranking factor and, since June 2021, is no longer required for Top Stories.-like format. Don’t implement it. MIP launched in August 2016, and per Jademond, “Baidu suspended support of MIP in 2020, which means it is not a viable technique for speeding up your websites, any longer” — with the MIP cache retired around June 2020 and the full service discontinued by late September 2022. What matters for Baidu mobile today is ordinary page speed and reliable mainland delivery (which loops back to hosting and ICP), not a deprecated page format.

Where GSC fluency doesn’t transfer

The trap is assuming Baidu Webmaster Tools is just Search Console in Chinese. Per Bonfils, “Baidu’s offering is less sophisticated. It lacks some advanced features found in GSC, such as real-time rankings and suggestions for improving CTR.” Stack that with the differences above — a proprietary push API instead of IndexNow, no sitemap-index-file support, slower and less standardized index refresh, and the whole registration wall — and the honest verdict is that this is a different tool with a familiar shape, not a translated GSC. If you work Baidu the way you work Google, the mismatches will bite you.

For the broader picture, see international SEOInternational SEO is the practice of optimizing a site so search engines understand which countries and/or languages it targets, and serve the right version to each user. It spans URL structure, hreflang, and on-page localization., the market-specific SEO hub, and the sibling engine tools — Bing Webmaster ToolsMicrosoft's free portal for monitoring and improving how a site appears in Bing search — the peer to Google Search Console, plus IndexNow instant indexing, richer backlink data, and keyword volumes. Because Bing's index also feeds Microsoft Copilot, it doubles as a window into AI-search visibility., plus Yandex Webmaster and Naver Search AdvisorNaver Search Advisor (searchadvisor.naver.com) is Naver's free webmaster tool — the Korean-market equivalent of Google Search Console — for verifying site ownership, requesting that Naver crawl and index URLs, submitting sitemaps and RSS feeds, and diagnosing why pages aren't showing in Naver search. in this same cluster.

AI summary

A condensed take on the Advanced version:

• What it is: Baidu Webmaster ToolsThe free, first-party consoles search engines give site owners — Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools — to see how their pages are crawled, indexed, and ranked, and to fix problems. The legacy name is 'webmaster tools.' = the Baidu Search Resource Platform (百度搜索资源平台) at ziyuan.baidu.com — China’s Google Search ConsoleA free Google service that reports how a site performs in Google Search and surfaces problems with how Google crawls, indexes, and serves it. It's first-party data straight from Google — but you don't need it to appear in results. equivalent; crawlerA crawler — also called a spider or bot — is an automated program that fetches web pages, extracts their links, and queues new URLs to visit. Search engines use crawlers to discover and download content for their index. is BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan)..
• The real blocker is access, not SEO: registration requires a Chinese mobile number (since May 2022, no more overseas numbers); one source reports a real-name ID authentication gate added Nov 2023, reportedly citizens-only — treat as reportedly, single-sourced.
• ICP license gates mainland hosting/access (and a VIP tier), not tool registration or basic ranking eligibility. Don’t conflate the three.
• Verify by meta tag or file upload. CNAME/DNS status is contested across sources — check the live flow.
• Three submission tiers, not synonyms: manual Normal Inclusion (普通收录), sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing. (no sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing.-indexStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed.-file support), and the proprietary API push at data.zz.baidu.com. Resubmitting already-indexed URLs can shrink your quota.
• Baidu does not use IndexNowIndexNow is an open push protocol that lets you instantly tell participating search engines (Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, and Yep) which URLs you've added, changed, or removed via a simple HTTP request — and one submission is shared across all of them. Google does not use it. — it kept its own push endpoint (unlike Bing, Yandex, Naver).
• No guarantees: Baidu’s own page says submission speeds crawlingCrawling is how search engines use automated bots (like Googlebot and Bingbot) to discover URLs and download pages. A page has to be crawlable to be indexed, but crawling on its own isn't a ranking factor., not indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed.; new sites get a ~3-month assessment window and slow, variable index refresh.
• MIP is dead (suspended 2020) — ignore older guides that still promote it.
• GSC fluency doesn’t transfer 1:1: reportedly “less sophisticated,” lacking real-time rankings and CTR-improvement suggestions.

