The Internet Society of China, China Communications Standards Association, and Chinese search engine company Baidu.com have jointly published the Search Engine Marketing Standard and Regulation.

Huang Chengqing, vice chairman and secretary-general of ISC, told local media that the launch of this Search Engine Marketing Standard and Regulation represents a new development stage within the Internet search engine marketing sector in China. With its standardization and systematization, this regulation is expected to promote the continuous and healthy development of China's search engine marketing sector, while also ridding the sector of digital marketing firms that fail to deliver consistent, honest services to clients.

The regulation launched this time provides definitions for industrial terms of search engine marketing as well as the reference regulations and the procedures to be followed for this business. It gives authoritative and universal explanations for definitions and knowledge involved in SEM and helps enterprises learn about the various links for SEM.

The new regulation further provides a framework for how the sector may develop in the future, putting more focus on granting SEM scope of business activities to duly licensed SEM advertising agencies rather than the current hordes of companies who use simpler consulting business licenses to provide SEM services.