A Baidu Index screen combines a search index, an information index, a media index, a demand map and audience attributes. Here is what each number and chart measures, using the definitions in Baidu’s official help pages.
Before you read the numbers: login, coverage and update cycle
You see the metrics after signing in with a Baidu account (百度账号) or a Baidu advertising account (百度推广账号) and searching a keyword. Sign-up and first-query steps are covered in our Baidu Index start guide.
- Update cycle: the help page states that “Baidu Index updates daily” (百度指数每天更新).
- History: PC search index data is available from June 2006 and mobile search index data from January 2011, for any period you choose.
- Coverage: only keywords that meet Baidu’s inclusion threshold return data. A keyword added through the paid keyword-adding service (创建新词) is calculated from the next day, with no backfilled history.
How to read the metrics, in order
This sequence follows the order in which the help page’s modules section describes each screen.
- Enter a keyword and set the period and region under “Trend Research” (趋势研究).
- In the “Index Trend” (指数趋势) chart, review the search index, the information index (资讯指数) and the media index (媒体指数). Only the search index can be split into overall and mobile; the other two do not separate traffic sources.
- Check “Index Overview” (指数概览) for the daily average search index over the period and its year-on-year (同比) and period-on-period (环比) change.
- Use “Top News” (新闻头条) to see news linked to the peak dates on the chart.
- Open the “Demand Map” (需求图谱) to see related terms and what users search before and after the keyword.
- Open “Audience Profile” (人群画像) for distribution by province and city, plus age and gender.
- For an industry view, check “Brand Performance” (品牌表现) and “Data Features” (数说专题).
Main menus and the metrics they show
| Menu (original) | English | Metrics shown |
|---|---|---|
| 趋势研究 · 指数趋势 | Trend Research · Index Trend | Search index (overall/mobile), information index and media index by period and region |
| 指数概览 | Index Overview | Daily average search index, year-on-year and period-on-period change |
| 新闻头条 | Top News | News related to peak dates on the trend chart |
| 需求图谱 | Demand Map | Demand distribution (需求分布), source and destination related terms |
| 人群画像 | Audience Profile | Regional distribution (地域分布), audience attributes (age and gender) |
| 品牌表现 | Brand Performance | Composite search index, rate of change and ranking for brands in an industry |
| 数说专题 | Data Features | Search trends, sub-markets, audience traits and hot topics by industry or theme |
Metric definitions
| Metric (original) | English | Official definition (summarized) |
|---|---|---|
| 搜索指数 | Search index | Weighted sum of each keyword’s search frequency in Baidu web search, based on search volume. Split into PC and mobile search indexes |
| 资讯指数 | Information index | Weighted sum of users’ reads, comments, shares, likes and dislikes on content distributed and recommended by Baidu |
| 媒体指数 | Media index | Number of articles from major online media that contain the keyword in the headline and are indexed by Baidu News (百度新闻). Its source and method have no direct relation to the search index |
| 需求分布 | Demand distribution | Combines how closely related terms are to the keyword with each term’s own search demand. Distance from the center shows relevance; bubble size shows the term’s search index; red means rising, green means falling |
| 来源相关词 | Source related terms | Terms users searched immediately before the core keyword, ranked by relevance |
| 去向相关词 | Destination related terms | Terms users searched immediately after the core keyword, ranked by relevance |
| 人群属性 | Audience attributes | Age distribution and gender ratio, derived by cluster analysis of Baidu users’ search data |
| 指数概览 (日平均值 · 同比 · 环比) | Index Overview (daily average, YoY, PoP) | Daily average and change of the search index over the period. YoY and PoP are hidden when the period exceeds one year |
| 品牌表现 composite search index | Brand composite search index | Search index calculated across each brand’s grouped search terms within an industry, ranked together with its rate of change |
Baidu says the search index “reflects users’ active search demand,” so any activity that changes how people search can move it. For Baidu’s ad-measurement tool, see the Baidu Guanxingpan (百度观星盘) page.
Limits and caveats in Baidu’s documentation
- Brand indexes are not comparable to keyword indexes: Brand Performance figures are composites of grouped brand terms and “cannot be compared with the search index of a single search term” (与单一检索词搜索指数不可进行比较).
- Blank media index: if a keyword’s search index is too low, Baidu does not calculate its media index.
- No data shown: keywords added today return data from the next day, and keywords with too little real search volume show no analysis data.
- Finance terms: data for finance-related search keywords is not currently provided.
- Manipulation: keywords shown by clear evidence to have been inflated by cheating have their data heavily downweighted (降权).
- Accuracy: some statistics rely on sampling, and Baidu makes no guarantee of accuracy, correctness, timeliness or completeness.
- Export: the public edition does not support data downloads, and there is no open API.
- Citation: commercial republication requires Baidu’s prior written consent, and citations must state “转自(或引自)百度指数” (from Baidu Index) with the site address.
Baidu Index official help (checked October 17, 2026)
- 百度指数帮助 (Baidu Index Help): glossary, modules, FAQ, keyword-adding Q&A and terms of use. Checked October 17, 2026, without signing in.