Official documentation

Primary-source product pages. Note that ziyuan.baidu.com is a Chinese-language, largely login-gated platform, so official English documentation is thin — most of the “docs” ecosystem for Baidu lives behind login or in Baidu Search Academy (搜索学堂), which resists direct fetching.

Baidu

• Baidu Search Resource Platform (ziyuan.baidu.com) — the console itself (Chinese; account required to do anything).
• Link Submission / Normal Inclusion (普通收录) — the URL/sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing./API push submission tool, with Baidu’s own no-guarantee disclaimer.
• Baidu Search Academy (搜索学堂) — Baidu’s official help/education hub (Chinese).

For comparison (Google / Bing)

• Google Search Console — the tool most readers are comparing Baidu Webmaster ToolsThe free, first-party consoles search engines give site owners — Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools — to see how their pages are crawled, indexed, and ranked, and to fix problems. The legacy name is 'webmaster tools.' against.
• Bing Webmaster Tools — About — the other major engine console, and the one that does use IndexNowIndexNow is an open push protocol that lets you instantly tell participating search engines (Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, and Yep) which URLs you've added, changed, or removed via a simple HTTP request — and one submission is shared across all of them. Google does not use it..
• IndexNow — the shared push protocol Baidu notably does not participate in.

Quotes from the source

Baidu has no public-facing webmaster-relations spokesperson comparable to Google’s Search Central team or Bing’s Fabrice Canel, so there are no on-record “Baidu rep” quotes here. What follows is (1) verbatim Baidu product-page text in the original Chinese with an English paraphrase, and (2) named third-party practitioners with deep Baidu-specific expertise. Where a passage was only paraphrased in my sources, I present it as paraphrase — not in quotation marks.

Baidu’s own Link Submission page (original Chinese verbatim + English paraphrase; the page is a JS-rendered app, so no text-fragment deep link is possible)

• “普通收录工具是网站主动向百度搜索推送数据的工具” — English paraphrase: the Normal Inclusion tool is a tool for webmasters to actively push data to Baidu Search. Source page
• “缩短爬虫发现网站链接时间” — English paraphrase: it shortens the time for the crawlerA crawler — also called a spider or bot — is an automated program that fetches web pages, extracts their links, and queues new URLs to visit. Search engines use crawlers to discover and download content for their index. to discover website links. Source page
• “不保证一定能够收录您提交的链接” — English paraphrase: Baidu does not guarantee that submitted links will be indexedStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed.. Source page
• “本工具可加快爬虫抓取速度，无法解决网站内容是否收录问题” — English paraphrase: this tool can speed up crawlingCrawling is how search engines use automated bots (like Googlebot and Bingbot) to discover URLs and download pages. A page has to be crawlable to be indexed, but crawling on its own isn't a ranking factor., but cannot resolve whether site content gets indexed. Source page

Michael Bonfils — comparing Baidu Webmaster ToolsThe free, first-party consoles search engines give site owners — Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools — to see how their pages are crawled, indexed, and ranked, and to fix problems. The legacy name is 'webmaster tools.' to Google Search ConsoleA free Google service that reports how a site performs in Google Search and surfaces problems with how Google crawls, indexes, and serves it. It's first-party data straight from Google — but you don't need it to appear in results.

• “Baidu’s offering is less sophisticated. It lacks some advanced features foundA 302 (\"Found\") is a temporary redirect: it forwards users to a new URL while telling search engines the original URL should stay in the index. It's a weak canonicalization signal, not the zero-equity dead end of SEO folklore. in GSC, such as real-time rankings and suggestions for improving CTR.” — Michael Bonfils, Search Engine Land. Jump to quote

Marcus Pentzek — Partner/Director of SEO at Jademond Digital, co-author of SEO for China

