Must-Do Items for Mobile Optimization

Chapter 2: Search Fundamentals · Question 28

As of 2025, mobile internet users in China account for over 83% (data reference: China Internet Network Information Center CNNIC"Statistical Report on China's Internet Development," refer to the latest report for exact figures), and Baidu's mobile search volume has long surpassed desktop. Baidu explicitly uses "Mobile-First Indexing," meaning Baidu Spider prioritizes crawling your mobile pages, and mobile experience directly determines your ranking. Mobile optimization is not a bonus—it's a survival requirement.

Responsive vs. Standalone Mobile Site (m.domain)

Baidu currently recommends: responsive design. If you use a standalone m-site, be sure to submit "mobile adaptation relationships" on theBaidu SearchResource Platform to tell Baidu the mapping rules between PC pages and mobile pages.

Must-Do #1: Viewport Meta Tag

Ensure every page's<head>includes:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

Without this line of code, mobile devices render pages at desktop width, requiring users to zoom in to read, and Baidu will judge it as "mobile adaptation not implemented."

Must-Do #2: Touch-Friendly Design

• Clickable elements (buttons, links) should be no smaller than 44×44 pixels
• Leave sufficient spacing between links to avoid accidental taps
• Do not use Flash (Baidu no longer crawls Flash content at all)
• Content that requires mouse hover to display (mobile has no hover)
• Set appropriate input types for form fields (tel, email, etc.) to bring up the corresponding keyboard

Must-do #3: Mobile page speed

Baidu Lightning Algorithm has stricter requirements for mobile:

• Keep first-screen loading within 1.5 seconds
• Avoid interstitial ads blocking content (Baidu Ice Bucket Algorithm will penalize)
• Use lazy loading for images
• Trim unnecessary JS and CSS on mobile

Must-do #4: Baidu mobile adaptation submission

In the Baidu Search Resource Platform, the path is: Search Services → Mobile Adaptation

• Rule adaptation: declare the correspondence between PC and mobile URLs using regular expressions
• URL pair adaptation: submit PC-mobile URL pairs one by one
• Self adaptation: responsive websites do not need to submit, but it is recommended to confirm recognition status in the site owner platform

Must-do #5: About MIP and the current state of Baidu mobile

Baidu MIP (Mobile Instant Pages) stopped maintenance in 2020 and no longer needs to be integrated. Currently, Baidu mobile optimization priorities have returned to:

• Page loading speed
• Content quality and mobile reading experience
• The mobile ecosystem of Baijiahao and mini programs
• Structured dataAdaptation

Common mobile SEO mistakes

1. Inconsistent content between mobile and PC: Baidu uses mobile as the standard; missing content on mobile means missing content overall
2. Mobile Robots blocks important resources: JS and CSS arerobots.txtblocked, and Baidu cannot render the page correctly
3. Pop-ups and overlays fill the screen: the Ice Bucket Algorithm will reduce rankings
4. Font too small: body text size is recommended to be no smaller than 14px
5. Horizontal scrollbar：Content overflows the screen, resulting in a terrible user experience

Practical recommendations

• Use the "mobile landing page experience" tool in Baidu Search Resource Platform for a self-check：It will tell you whether the page meets Baidu's mobile standards and which elements need to be modified
• Prioritize solving the "not mobile-adapted" issue：In Baidu search results, pages without a mobile adaptation label rank significantly lower than adapted competitors
• Real-device testing cannot be skipped：Do not rely only on the Chrome emulator. Browse your website on at least one Android device and one iPhone to experience the real loading speed and interaction experience