Counting Bytes And Characters In Baidu

Baidu counts byte rather than character. For example, Baidu counts 1 double-byte character (i.e. a Chinese character or punctuation) as 2 characters (字符) and 1 single-byte character (i.e. an English alphabet or punctuation) as 1 character (字符).

Our ntegration with Baidu, on the other hand, counts character and not bytes. For example, Marin counts double-byte characters the same way it counts single-byte characters. Every character is counted as 1.

Example In Baidu UI In Marin UI Note
Marin 5 5 5 English Alphabet
网站推广 8 4 4 Chinese characters
网站推广. 9 5 4 Chinese characters plus 1 English punctuation
网站推广。 10 5 4 Chinese characters plus 1 Chinese punctuation

Baidu Publisher Limit

  In Baidu UI (counts in byte) In Marin UI (counts in double-byte character)
Campaign Name 30 15
Group Name 30 15
Keyword 40 20
Negative Keyword 40 20
Title Min: 8, Max: 50 Min: 4, Max: 25
Desc1 Min: 8, Max: 80 Min: 4, Max: 40
Desc2 80 40
Display URL 36 18
Destination URL 1017  

3 Display Positions

There are 3 display positions for Baidu and in the case of the right-side display result, the maximum displayable length for a Title is only 28 bytes (or 14 Chinese characters). This may be something advertisers want to consider when creating and/or translating your Chinese creative. Below you will find more details on the 3 display positions along with the impact when using keyword insertion:

How Many Possible Display Positions Can A Baidu Search Ad Have?

There are 3 possible ad display positions:

  • Left-side display position (“推广链接”位置)
  • Right-side display position (“右侧推广”位置)
  • Chain display position (“推广链接”位置)

Does The Maximum Characters Allowed For Each Of The Creative Element Change With The Ad Display Position?

Yes, the maximum allowed length for each of the creative element changes depends on the ad display position. Right-side display position (“右侧推广”位置) only displays up to 28 bytes (字符) in Title and doesn’t display Desc 2 at all. The chain display position (“推广链接”位置) also doesn’t display Desc 2.

  • Title (28 bytes): √
  • Desc 1 (80 bytes): √
  • Desc 2 (n/a): X
    • While Desc2 is not displayed for 2 out of 3 possible display positions, Baidu strongly recommends that you include Desc2 since doing so would increase the likelihood of ads being displayed in the left-side display position “推广链接”位置, which is the best position out of the 3.

What Is The Syntax For Using Keyword Insertion?

{关键词}

How Does The Use Of Keyword Insertion {关键词} Affect Byte/Character (字符) Count?

For example, a creative’s title (max 50 bytes) is “搜索推广,请选择Marin,您最不能错过的{关键词}”. This ad group has 2 keywords网站推荐工具(12)and 全球最好的网站推荐工具(22). With keyword insertion, Title is 49 bytes when keyword is 网站推广工具 or is 60 bytes when keyword is全球最好的网站推荐工具. In the latter case, the title will be truncated because it exceeds 50.

Written by Marketing @ Marin Software

Last published at: June 27th, 2023