• “Baidu still drives B2B demand, while AI and ecommerce platforms reshape discovery.” — Marcus Pentzek, Search Engine Land. Jump to quote
• “Baidu SEOBaidu SEO is the practice of optimizing a website to rank in Baidu, mainland China's dominant search engine. It differs structurally from Google SEO: hosting location behind the Great Firewall, an ICP filing to legally host on mainland servers, Simplified Chinese content, Baidu's preference for its own properties, and its own crawler (Baiduspider) and webmaster console (Ziyuan) all matter more than any translated Google playbook. isn’t dead; your website just isn’t the sole focus of web search anymore.” — Marcus Pentzek, Search Engine Land. Jump to quote

On the Nov 2023 real-name-authentication requirement (single source — present as reportedly, not settled)

• “On 11th Nov, Baidu webmaster tools officially announced that all Baidu accounts must take a real name authentication.” — Deep Digital China (author: Serena). Read the post

Which Baidu submission method should I use?

Baidu’s three submission paths aren’t interchangeable — they’re speed tiers, and one of them can actively cost you quota if you misuse it. Walk through it. (First make sure you can even register: no Chinese mobile number means none of this is reachable yet.)

SOP: Getting a site into Baidu Webmaster Tools

A repeatable first-run procedure. Steps 1–2 are the ones that stop most non-Chinese teams, so confirm them before you promise a timeline.

1. Confirm you can register. You need a Chinese mobile number (overseas numbers have been rejected since May 2022). If you don’t have one, line up a China-based colleague, agency, or partner now — this is the real blocker, not the SEO. Be aware of the reportedly Chinese-citizen-only real-name ID authentication step (Nov 2023) as a possible second gate.
2. Sort out hosting/ICP separately. An ICP license isn’t needed to register, but for reliable mainland-China delivery behind the Great Firewall it’s effectively required — treat it as a parallel workstream, not a blocker to opening the account.
3. Create the account at ziyuan.baidu.com and add your site (property).
4. Verify ownership. Use the HTML meta tag in your homepage <head> or the file upload to your root. Check whether CNAME/DNS is offered in the live flow before planning around it — sources disagree on whether it still exists. Allow up to ~24 hours for verification.
5. Submit your sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing. under Resource Submission (资源提交) → Normal Inclusion. Remember Baidu doesn’t accept sitemap index filesA sitemap index is a sitemap of sitemaps — a single file that lists your other sitemap files instead of listing URLs directly. It's how large sites stay under the 50,000-URL / 50MB-per-sitemap limit while submitting just one file. — submit sitemapsA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing. directly.
6. Set up API push for new/changed URLs: grab the tokenA token is the smallest unit of text (or image/audio/video) an LLM processes — roughly 4 characters, or about ¾ of an English word. A context window is the maximum number of tokens (input plus output) a model can hold at once, like its short-term memory. from the API tab and POST to data.zz.baidu.com/urls. Only push genuinely new or updated URLs — never already-indexedStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. ones (quota penalty).
7. Run a Crawl Diagnostics check on a few key templates to confirm BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan). sees your real content (watch for JS-rendered content that doesn’t appear; you get ~70 checks/week and the first ~200KB of the page).
8. Set expectations on timing. Index refresh is slow and variable, and new sites reportedly sit in a ~3-month assessment window — so don’t panic-resubmit if indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. looks flat early on.

Common mistakes, and what to do instead

Assuming you can register from outside China with your normal phone number. Why it’s wrong: Baidu stopped accepting overseas phone numbers in May 2022; registration needs a Chinese mobile number (and, reportedly, Chinese-citizen real-name ID auth since Nov 2023). Do instead: arrange a China-based colleague, agency, or partner to hold/verify the account before you scope the work.

Thinking you need an ICP license just to use Baidu Webmaster ToolsThe free, first-party consoles search engines give site owners — Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools — to see how their pages are crawled, indexed, and ranked, and to fix problems. The legacy name is 'webmaster tools.' or to rank. Why it’s wrong: ICP is not a tool-registration or basic-ranking requirement — it gates legal mainland-China hosting (and a higher VIP tier). Conflating “register,” “rank,” and “host legally” is the core myth. Do instead: treat ICP as a hosting/access/speed lever handled in parallel; don’t let it block opening the account.

