Is Xiaohongshu’s brand search traffic declining? Two key forces to break the growth dilemma

As the “search” attribute of the Xiaohongshu platform becomes stronger, improving search rankings has become an important way to increase brand exposure. Make good arrangements for hot search terms and bidding terms to help brands increase their exposure and seize a larger traffic market.

01 The underlying logic of user search

There are usually two scenarios in which users use the Xiaohongshu platform:

One is to wander around. Based on the development of user habits, the Xiaohongshu platform has become a tool for many users to kill time after meals. If a certain note happens to stimulate their psychological demands, such as: summer sun protection tips, summer slimming outfit collection, etc., it can quickly become a hit and generate consumer demand.

Figure｜"Xiaohongshu 2021 Marketing Manual"

The second is active search. Users search for keywords with a purpose, and browse the reviews and user experiences of Xiaohongshu bloggers to assist in their consumption decisions. Xiaohongshu is their search engine. They come here to solve problems. As long as they can get valuable information from the notes, direct conversions may occur. Such as: inquiries on specific issues such as after-sun repair, acne first aid, etc.

Xiaohongshu user behavior determines that search traffic is a potential customer acquisition portal in brand marketing. Reaching the target group at low cost through hot search word operation strategies is the key for brands to harvest accurate traffic.

02 Target hot search terms and harvest accurate traffic

In the search results of Xiaohongshu platform, the top rankings are popular notes that contain keywords and have high interactive volume. Therefore, note ranking is the core of search traffic, and hot search terms are the key to helping notes become popular.

Hot search words, the core of content layout

As the name suggests, hot search words are words that users actively search for frequently. Behind the hot search words lies the user's attention. As more people search for a certain word, the interactive volume of the note increases, and it becomes a hot topic for creation, and a hot search word is formed.

Figure｜Qiangua Data-Hot Search Word List

For example, the hot search term "breathable" has an increase of 9,465 notes, an increase of 924.32% over the same period, and the current popularity value is 858,500. With the arrival of hot summer weather, "breathable" and "cool" have become topics of concern to users. KOLs create relevant content based on user focus, such as: the best breathable sports shoes to wear in summer, breathable foundation, etc., making it the number one hot search term on the hot search increment list.

Accurately match hot search terms

1. There is a trend in the popularity of hot search words. Choose hot search words in the rising period, such as graduation season, summer wear, etc., and match them with relevant keywords. It is easier to become a popular note and achieve the most valuable exposure at the moment.

2. Choose hot search words that match your category, and don’t try to take advantage of hot search words that don’t belong to your category. After a user posts a note, the system will break it down into keywords and label it, and then recommend it to people who are interested in the content. Only by choosing hot search words that match the content of the notes can you accurately reach the target group.

Figure｜Qiangua Data-Hot Search Word List

For example, under the home category, the incremental number of notes for the hot search term "decoration" is 2098, which is a hot word under the home improvement category. When sharing notes on home, you should choose it as the keyword instead of forcibly layout "breathable" just to get some popularity.

Three rules for hot search word layout

1. Title, layout of popular keywords. The title is one of the key elements for the system to identify the category of notes, and it is also the primary channel for users to obtain information. Reasonable use of hot search terms in the title will help the system to classify and accurately recommend notes.

Usually, the title uses popular information such as crowd, price, product, etc. as keywords to accurately attract relevant users and greatly increase the click-through rate.

Figure｜Qiangua Data-Popular Notes

For example, titles such as "Full of useful information! A must-read for makeup novices: 'Makeup formulas for beginners'" and "Makeup artists teach you how to put on makeup correctly, a must-read for makeup novices" are clearly targeted at makeup novices. When they search for makeup tutorials, they will pay attention and click to watch.

Figure｜Qiangua Data-Popular Notes

Users are always happy with cost-effective products. Using price as a keyword in the title can attract people who are interested in affordable products, for example: "Buy a full set of makeup for 300+, students must read this!" "【Affordable products for whitening the whole body】Students can also keep their skin white in summer."

2. Place content keywords every 2-3 paragraphs. Stacking keywords to increase the weight of notes is not favored by the system and also affects the user's reading experience. Intermittent interspersion and natural transition are the key points of keyword layout.

