Create and manage search engine accounts

Create a Baidu engine account

An engine account is the object that connects Search Ads 360 with one of the supported search engines. Each engine account specifies the ID or number of the account that it's connecting to, a date on which Search Ads 360 starts managing the account, and other settings that are specific to the type of engine.

Special permissions required

Only an agency manager or advertiser manager can create an engine account. 

How to create a Baidu engine account

Here's an overview of how to create a Baidu engine account (the details appear later in this article):

  1. Contact Baidu and register an account with API access.
  2. In Search Ads 360:
    1. Create a Baidu search engine account.
    2. Run your first sync to import existing campaigns from the engine.
    3. If you're copying or uploading keywords into your new account, review keyword landing page URLs to make sure they're valid on Baidu.
    4. View the engine account status to confirm that the account is able to serve ads.

Register an account with Baidu

Before you can create a Baidu engine account in Search Ads 360, you'll need to contact Baidu and register for a Baidu account with API access. When registering for a Baidu account, we strongly recommend that you partner with an agency or reseller that is either located in China or that has experience with setting up Baidu accounts. The Baidu web site provides a list of authorized dealers.

The following information is a reference for the agency or reseller who sets up your Baidu account:

Register for a Baidu account with API access

To register for Baidu account with API access, follow these steps (see details below):

  1. Register for a Baidu account.
    You'll need a Chinese mobile phone that can receive SMS messages for this step.

  2. Register for Baidu API access.

  3. Request Baidu approval for the domain in Search Ads 360 clickserver URLs.

Register a Baidu account

  1. Visit the Baidu Account Registration page.

  2. Enter a username and password.

  3. Enter a Chinese mobile phone number to receive a verification code via SMS.

  4. Enter the verification code that Baidu sends to the phone.

  5. Enter your contact name, business name, website name, website URL/domain, business address and phone number.

    Important:

    • The website URL/domain you enter here is the only domain that will be accepted for your keyword and ad landing pages.

    • The business address you enter determines how you pay for activity in the account. For example, if you enter a US address, Baidu may direct you to use a Chinese reseller or agency instead of using your own Chinese credit card.

Baidu displays a confirmation page that indicates your account is ready to use.

Register for Baidu API access

Contact your Baidu Account Manager to initiate the API activation process. Baidu may evaluate your account based on spend, keyword volume, and developer capabilities to determine if you qualify for API access. The Baidu help center (Chinese) describes the criteria used to determine if you qualify for API access and the activation process itself.

When Baidu notifies you that API access has been activated, sign into the Profile (个人中心） section of the Baidu Business Development Center to access your API token. You’ll need to enter the 32-character string into the field named Account API token when creating your Baidu engine account in Search Ads 360.

Request Baidu approval for the domain in Search Ads 360 clickserver URLs

Contact your Baidu Account Manager to have clickserve.dartsearch.net added to your list of authorized tracking domains. This is the domain named in Search Ads 360 clickserver URLs, which Search Ads 360 generates and traffics to track performance metrics for your keywords.

Create a Baidu engine account in Search Ads 360

After Baidu approves your request and creates an account, you can add a Baidu engine account in Search Ads 360.

To add a Baidu engine account to an advertiser in Search Ads 360:

  1. Navigate to the advertiser that will contain the engine account.

  2. Click the Engine accounts tab.

  3. Click New ▼ and select Baidu.
    The settings panel for the new engine account appears.

  4. Name the account.

    • Choose a name that will allow you to quickly identify the account.

    • If you have a naming convention in other systems, using the same convention here would help account matching (for auditing or billing).

  5. Select the date you want the account to be active in the Launch date field.

  6. Enter engine settings.

  7. Click Save.

The new engine account appears in the engine account table and will be available under Account in the account navigation bar.

Baidu engine settings
  • Baidu username and password: Enter the credentials used to register for your Baidu account.
  • Account API token: You can retrieve the token from the Profile (个人中心）section of the Baidu Business Development Center after you register for Baidu API access.
  • Sync details: Once the account is authorized, manually sync the account. Then, optionally set up a schedule to sync the account in DS.

  • Landing page URL details: This setting determines whether the clickserver URLs that DS generates and traffics to the engine contain only dynamic URL parameters, static parameters, or the entire landing page URL.   

    Because Baidu requires separate landing page URLs for mobile and desktop devices, Baidu engine accounts are required to use the Include full URL (unencoded) parameter-handling option.

Run your first sync

To import existing campaigns from the engine, run your first sync.

Define valid landing page URLs for each keyword

In Baidu, keywords are required to specify two URLs: one for non-mobile devices and another for mobile devices. When you create keywords in your Baidu engine account, make sure that the keywords' landing page URLs specify a page on your site. They should not contain any third-party tracking redirects. If the keyword landing page URLs specify a third-party tracking service, make sure you register the tracking URL's domain with Baidu. Only domains registered with Baidu will be accepted for your keyword or ad landing pages.

View the status of campaigns, ad groups, or keywords in a Baidu account

After you add a Baidu engine account to Search Ads 360, and sync the account, you can view the engine status of campaigns, ad groups, and keywords in the Search Ads 360 reporting table and optionally download the report.

View Baidu engine status and download report

  1. Click the Campaigns, Ad groups, or Keywords tab in a Baidu engine account.
  2. If the engine status column isn't already shown in the reporting table, add the column.
  3. Download the report.

If you download the report, the engine status column displays a numeric code instead of a text description of the status.

Numeric codes for Baidu engine status

Here's a description of the values that can appear in Engine status column for Baidu campaigns, ad groups, and keywords:

Campaign status in the engine

Status Code
in downloads		 Description
Effective 21 The campaign is active in Baidu
In pause time scheduled as inactive 22 Paused according to a schedule set up in Baidu
Pause Promotion 23 Campaign is paused by a user
Inadequate promotion program budget 24 Inadequate campaign budget
Lack of budget accounts 25 Inadequate account budget

Ad group status in the engine

Status Code
in downloads		 Description
Effective 31 The ad group is active in Baidu
Pause Promotion 32 Ad group is paused by a user
Campaign Suspended 33 Ad group is paused because the campaign is paused

Keyword status in the engine

Status Code
in downloads		 Description
Effective 41 The keyword is active in Baidu
Pause Promotion 42 Keyword is paused by a user
To be activated 45 Keyword has been created and paused by Baidu account management, and is now ready for you to activate it
Not to promote invalid for promotion 43 Keyword is unapproved
Search Invalid will not display 44 Bid or quality too low to be displayed
Audit under review for approval 46 In process to be reviewed by Baidu
Low search volume 47 Paused by Baidu due to low search volume
Partially Invalid 48 The landing page for one device is invalid, while the landing page for the other device is valid
Computer search is invalid 49 Bid or quality too low for desktop, but eligible to display for mobile
Mobile search is invalid 50 Bid or quality too low for mobile, but eligible to display for desktop

Ad status in the engine

Status Code
in downloads		 Description
Valid 51 The ad is active in Baidu
Pause Promotion 52 Ad is paused by a user
Not suitable for promotion 53 Ad is not approved by Baidu
To be activated 54 Ad is ready for you to activate it
Under review 55 In process to be reviewed by Baidu
Partial invalidity 56 The ad is invalid on a mobile device but is valid on a desktop computer
Valid-mobile URL is under review 57 Mobile URL in process to be reviewed by Baidu
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