Two Successful Domestic SEO Case Studies

Two I know of.

One is BenDiBao (local life information platforms for various cities), and the other is ChaZhengTong (I'm not sure if it changed its name).

BenDiBao aggregates social security, government affairs, and public welfare information from cities across China. It started as a website, built single-handedly by the founder with his own technical skills. Once traffic picked up, he hired people to run operations and quickly pivoted to WeChat Official Accounts, funneling website visitors over there. He also captured the early SEO benefits on WeChat—I'm not sure if this still holds true, but I recall seeing job postings back then listing an average salary of around 4,500 yuan. The roles were mainly content editing and operations for basic information, plus sales positions. The business reportedly generates several billion yuan annually.

ChaZhengTong started with the founder handling the tech himself, aggregating traffic violation query data into a tool-style website. Good SEO drove massive traffic, and once again, he funneled users to his WeChat Official Account early on. The account had only a million or two followers in its first year, but reached around 15 million within three years. Ad revenue is estimated at nearly 100 million yuan annually. After transitioning to Official Account–based user operations, he hired two or three people, each earning roughly 20,000 yuan per month.

The takeaway is: if you can generate traffic, focus on retaining it so you can market to it repeatedly—that's where the real value lies. For both of them, WeChat Official Accounts were the ideal tool for retaining and engaging users.