How can cosmetic brands gain visibility through WeChat Search and SEO?

WeChat is the king of social media in China. Like WhatsApp in Western countries, WeChat is the favorite instant messaging tool in China, and not only because its ecosystem is much more complex than that of WhatsApp. Wechat app has many functions that are used daily by millions of Chinese (and not only!).

Today, we want to talk about the great importance of the WeChat Search Engine. What is WeChat Search Tool; and how your cosmetic brand can do SEO to gain visibility on Wechat. Let’s find out!

Why is it so important to do WeChat SEO?

Search Engine Optimization is an important field any brand should invest in if it want to be immediately found on the internet. In China, search engines guarantee less visibility than western ones, but this does not mean investing in WeChat SEO in China is ineffective. In fact, consider that:

  • WeChat is the most popular app in China (1.26 billion MAU as of 2022)
  • People spend more than 4 hours per day on WeChat
  • WeChat-related Search Engine Sogou is the second most used search engine in China (after Baidu which is called Chinese Google) and is expected to close the gap in the near future
  • Sogou was ranked the third most preferred mobile search engine with about 32% of market shares but surpassed Baidu by a wide margin in terms of the daily browsing time spent by each visitor which equaled more than 38 minutes
  • Chinese usually look for information about products, brands, and their respective official accounts or mini-program through the WeChat search function

What is the WeChat Search Tool?

It’s a search engine function that shows all the information present in the WeChat/Tencent environment. It is very easy to use, you just open the app and click the “Search Feature” symbol in the upper right-hand corner in WeChat interface.

Otherwise, you can find the search tool in the “Discover” section:

What type of content is displayed in the Wechat Search Tool:

  • Official Account & Mini-Program
  • Brand Zone
  • WeChat Moment posts
  • H5 brochure & Official Account articles
  • Products & Third-Party services (Zhihu, Douban, Mafengwo, etc)
  • eCommerce links
  • Music through QQ (that belongs to Tencent)
  • Wechat Channels
  • Q&A
  • Wiki
  • Stickers
  • Top stories found in Sogou search engine

So, as you can see, the search bar on WeChat can bring search results not only from WeChat content, but also from outside platforms and services. Such integrations help WeChat to slowly turn into its owh search engine. It’s good to know how it works and how to use it best, so that your brand can get the best results and valuable data out of the platform.

How can cosmetic brands do WeChat SEO?

Cosmetics are among the favorite products Chinese people love to follow on social media. This is because aesthetics is closely linked to this industry and cosmetics brands promote their products through beautiful images.

Cosmetics brands cannot omit to use WeChat for nurturing their audience, and, if they already have a WeChat strategy, they cannot forget to include WeChat SEO. Also, because some operations not only are very effective but also free, it is obviously better to leverage all the available tools.

The 5 fundamental steps to do SEO in WeChat search engine

Apart from obvious steps that brands take on WeChat, such as starting Official Accounts, publishing posts in WeChat Moment function and activating users by many different call-to-action types of content and mini-programs features, there are some steps that can give you better visibility in WeChat search results:

#1 Optimize your Wechat account ID

The account ID must include the brand name and not numbers or characters that make it difficult to search.

#2 Set up your Wechat Brand Zone: dedicated account space on Wechat search

Brands that own at least an Official WeChat Account can set up a Brand Zone on WeChat. A Brand Zone is a space dedicated to a brand that appears at the top of the WeChat Search when the user digits certain keywords.

According to the popularity of a brand on WeChat, this has different privileges. For example, the brand zone of a very popular brand can include a top banner, four modules, and be linked to five SEO keywords that helps the account to be searched more.

To be more specific, a brand can belong to categories A, B, or C:

  • Brands belonging to class C have daily traffic superior to 100 users, an “impression CTR” higher than 30%, a WeChat verification, and an official account registered at least 6 months before. These brands can show the logo, an introduction, and a simplified menu on their brand zone. The brand zone is linked to only one SEO keyword.

  • Brands belonging to class B have daily traffic superior to 800 users and an impression CTR higher than 50%, own a WeChat verified account, and a brand logo verification. Their official account should have a lifetime of at least one year. The brand zones of these brands enable three modules and be linked to three SEO keywords.

  • Brands belonging to class A have an Official account for at least one year, a brand logo, and a WeChat verification, participate in the WeChat promotion activity, have traffic superior to 1000, and a brand zone daily traffic higher than 800 users.  Class A brands can include a top banner, four modules, and other marketing modules on their brand zone. The number of SEO keywords is five.

How to optimize the brand zone

In a Brand Zone, a brand can add links to its mini-programs, online sales channels, FAQs, live-streaming content, etc. What we suggest is to show the best products and more useful information for the users.

In addition, if you are a CLASS A brand, never forget to cure the aesthetic of this space, that will attract contacts searching for the brand in WeChat search engine.

#3 Post regular content on your Wechat official account

To continually post on WeChat with a keyword strategy is another fundamental part of your WeChat Search Engine Optimization. Consider that at the top of WeChat search results you will always find the most recent news and top stories, at the second place the mention of your friends, then a list of articles from Official Accounts, channels activities, photos, videos, Sogou search engine results, and the results of other belonging to Tencent social media at the end.

Posting regularly multiplies your chances of appearing more often in search results and top stories within the app. WeChat Search works similarly to other search engines, as its search function and search bar are modelled on them, so you can take many actions you do for Google or Baidu SEO and do them in WeChat.

#4 Have content on a third-party source/channel

Never forget to do PR and collaborate with influencers. Working with other influential third parties is important since their content usually ranks high thanks to the number of views and interactions they reach.

Channels, in particular, are a very powerful marketing tool that can help you in WeChat Search as well. Videos are the most appreciated type of content in 2022 and live streaming is even more.

WeChat is experimenting with live streaming through its channels function and it seems to work very well. Posts in the channel section can include links to your online store, WeChat articles, and mini-programs. A user can even complete a purchase while watching live streaming, as the details and link to the store appear on the screen, so users can tap on them and go directly to the store.

#5 Mini-program linked search function

Another important result that must appear in the Brand Zone definitely is the link to the mini-program. Mini-programs are becoming more and more important to engage users.

Most of the time mini-program is THE feature, that brands want to showcase, as it has the most options, introduces the brand, its products and all the novelties. Therefore, it’s good to add it to the Brand Zone for search result optimalization.

We hope that now you know that WeChat SEO is important!

Looking at the SEO of international cosmetics brands is evident how innovation together with aesthetics are perfectly combined to gain the attention of potential customers, but not only.

Updating your Brand Zone or adding new spaces and tools is necessary to engage your loyal customers. Because remember that your competitors in China are surely doing it.

What is also important is to have a good WeChat strategy that includes WeChat SEO and plan actions beforehand, so you will get the best results.

Do you need help with WeChat strategy?

As we said, it’s best to have a suitable WeChat strategy that includes WeChat Search actions, so that you can get the most out of the platform and have a hold on all the functions and accounts you’re using.

WeChat is a huge ecosystem and it’s not so easy to understand all the features and data of the platform without a know-how and experience.

marketing agency china contact us

GMA is a China digital agency that can help you reach your goals and become a well-known brand in China. We have over 10 years of experience working with more than 600 brands.

Here are some of our WeChat Services:

As WeChat is an essential tool in China, we can admit, that we know exactly what to do on the platform to get the results from WeChat (and WeChat Search). And of course, if you need other services apart from WeChat, we are here to help!

Our cosmetics case studies:

Don’t hesitate to leave us a comment or contact us to discuss your project! We invite you to a free consultation, so that our experts can discover your brand and see how we can help you become big in China!

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