Can your business website be seen in China?
Our own testing shows that many overseas websites perform poorly when accessed from China.
In a recent test of foreign websites, only around 25% were accessible with acceptable performance. Around 20% took more than 20 seconds to load, and approximately 55% could not be accessed reliably.
When we tested the top 100 UK companies' websites from China, only 14 were visible there.
Can your business website be seen in China?
Before investing in hosting, DNS, or ICP licensing, the first step is to test how your existing website behaves from inside China.
Start TestingWhy overseas websites often fail in China
Like the rest of the world, Chinese companies and consumers are looking for products and services; the starting point is an Internet search.
DNS lookup speed and routing latency from overseas are the biggest practical issues that prevent your domain name from being found.
With international social media not available in China, your website is the local source of information about your business.
Most websites, unless specifically developed for China, use third-party services that are not available in China.
Many websites include articles and images from social media. Most social media from outside China is blocked, leading to missing information from websites.
Platform and cloud services, e.g., Google, as well as CDNs, are blocked or given limited internet capacity, leading to very slow response times.
Why use our internet content testing tools?
Most website test tools only check whether your business domain can be seen from mainland China using a simple “ping test”. A “ping test” is like poking your website to see if it exists.
A “ping test” determines only whether your website's IP address is not blocked in China. It does not explain your website's performance in China or whether parts of your content are blocked.
The testing process helps you understand which parts of your business are visible online in China and the response times they incur. Most international sites take over 30 seconds to load. This is due to global social media and Google site content being blocked or slowed, leaving your website with missing components or malfunctioning.
The reports show how each part of your website's content performs. Your website's performance is measured by how end users see it.
These tests will help you and your technical staff understand your internet business presence in China and the actions you can take to create your business profile in the world’s largest online market.
Why can many overseas websites not be seen in China
There are several reasons why an overseas website may not be visible or perform poorly when accessed from within China.
- Slow international routing between China and overseas networks
- Blocked third-party services such as Google APIs or external scripts
- DNS lookup delays when overseas name servers are used
- Content delivery networks that do not operate nodes inside China
- Website components that rely on services blocked inside China
- Overseas recapture, e.g. Google, not available in China.
Because a website consists of many components, a simple ping or server test may indicate that a website is reachable, while the actual page may not load correctly in a Chinese browser.
Website page testing cost and support
Our website page testing services are free to use. Understanding how your website performs in China will help you determine your next steps.
All the articles to help you understand and improve your internet presence in China are available for free.
Domain Name + Chinese NS/DNS service
- Stops your domain name from being found in China
- Domain name supplied by Chinese ISP
- Access to the Chinese NS/DNS network
- Gives fast responses throughout the Asia region
Chinese Website Hosting service
- Very fast access to the internet in China (under 35ms)
- Very fast access to the Chinese DNS/NS network for Domain name lookup (under 75ms)
- No ICP license required
Dynamic Website Service
- Hosts a dynamic copy of your website using our proxy server.
- Creates a second website for the Chinese market.
- Enables dynamic changes to a copy of your website.
- No need to modify your website.
- Fast and cost-effective.
- Option available to translate key website words into Chinese, e.g. SEO data
Quick checklist
The most common reasons for web page failure:
- DNS lookups slow or unreliable from outside China
- Do pages rely on blocked resources (Google, global social platforms)?
- Are critical JS/CSS files hosted outside China and subject to poor routing?
- Is the website appearance correct?
- Overseas recapture, e.g. Google, not available in China
- Images are downloading slowly due to file size, international internet connectivity, or poor CDN performance in China?
- Are there any missing elements, e.g. social media content?
- What is the time it takes to open your home page?
Need help?
If you need help reviewing and correcting your website visibility in Chinese, please do not hesitate to get in contact. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.