Yes, Baidu considers content author authority when ranking content, particularly for sensitive topics like medicine, law, and finance.
This is similar to Google’s E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) guidelines.
Baidu ensures that content related to these fields is authored by qualified professionals or organizations, and requires proper certifications or references to back up legal or medical advice.
For example, legal content must provide references to laws and be authored by certified lawyers, while medical content should come from authoritative sources.
Baidu also evaluates content for its overall quality, relevance, and timeliness, prioritizing original, well-structured content.
For certain industries, especially those where misinformation could have serious consequences, the credentials of the content author and the website’s trustworthiness are crucial ranking factors.