Treating sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing., manual, and API push as interchangeable. Why it’s wrong: they’re speed tiers, not synonyms. API push is fastest; sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing. is passive; manual is slowest — and Baidu doesn’t support sitemap index filesA sitemap index is a sitemap of sitemaps — a single file that lists your other sitemap files instead of listing URLs directly. It's how large sites stay under the 50,000-URL / 50MB-per-sitemap limit while submitting just one file.. Do instead: sitemap for the baseline set, API push for genuinely new/changed URLs, manual only for one-offs.

Spamming API push with URLs Baidu already indexedStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed.. Why it’s wrong: Baidu lowers your daily quota — and can revoke API access — if you frequently resubmit old links. Do instead: only push new or updated URLs; let the sitemap carry the stable set.

Sending IndexNowIndexNow is an open push protocol that lets you instantly tell participating search engines (Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, and Yep) which URLs you've added, changed, or removed via a simple HTTP request — and one submission is shared across all of them. Google does not use it. pings and expecting Baidu to pick them up. Why it’s wrong: Baidu doesn’t participate in IndexNowIndexNow is an open push protocol that lets you instantly tell participating search engines (Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, and Yep) which URLs you've added, changed, or removed via a simple HTTP request — and one submission is shared across all of them. Google does not use it. — it kept its own proprietary endpoint. Bing, Yandex, and Naver share IndexNow; Baidu doesn’t. Do instead: use Baidu’s data.zz.baidu.com API push specifically for Baidu.

Implementing MIP for Baidu mobile speed. Why it’s wrong: Baidu suspended MIP support in 2020 (cache retired ~June 2020, full service gone by late Sept 2022); older guides that still recommend it are stale. Do instead: focus on ordinary page speed and reliable mainland delivery.

Panic-resubmitting a new site that looks stuck in the index. Why it’s wrong: new sites reportedly go through a ~3-month assessment window with slow, variable refresh — flat early indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. can be normal, and aggressive resubmission can cost you API quota. Do instead: submit once cleanly, monitor, and wait out the assessment period.

Assuming Google Search ConsoleA free Google service that reports how a site performs in Google Search and surfaces problems with how Google crawls, indexes, and serves it. It's first-party data straight from Google — but you don't need it to appear in results. workflows transfer 1:1. Why it’s wrong: Baidu Webmaster Tools is reportedly less sophisticated — no real-time rankings, no CTR-improvement suggestions, different index cadence. Do instead: treat it as a different tool with a familiar shape and verify each feature against the live console.

Baidu Webmaster Tools troubleshooting

I can’t create an account

Likely cause: you’re using a non-Chinese phone number, or the account is hitting the reportedly China-only real-name verification gate. Fix: confirm access with a China-based colleague, agency, or partner before doing any technical setup. An ICP license does not solve the account-registration problem.

Verification keeps failing

Likely cause: the meta tag is missing from the rendered homepage, the verification file isn’t reachable at the exact root URL, or you planned around a CNAME option that isn’t offered in the live console. Fix: request the homepage or verification file without authentication, redirectsA redirect sends browsers and crawlers from a requested URL to a different one. An HTTP redirect specifically is a 3xx status code paired with a Location header; meta refresh and JavaScript redirects achieve a similar navigation without being a 3xx response themselves. Permanent redirects (301/308) are Google's signal the target should be canonical; temporary ones (302/303/307) aren't., or botA crawler — also called a spider or bot — is an automated program that fetches web pages, extracts their links, and queues new URLs to visit. Search engines use crawlers to discover and download content for their index. blocking; then use whichever method the current Baidu flow actually presents. Allow for the reported verification delay before replacing a method that is correctly deployed.

