Preface: Why I Wrote This Book

Preface

Why I Wrote This Book

The starting point of this book is simple:To summarize my own professional experience, share it with newcomers as an introductory guide, and share it with friends in marketing and advertising to answer their questions.

Over more than a decade in the industry, I have experienced almost every stage of Chinese search marketing—from the early "wild growth" of Baidu bidding and organic rankings, to the great traffic migration brought about by the rise ofMobileand now to AI searchredefining the entire industry. Along the way, I have served industries including automotive, real estate, and cloud computing, and witnessed the rise and fall of brands of different sizes in organic traffic.

Over the years I have accumulated a wealth of hands-on experience, stepped into countless pitfalls, and distilled many "I wish I had known this earlier" methodologies. I always wanted to write these things down systematically, but kept thinking "I'll do it when I'm ready."

Then in 2024, the wave of AI search made me realize:If I don't write now, much of this experience will become outdated; and the new changes are exactly what requires someone to help practitioners "bridge old and new knowledge."

Why "Now"

Three reasons made me decide to start writing at this point in time:

First, the AI search revolution has arrived. Baidu launched AI search, Doubao and Kimi have become the "new search engines" for young people, and ChatGPT has spread globally—the traditional SEO knowledge system is not "wrong," but "insufficient." Practitioners need a framework to understand: which old methods still work, which need to evolve, and which entirely new areas require learning from scratch.

Second, the uniqueness of the Chinese market is severely underestimated. Most SEO tutorials on the market are translated from the English-speaking world and talk about the Google ecosystem. But organic marketing in China faces a completely different battlefield—Baidu's rules, WeChat's closed ecosystem,Xiaohongshu (RED)andDouyin's content distribution logic,Zhihu's authority system—these require experience summaries specifically tailored to the Chinese market.

Third, practitioners need guidance that is "usable right away." Not a 500-page tome, but a practical handbook you can flip to any question and finish in 5 minutes with new inspiration.

Who This Book Is For

• Newcomers just entering the industry: I hope that after reading, you will have a complete cognitive framework for organic marketing, so you won't miss the forest for the trees
• Practitioners with 2-3 years of experience: I hope this helps you break through bottlenecks and see more possibilities
• Friends in marketing/advertising/product fields: I hope that after understanding the logic of organic marketing, you can collaborate better with SEO teams
• Business owners and managers: I hope you understand the value and limitations of organic traffic and make more sensible resource allocations

How to read this book

This is not a book you need to read from cover to cover. You can absolutely:

• Read on demand: When you encounter a specific problem, go straight to the corresponding "question," read it, and apply it immediately
• Read by chapter: If you want a systematic understanding of a certain section (such as technical SEO or content strategy), read the entire chapter
• Read from beginning to end: If you are new to this or want to do a comprehensive knowledge review

Each "question" is written as a standalone piece with its own context and conclusions. But the questions are also intrinsically connected—reading through will give you a more complete picture.

About the author

I have worked in organic marketing for over a decade, having led full-funnel search marketing for an automotive brand, the online lead generation system for a real estate group, and B2B content strategy for a cloud computing company. These cross-industry experiences have convinced me of one thing:Good organic marketing methodologies can be transferred across industries, but execution details must be adapted to local conditions.

Every recommendation in this book comes from experience validated in real projects. No armchair theorizing, no piling up of theory. If I haven't personally used a method or have doubts about its effectiveness, I will clearly note it.

A promise

Organic marketing is a field that changes extremely fast. This book will be continuously updated—new platform rules, new AI tools, and new optimization strategies will all be added in the form of supplementary Q&As.

I hope these 100+ questions can become a reference manual you frequently revisit throughout your career.

Let's get started.