Which organic channels are worth investing in over the next 3 years?
Chapter 1: Awareness · Question 15
This is one of the questions I get asked most—“Which channel is the most cost-effective to focus on right now?”
Tactics that worked three years ago may already be outdated today; some new channels are in a bonus period, and those who get in early reap the rewards. I've graded them by ROI potential to help you decide where to put your limited energy.
Channel tiers: Tier 1 / Tier 2 / Tier 3
Tier 1: Highest-priority investment (strong certainty and high ROI over the next 3 years)
1. AI search optimization (AIO / GEO)
This is the biggest incremental opportunity over the next 3 years.
With the spread of AI tools like Baidu ERNIE Bot, Douyin Doubao, Kimi, and Tongyi Qianwen, more and more search behavior is shifting from "Baidu it" to "ask AI."Being cited by AI = ranking #1 in the new era.
Why Tier 1:
- User search behavior is migrating, and the trend is irreversible
- Competition is currently low, so first-mover advantage is clear
- There's synergy with traditional SEO (good SEO content is more likely to be cited by AI)
How to do it: Structured content, building authoritative sources,FAQ coverage, and ensuring content can be crawled by AI crawlers.
2. Search engine optimization (SEO)—but upgrade your approach
Traditional SEO isn't dead, but it needs to upgrade from "stuffingKeywordrankings" to "becoming an authoritative source in a certain field."
Key changes:
- Although Baidu traffic is declining, commercial-intent searches are still valuable
- Search results are increasingly diversified (video, images, Q&A, AI summaries)
- SEO's core value shifts from "getting clicks" to "building citable content assets"
Tier 2: High potential but requires sustained investment
3. Xiaohongshu search + content
Xiaohongshu (RED)It has evolved from a "product seeding platform" into a "search engine." More and more users go directly toXiaohongshu searchproduct reviews, tutorials, guides.
Data reference: Xiaohongshu has over 300 million monthly active users (source:QuestMobile public rankings), of which about 70% of users exhibit search behavior (search behavior share is an industry estimate). For consumer goods and lifestyle services businesses, the conversion rate of Xiaohongshu search traffic is even higher than Baidu's.
Suitable industries: consumer goods, beauty, maternal and infant, home furnishings, dining, travel, education
4. Douyin search optimization
Douyin is not just a place to scroll videos—Douyin search daily average PV has exceeded half of Baidu's (industry estimate, based on public reports).
Characteristics of Douyin search:
- results are mainly short videos, with a low barrier to content consumption
- search and recommendation are linked (search behavior affects recommended traffic)
- local life search is growing rapidly
Suitable industries: local services, education and training, e-commerce, paid knowledge
5. WeChat ecosystem (WeChat Search + WeChat Official Accounts + Channels)
WeChat Searchsearch volume is growing rapidly, and it has unique advantages:Users can search for content within the closed ecosystem, including Official Account articles, Channels content, Mini Programs, and Moments.
- Official Accounts remain the core channel for B2B customer acquisition
- Channels' recommendation algorithm is maturing
- WeChat Search has connected more external content sources
Tier 3: Valuable in specific scenarios, but not universal
6. Zhihu
Zhihu's traffic is declining, but for B2B, professional services, and high-ticket products, Zhihu is still a good place to build trust. The advantage is a long content lifecycle—a good answer can continue to bring traffic for 2-3 years.
7. Bilibili
Suitable for building brand awareness and reaching younger audiences, but the monetization path is longer. Suitable for industries such as education, technology, and gaming for long-term brand building.
8. Podcasts
Chinese podcast listenership is growing rapidly. Although the absolute number is not large, user quality is extremely high (highly educated, high income, high decision-making power). Suitable for B2B brands and high-end consumer goods.
Emerging channels: worth watching but not yet mature
| 渠道 | Opportunity | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| AI Agent as a traffic entry point | AI assistants will recommend products/services; being recommended = free customer acquisition | Rules are opaque and hard to optimize |
| AI search engines (Perplexity-type) | citation equals impression, high-trust traffic | Limited Chinese coverage |
| Jike/Xiaoyuzhou | High-quality communities, fast word-of-mouth spread | Limited user base |
Declining channels (reduce investment)
- Baidu Tieba— continuously declining activity, chaotic content management
- Traditional forums/BBS— Although veteran forums like Tianya are still operating, activity has dropped sharply and they have largely exited mainstream traffic view; vertical forums are also shrinking
- QQ Zone/QQ Groups— user age is fixed, commercial value is declining
- Pure Baidu SEO (without AI optimization)— the overall traffic pool is shrinking
Practical recommendations
- Start AI search optimization immediately: Check whether your core content can be correctly cited by AI search tools (Kimi, Doubao, Wenxin Yiyan). If not, prioritize fixing content structure and crawlability issues
- Choose Tier 2 channels based on business type: B2C should prioritize Xiaohongshu + Douyin search, B2B should prioritize the WeChat ecosystem + Zhihu. Don't be greedy—pick 1-2 to focus on deeply
- Re-evaluate your channel mix every six months: The traffic landscape is changing faster. The optimal strategy from six months ago may already be outdated. Stay sensitive to new channels, but don't chase every trend