Figure｜Qiangua Data-Popular Notes

Taking the beauty tutorial notes as an example, this content uses "newbie" as the keyword, and begins with "Newbies will make mistakes" to layout the keywords and attract users' attention. There are three paragraphs in the middle and it ends with "The newbie makeup tips you want", echoing the previous content. The content of the notes is naturally connected and the sentences are fluent.

It is worth noting that the note also chooses #新手干货 and #新手妆 as topics. Using topics that match the article and contain keywords is also one of the popular techniques on the note.

3. For video notes, you also need to plan the hot search terms in the copy. With the strong support of the short video trend and the Xiaohongshu platform, video notes are more likely to become popular notes. Using key text to assist in explaining the video content not only helps the system to include it, but also satisfies users' reading experience in multiple scenarios and obtains high interaction.

Picture｜Source: Xiaohongshu

03 Multi-dimensional layout of bidding words to seize the opportunity of popularity

Bidding words, the key to search advertising

If hot search words are a major breakthrough in search traffic, then bidding words are another key point in obtaining accurate traffic.

Figure｜Search advertising mechanism

When Xiaohongshu users search for keywords they are interested in, the system will split the ads, identify valuable business terms, and then match the ads and push them to the search page. Brands can use advertising recommendation algorithms to select major keywords under specific categories as bidding words, place search ads, and obtain accurate traffic in a short and efficient manner.

Figure｜Data source-Qiangua

The data of the TOP100 note interactions of the hot search words put forward by Anessa in the past 30 days shows that the main hot search words are scene + category + efficacy, accounting for 44%, followed by competitor words, accounting for 31%, brand words + category accounting for only 3%, 10% are evaluation + category hot search words, and 12% are other hot search words.

Scene + category hot words are the focus of Anessa’s advertising. For example: hot search terms suitable for summer scenes such as outdoor sun protection and seaside sun protection are in line with the user's clear search purpose and accurately harvest the search traffic of the target population.

Figure｜Qiangua Data-Hot Search Word Search

Qiangua Data’s hot word analysis shows that in the past 30 days, a total of 2,701 brands have placed the hot search term “sunscreen” in related notes, of which 10 brands have participated in the bidding for this hot search term, including Yves Saint Laurent, Lancome, Helena Rubinstein, Anessa, etc.

Bidding words are keywords that accurately match user needs. They are used to place popular search terms in the category and make good layout of search advertising styles to effectively seize the top traffic on the search page.

Search advertising strategy

Xiaohongshu search ads are located at position 3/13/23 in the information flow of the search results page. There are three forms: native note style, product card style, and custom picture style. The effects vary depending on the front-link style.

Figure｜Xiaohongshu's native note style

Native notes are presented in the form of useful information, which conforms to the platform's logic of sharing valuable content and is easier to accept.

Customize picture styles, penetrate into users' minds in the form of picture notes, and encourage users to click through high-value covers.

The product card style directly hits the product selling points, deeply stimulates users' desire to click, directly reaches the product details page, shortens the planting and pulling process, and improves the conversion rate.

Brands can arrange search advertising styles based on the delivery needs at different stages. If your goal is to expand brand awareness, choosing the native note style is a good choice.

Image: Source: Qiangua

In addition, the factors that affect the ranking of search ads are the estimated click-through rate (PCTR) x bid. The estimated click-through rate is related to the quality of product creativity. Improving the quality of creative materials or increasing bids can further improve ad rankings.

04 Conclusion

Search traffic is an important traffic entrance that cannot be ignored in brand marketing. By mastering the underlying logic of hot search terms and bidding terms and adopting proactive strategies, you can harvest accurate users.

Selecting hot search terms that are in the rising period and match the note classification will facilitate system recommendations and gain higher-level traffic exposure.

Deploy relevant hot search terms in the note title and content, and use crowd tags or price tags to attract clicks from relevant users. But remember not to stack keywords, which will affect the user experience.

Choose competitor words, or hot search words such as scene + category words as bidding words to meet user search needs and accurately obtain search traffic.

The native note style of search ads is mainly used to share product information, which is in line with the platform's format of sharing. Launching this type of ad can help increase brand awareness.