Submitted URLs aren’t being indexed

Likely cause: submission improved discovery, but the pages still failed Baidu’s indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. decision—or a new site is still in its slow assessment period. Fix: use Crawl Diagnostics to confirm BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan). receives a successful response and meaningful rendered content. Check robots rules, server errors, thin or duplicate pagesThe same or very similar primary content reachable at more than one URL. There's no general duplicate content penalty — the real costs are possible signal dilution, the wrong URL getting chosen, and less-efficient crawling., and mainland delivery. Do not repeatedly push unchanged, already-known URLs; that can cost API quota and still does not guarantee indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed..

API push returns an error or the quota has fallen

Likely cause: the site/tokenA token is the smallest unit of text (or image/audio/video) an LLM processes — roughly 4 characters, or about ¾ of an English word. A context window is the maximum number of tokens (input plus output) a model can hold at once, like its short-term memory. pair is wrong, the request body isn’t one URL per line, or old URLs have been resubmitted too often. Fix: copy the endpoint and token from the property’s live API tab, send only URLs belonging to that property, and limit the feed to genuinely new or updated pages. Log the response so a failed push cannot look like a successful deployment.

Baiduspider sees a shell instead of the page

Likely cause: the useful content depends on client-side JavaScript or a resource blocked from BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan).. Fix: compare Crawl Diagnostics output with the browser page, then server-render the essential copy and ensure its required resources are reachable. Test the template, not just one URL.

Baidu setup and submission checklist

• Confirm a Chinese mobile number and any live real-name verification requirement before promising access.
• Separate the account-access decision from the ICP/mainland-hosting decision; they solve different problems.
• Add the correct site property and verify with a currently offered method.
• Fetch the verification URL without cookies and confirm it returns the expected tag or file to an ordinary request.
• Submit the site’s XML sitemapsAn XML sitemap is a UTF-8 file listing the canonical URLs on your site (with optional lastmod) so search engines can discover and prioritize them. It's a discovery and diagnostic aid, not a guarantee of indexing — and Google ignores its priority and changefreq tags. directly; don’t assume a sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing. indexStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. works.
• Configure API push with the exact property and tokenA token is the smallest unit of text (or image/audio/video) an LLM processes — roughly 4 characters, or about ¾ of an English word. A context window is the maximum number of tokens (input plus output) a model can hold at once, like its short-term memory. shown in the console.
• Push only genuinely new or changed URLs, one per line.
• Store the response body, accepted count, and remaining quota for every push.
• Run Crawl Diagnostics on representative page templates and verify the main content is visible to BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan)..
• Monitor index and crawl trends patiently; submission speeds discovery but never guarantees indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed..
• Re-check the live Chinese-language UI before relying on a translated guide or an old MIP-era workflow.

The ACCESS framework

Use ACCESS to keep a Baidu rollout in the right order:

1. A — Account access: secure the Chinese mobile number and resolve any live identity gate first.
2. C — Connectivity: decide whether mainland hosting and ICP are needed for your audience; test how the site actually loads inside China.
3. C — Confirmation: verify ownership with a method the current console supports.
4. E — Entry points: give Baidu a stable sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing. baseline and API-push only fresh or changed URLs.
5. S — SpiderA crawler — also called a spider or bot — is an automated program that fetches web pages, extracts their links, and queues new URLs to visit. Search engines use crawlers to discover and download content for their index. view: use Crawl Diagnostics to see what BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan). receives, especially on JavaScript-heavy templates.
6. S — Status: monitor crawl and indexStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. movement without confusing submission with guaranteed inclusion or ranking.

The order matters. Better submission automation cannot rescue an inaccessible account, poor mainland delivery, or pages whose useful content never reaches BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan)..

Baidu Webmaster Tools cheat sheet

Three rules to remember: submission helps discovery, not ranking; it does not guarantee indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed.; and MIP is obsolete.

Safer Baidu API-push scripts

Copy the authenticated endpoint from the property’s live API tab. Keep the tokenA token is the smallest unit of text (or image/audio/video) an LLM processes — roughly 4 characters, or about ¾ of an English word. A context window is the maximum number of tokens (input plus output) a model can hold at once, like its short-term memory. out of source control and send one absolute URL per line.

