Being Seen

Article title Author Open Article Hits
4) Domain names for the Chinese market Peter Heather 08 January 2025 7391
5) Chinese top-level domains (TLDS) Peter Heather 08 January 2025 12813
Being seen on the internet in China summary Peter Heather 14 November 2024 334771
15) Messaging in China Peter Heather 21 October 2024 14959
12) Chinese Multimedia Peter Heather 31 July 2024 10346
3) Chinese name servers (DNS records hosted in China) Peter Heather 26 May 2024 20075
9) Website looks and feels for the Chinese market Peter Heather 26 May 2019 15943
16) Chinese telephones and mobiles Peter Heather 01 September 2018 13348
1) Is your website visible in China? Peter Heather 31 August 2018 24365
14) Emailing in China Peter Heather 03 June 2017 7546
7) GEO DNS and CDN Services Peter Heather 16 April 2017 20800
8) The use of QR codes in China Peter Heather 09 April 2017 25377
10) Translation of your business website Peter Heather 09 April 2017 21033
11) Automatic translation Peter Heather 09 April 2017 17310
19) Performance upgrades Peter Heather 09 April 2017 23153
6) Great Chinese Firewall Peter Heather 09 April 2017 25892
2) Chinese internet structure Peter Heather 09 April 2017 18458
18) Up-to-date internet content Peter Heather 19 November 2016 6735

Being Found

Article title Author Open Article Hits
Baidu, Alibaba & Tencent (BAT) Peter Heather 02 September 2018 24236
Chinese internet identity Peter Heather 28 August 2018 14610
Chinese search engines Peter Heather 22 August 2018 24489
Business to Business (B2B) Peter Heather 16 April 2017 15380
Chinese ICP certification Peter Heather 16 April 2017 18462
Being found on the Chinese internet Peter Heather 16 April 2017 368429
Chinese search engine SEO Peter Heather 09 April 2017 19300
Chinese e-Commerce third party vs website Peter Heather 09 April 2017 16920

Start Trading

Article title Author Open Article Hits
Chinese e-Commerce Peter Heather 22 February 2025 6878
Publishing your internet site outside China Peter Heather 06 July 2019 12172
Trade inside China on the Chinese internet Peter Heather 23 June 2019 359409
Chinese Intellectual property rights Peter Heather 26 August 2018 14681
Chinese internet platform options Peter Heather 19 August 2018 16103
Creating a Chinese Company Peter Heather 07 November 2017 14487
Routes to the Chinese markets Peter Heather 07 November 2017 15135
Chinese Payment Gateways Peter Heather 07 November 2017 22249
Transfer money to and from China Peter Heather 04 November 2017 17012
e-Commerce from Outside China Peter Heather 20 June 2017 14958
Shipping to the Chinese Consumer Peter Heather 20 June 2017 13367
Chinese Product Licensing Peter Heather 20 June 2017 20423
Business to Consumer (B2C) Peter Heather 16 April 2017 14963
Success in China Peter Heather 16 April 2017 12379

Access to China Services

Article title Author Open Article Hits
Website page testing service Peter Heather 18 August 2023 10067

Being seen on the internet in China summary

In many ways, Chinese trade is no different from that of any other country or region. Chinese businesses and consumers will always look for your business's internet presence. Your business's website is key to being seen in China, as international internet business platforms like LinkedIn (since 2023) and social media sites like Facebook and YouTube are all blocked.

Your business website must be visible in China. Approximately 80% of business websites attempting to be seen in China cannot be opened or respond slowly (taking over 30 seconds to load a page). Some website pages, including social media or CDN content, may also be missing. This collection of articles helps you understand the issues of being seen in the world's largest online market and take corrective actions.


Focus: Being Seen in China articles Audience: Business looking to trade in China Last modified: v4.2 – 24 March 2026

Index of being seen articles

Select an article below.

1. Is your website visible in China?

Like the rest of the world, Chinese companies and consumers are looking for products and services; the starting point is an online search. Only 25% of foreign websites are accessible in China; 20% take more than 20 seconds to load, and 55% are inaccessible.

