Fellow webmasters: on November 30, 2023, Baidu’s webmaster platform revoked all [Quick Index] and [sitemap] submission privileges. For the record: the revocation has nothing to do with using my webmaster push tool. See Baidu Search Resource Platform’s December 1, 2023 announcement, “Tracking hot issues: the vanished privileges”. Baidu’s reply after I contacted them:
Hello. Due to a comprehensive upgrade of the Search Resource Platform’s privilege system, the Quick Index privilege is now available only to VIP sites. You may refer to “VIP Club: fully upgraded” to improve your site’s quality and qualifications, then apply for VIP status to obtain the relevant privileges.
Quick Index privileges revoked
My Quick Index privilege was granted automatically. But now, whether it was auto-granted or inherited from the old Xiongzhang (Bear Paw) account, all privileges are revoked unless your site is in the VIP Club. There is currently no other way to obtain it — you must join the VIP Club.
Sitemap submission privileges revoked
Baidu had already posted a notice on September 22, 2023, “Notice on reclaiming site submission quotas”:
Due to a recent surge in black-industry and cheating behavior grabbing platform resources and severely hurting user experience, the Search Resource Platform has disabled sitemap submission for sites under non-real-name accounts and for low-quality sites, and adjusted daily API push quotas. Please maintain your sites and manage quality; the platform will restore privileges and quotas for compliant sites after the holiday.
To fight the gray industry, services across the board are shifting behind VIP walls, with real-name registration and ICP filing required. If you run a large, legitimate site, check the VIP Club criteria below. If you’re a small personal site, you’re mostly out of luck.
Baidu Webmaster VIP Club
The VIP Club reopened its application process on November 24, 2023. Criteria:
- Real-name verification and ICP filing
- Site operating for more than 1 year
- Actual scope of operation matches the ICP filing
- Combined clicks from [Search Resource Platform – Statistics – Traffic & Keywords – Mobile and PC search] averaging over 10,000/day in the last 30 days
- Quality content: focused on your area of expertise, with some industry reputation
- Depth: clear themes, explored from multiple angles, informative and substantive; rigorous and logical, with good illustrations; some entertainment value welcome; truthful and credible; operation guides that are easy to follow
- Good experience: reasonable layout, smooth interactions, pleasant browsing — see “Interpreting quality content on the Search Resource Platform”
- No gray-industry sites (pornography, political, gambling, egregious piracy)
- No unofficial consumer-finance sites (third-party lending, credit card cash-out, etc.)
- No borderline/clickbait/superstition content (fringe history, shock content, astrology and fortune-telling)
- No unofficial/copyright-infringing sites in high-risk areas (download repositories, lottery, film & TV, sports betting, etc.)
- No generic or low-expertise sites (document aggregators, franchise recruitment)
VIP Club privileges
- Search privileges: more submission quotas, more display rights
- Service privileges: priority response for urgent issues, 1-on-1 site optimization guidance
- Beta privileges: early access to new tools, advanced permissions for designated features
- Event privileges: priority invitations to customized events and industry exchanges