# BAIDU_PUSH_ENDPOINT should include the site and token supplied by Baidu.
# urls-to-push.txt should contain only genuinely new or updated URLs.
curl --fail-with-body \
  --request POST \
  --header 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  --data-binary '@urls-to-push.txt' \
  "$BAIDU_PUSH_ENDPOINT"

Build the input from a deployment manifest rather than the entire sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing.. This small shell filter removes blanks and duplicate lines before the push:

awk 'NF && !seen[$0]++' changed-urls.txt > urls-to-push.txt

Treat a network-level success as incomplete evidence: save and inspect Baidu’s JSON response, including the accepted count and remaining quota. Never print the endpoint in CI logs because its query stringThe `?key=value` data tacked onto the end of a URL after a question mark — used for tracking, sessions, filtering, sorting, and search — and one of the biggest sources of duplicate URLs and wasted crawling in SEO. contains the account token.

Tools for a Baidu search workflow

• Baidu Search Resource Platform — property verification, URL submission, crawl and indexStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. reporting.
• Baidu Crawl Diagnostics — fetch representative templates as BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan). and compare the returned content with what users receive.
• Baidu API push — deployment-time notification for genuinely new and updated URLs; use the property-specific endpoint from the console.
• A China-based network test — check DNS, latency, blocked resources, and the rendered experience from the audience’s actual market.
• Server logsLog file analysis is reading a web server's raw access logs to see exactly which URLs search engine crawlers actually requested, when, how often, and what status code they got. Unlike crawl tools or Search Console, logs are the unsampled, ground-truth record of what really happened. — confirm BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan). requests and response codes at URL level when the console’s aggregates are not enough.
• A crawlerA crawler — also called a spider or bot — is an automated program that fetches web pages, extracts their links, and queues new URLs to visit. Search engines use crawlers to discover and download content for their index. that can render JavaScriptMaking sure search engines can crawl, render, and index content that depends on JavaScript. — compare raw HTML, rendered HTML, canonicals, status codes, and internal linksAn internal link is a hyperlink from one page on a website to another page on the same website. Internal links help search engines discover your pages and pass ranking signals (PageRank and anchor-text context) between them. before blaming Baidu for an inaccessible template.

Test yourself: Baidu Webmaster Tools

Five quick questions on Baidu Webmaster ToolsThe free, first-party consoles search engines give site owners — Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools — to see how their pages are crawled, indexed, and ranked, and to fix problems. The legacy name is 'webmaster tools.' (the Baidu Search Resource Platform). Pick an answer for each, then check.

Resources worth your time

My related writing

I haven’t published a dedicated Baidu Webmaster ToolsThe free, first-party consoles search engines give site owners — Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools — to see how their pages are crawled, indexed, and ranked, and to fix problems. The legacy name is 'webmaster tools.' piece, but the international-SEO fundamentals that decide whether any of this matters — figuring out which engine your market actually uses — are covered in my technical-SEO work.

• The Beginner’s Guide to Technical SEO — where crawlingCrawling is how search engines use automated bots (like Googlebot and Bingbot) to discover URLs and download pages. A page has to be crawlable to be indexed, but crawling on its own isn't a ranking factor., indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed., and submission tools fit in the bigger picture.
• Patrick Stox — author archive — more of my technical- and international-SEO writing.

From around the industry

• How China’s fragmented search ecosystem is reshaping SEO in 2026 (Search Engine Land) — Marcus Pentzek on Baidu’s ~70% mobile share, 724M monthly active devices, and DeepSeek/Ernie integration.
• Baidu vs. Google: Navigating the SEO landscape in 2024 (Search Engine Land) — Michael Bonfils on how Baidu Webmaster Tools compares to GSCA free Google service that reports how a site performs in Google Search and surfaces problems with how Google crawls, indexes, and serves it. It's first-party data straight from Google — but you don't need it to appear in results., index cadence, the 3-month new-site window, and no sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing.-index-file support.
• How to Set Up Baidu Webmaster Tools Step-By-Step in 2026 (Jademond) — the May 2022 phone-number policy, January 2023 CNAME-removal claim, and 24-hour verification window.
• Baidu API Submission: Faster Indexing Without XML Sitemaps (Jademond) — the API-push quota-penalty for resubmitting old links.
• Crawl Diagnostics (Jademond) — the 70-requests/week and 200KB limits and what the tool catches.
• Do you need an ICP license to rank on Baidu? (Chinafy) — the clean statement that ICP gates mainland hosting, not ranking.
• How to Set Up Your Baidu Webmaster Account in 2024 (Chinafy) — verbatim Chinese-mobile-number requirement and the May 2022 policy.
• Baidu MIP (Jademond glossary) — MIP’s 2016 launch and 2020 suspension, so nobody implements it today.