2. Chinese internet structure

Maintaining an internet presence in mainland China is the most effective way to be visible online, provided your Chinese hosting provider has access to all three major networks: China Telecom, China Unicom (formerly China Netcom), and China Mobile. Your choice…

3. Chinese name servers (DNS records hosted in China)

International DNS (Domain Name Server) records can take two to three attempts for a browser in China to locate your website. After the first attempt, the user believes there is a typing error or that the website does not work. China's internet…

4. Domain names for the Chinese market

In 2022, Chinese authorities permitted overseas companies to purchase domain names from Chinese domain suppliers, such as Access to China, with domain ownership. This gives you full access to the Chinese Names Service across China. Purchasing a domain in China also gives…

5. Chinese top-level domains (TLDS)

The rules governing ownership of Chinese TLDs (.cn, .cn.com, etc.) do not allow overseas companies or individuals to own them. This may be unclear, as many internet companies sell Chinese domains to overseas companies or individuals worldwide. To achieve this, they use…

6. Great Chinese Firewall

The Chinese authorities exercise strict control over Internet content, including websites, social media, apps, and other online platforms within China. This pervasive control, often referred to by the overseas press and businesses as the Great Chinese Firewall, is a…

7. GEO DNS and CDN Services

Geo DNS, or Geographical Domain Name System, is a DNS-based service that routes users to different servers or IP addresses based on their geographical location. Many services are available worldwide, but most perform poorly in China. CDN stands for Content Delivery Network.

8. The use of QR codes in China

Chinese social media platforms ingeniously tackled the language barrier by using them. When scanned, these codes provide access to services through embedded, long, and complex URLs. Consequently, QR code scanning has become ubiquitous among over one billion Chinese internet users. In China,…

9. Website looks and feels for the Chinese market

Chinese companies and consumers want to see overseas websites that resemble the design and feel of their home country. They do not want to see a Chinese-looking site that raises questions about the product or service's genuine source. We recommend maintaining your local website's…

10. Translation of your business website

This unique circumstance stems from China's vast online population of approximately 854 million internet users, the largest in the world. The prevalence of advanced translation tools has enabled Chinese netizens to access and comprehend foreign content more efficiently. This approach not only…

11. Automatic translation

While translation tools are imperfect and may not always capture the nuances of your intended messaging, they provide a starting point for visitors who wish to explore your website in their native language. This approach can help mitigate some of the challenges…

12. Chinese Multimedia

Multimedia has become more important than written or spoken media. For example, high-quality multimedia can be the difference between success and failure in the hospitality industry. The same can be said for most products and services. Social media will create multimedia for your…

13. Chinese social media and e-commerce

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Since approximately 2016, China has spearheaded the global landscape of social media and e-commerce development at an unprecedented pace. This rapid advancement has created a unique trend in China where social media and e-commerce have increasingly merged into a unified digital platform.…

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14. Emailing in China

Like the rest of the world, it is not the primary tool for communication. WeChat has replaced most emails since its launch in January 2011. While most emails are encrypted during transmission, they are typically not stored as encrypted files on servers,…

15. Messaging in China

It has many of the same problems as email. We recommended opening a WeChat account for yourself or your business (a personal account is a more straightforward setup). Most Chinese enterprises and staff use WeChat as their primary communication tool. For example,…

16. Chinese telephones and mobiles

Most Chinese S&E business office desk phones are no longer used. Large companies still use desk telephone systems. Mobile calls are increasingly being made over social media platforms, such as WeChat. A good internet connection and local Wi-Fi support are essential for this.

17. APPs in China

Updating

Mobile apps are popular, so many mobile operating systems have reached the limit on the number of APIS allowed. The WeChat platform, launched in January 2011, addressed this issue by enabling you to run APIs within it. Today, APIS in China are…

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18. Up-to-date internet content

Keeping your business content up to date with your products, services, and business information is obvious. Many companies are increasingly finding this challenging, given the number of platforms and channels that must be updated with company information and data. When considering a new market…

19. Performance upgrades

Unless specifically developed, most websites utilise third-party services that are unavailable in China. Many websites include articles and images from social media. However, most social media sites outside China are blocked, resulting in missing information on websites. Platform and cloud services, such as…