The biggest search engine in the Middle Kingdom was invited by the government to change its search results policies. This revolution was launched because of the many abuses that were reported on the search engine to lug Panda. These abuses have unfortunately led to the death of a young man. This young Chinese died of cancer. This sad but not uncommon story could have ended there.
But this patient has conducted research through the Baidu search engine to obtain a cure for his cancer. It therefore trusts the first results appearing on the results of Baidu and found a hospital promising to cure his cancer through treatment. This special treatment had a cost: 200,000 RMB. With her own savings and the help of his family, he collected money to get this treatment he started.
He therefore gave RMB 200,000 to the hospital in which he had confidence because of its ranking on Baidu. The treatment began, but did not succeed. He died in April, shortly after this fiasco. See Baidu involved in a health scandal .
Chinese netizens betrayed by Baidu
Shortly before his death, the patient wrote a message in which he said he felt betrayed by Baidu. Indeed, this treatment at exorbitant prices, was totally obsolete. Worse, he was excluded from the market for a long time. From this horrible news, people have set up several questions: how, when you search the most popular search engine in China, can you come across a hospital with an archaic treatment in the first search results?
The answer is as simple as tragic: this hospital has purchased the keywords that the patient had sought. Therefore, the scandal revolves around the idea behind the fact that you can buy keywords on Baidu, without a single control the quality of your offer!
A huge mafia involved in this Baidugate: Beijing reacts!
From this sad reality, many users have begun an investigation. They detailed some startling facts: 50% of the money earned by Baidu comes directly hospitals closely connected in Putian, a city in eastern China … It appears to be a well-crafted mafia network. This great organization literally buys keywords related to health problems in China. The intended effect is that once you write these keywords on Baidu to solve your problems, you have a chance to be led straight to one of these hospitals unscrupulous …
This colossal scandal, having collected more than 620 million messages on canvas, urged Beijing to respond. Cyberspace Administration in China, the government body that oversees Internet in the country, said in a statement on its website that Baidu can not rank search results based solely on the amount of money that it is given by its customers. The statement came after a team of researchers led by officers of the Administration Cyberspace has been requisitioned to investigate Baidu.
The declaration of the Cyberspace Administration states that Baidu search algorithm has “influenced the patient’s medical choice” and “affected the fairness and objectivity of the research results. “The State Administration for Industry and Commerce will also develop policies to regulate online advertising, according to the statement.
Baidu strengthen its controls on PPC: SEO winner of scandal
Anyone participating in the policy said the government plans to classify this content Baidu paid as equivalent to online advertising. In the past, Baidu has already encountered problems with these medical issues. Therefore, the Cyberspace Administration of China had reacted.
From now, Baidu will have to strengthen its controls on companies which it operates PPC campaigns. This could certainly be an important step in these PPC campaigns on Baidu. Internet users will be much more cautious regarding the ads displayed via this search engine. It could also mean that PPC will have much less influence on the selection made by Internet users.
This also means that the SEO on Baidu will have an even higher value than it has at present. Indeed, the SEO is a natural way to appear on search results on Baidu. SEO is a reliable way to appear on search engines, while the PPC is not a model of its kind to do so. When doing PPC, you just have to pay to appear in the results. SEO takes longer, but it has a much better impact on your audience, especially since it has a long-term beneficial effect.
This huge scandal has an impact on both users and Baidu. Indeed, Internet users will be much more careful in their choice, when Baidu will have to make efforts to be more reliable in its results published. And we can be sure that the government will pay attention to what these efforts are made quickly!
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