Baidu Webmaster Tools (Ziyuan)

Baidu Webmaster Tools — officially the Baidu Search Resource Platform (百度搜索资源平台) at ziyuan.baidu.com — is Baidu's free webmaster console: verify a site, submit URLs and sitemaps (including the fast API push), and monitor indexing and crawl diagnostics. Since May 2022 registration needs a Chinese mobile number.

Related: Baiduspider, International SEO

Baidu Webmaster Tools (Ziyuan)

Baidu Webmaster ToolsThe free, first-party consoles search engines give site owners — Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools — to see how their pages are crawled, indexed, and ranked, and to fix problems. The legacy name is 'webmaster tools.' is the free webmaster console for Baidu, China’s dominant search engine — the practical equivalent of Google Search ConsoleA free Google service that reports how a site performs in Google Search and surfaces problems with how Google crawls, indexes, and serves it. It's first-party data straight from Google — but you don't need it to appear in results. or Bing Webmaster ToolsMicrosoft's free portal for monitoring and improving how a site appears in Bing search — the peer to Google Search Console, plus IndexNow instant indexing, richer backlink data, and keyword volumes. Because Bing's index also feeds Microsoft Copilot, it doubles as a window into AI-search visibility.. Its current official name is the Baidu Search Resource Platform (百度搜索资源平台), it lives at ziyuan.baidu.com (“ziyuan” = 资源 = “resource”), and older English coverage still calls it “Baidu Zhanzhang” (站长 = “webmaster”) or simply “Baidu Webmaster Tools.”

It does the jobs you’d expect: verify site ownership, submit URLs and sitemapsA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing. for crawlingCrawling is how search engines use automated bots (like Googlebot and Bingbot) to discover URLs and download pages. A page has to be crawlable to be indexed, but crawling on its own isn't a ranking factor., and monitor indexStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed. status and crawl diagnostics for BaiduspiderBaiduspider is the web crawler operated by Baidu, China's dominant search engine — the Chinese-market equivalent of Googlebot. It discovers, crawls, and indexes pages for Baidu Search, and you manage its access via robots.txt and Baidu's own console, Baidu Search Resource Platform (Ziyuan).. Baidu offers three submission methods — manual/“Normal Inclusion” (普通收录), sitemapA sitemap is a file that lists the pages, images, videos, and other files on your site so search engines can discover them. It helps discovery, but submitting a sitemap doesn't guarantee crawling or indexing., and a proprietary API push at data.zz.baidu.com — none of which guarantees indexingStoring a crawled page in the search index so it can appear in results. Crawled is not the same as indexed — Google selects what to keep, and indexing isn't guaranteed.; Baidu’s own link-submission page says the tool shortens discovery time but does not guarantee that submitted links get indexed.

The wall most non-Chinese teams hit is registration: since May 2022, Baidu stopped accepting overseas phone numbers, so you need a Chinese mobile number to create an account. One industry source also reports a real-name authentication requirement added in November 2023, restricted to Chinese citizens — treat that as single-sourced. An ICP license is a hosting/access lever for mainland China, not a requirement to register for the tool. Baidu also runs its own push protocol rather than the shared IndexNowIndexNow is an open push protocol that lets you instantly tell participating search engines (Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, and Yep) which URLs you've added, changed, or removed via a simple HTTP request — and one submission is shared across all of them. Google does not use it. standard that Bing, Yandex, and Naver use.

Related: Baiduspider, International SEO