How does search engine marketing work in China?

Most English guides to this topic describe an older market. The multi-engine pages our search returned date from 2018 to 2020, and the fresh ones cover Baidu alone.

This guide covers which engines you can pay, what a paid result must show, and how to run a first test. It’s part of our guide on how to find Chinese customers.

One caveat: we work on organic search, so weigh our view the way you’d weigh a seller’s.

What does search engine marketing mean in China?

It means paid listings and SEO on Chinese engines, without Google. Definitions vary, so check what a provider means before you compare quotes.

Some people use SEM for paid search alone. Westwin, an agency selling these services, uses it for both SEO and pay-per-click.¹¹ We use the wider meaning here, because you’ll plan the two together.

Choosing between paid and organic on Baidu has its own guide: Baidu SEO or Baidu Ads.

For social and display, see how to advertise in China.

Which search engines can you actually advertise on?

Baidu has the most evidence, 360 and Sogou have little, and Bing is the biggest unknown.

We couldn’t read any engine’s official terms for foreign advertisers, so this table rests on vendors and Microsoft’s own posts.

Engine	Share, Oct. 2026: all, desktop, mobile 123	Route described for a foreign company	Opening amount quoted	Evidence
Baidu	49.00%, 29.65%, 60.37%	Authorized agent without a mainland entity 56	RMB 3,000 to 7,800 56827	Several 2025 and 2026 vendors
Bing	21.69%, 46.01%, 7.20%	Unclear for foreign firms 1213	None found	Weak
360 (Haosou)	8.67%, 16.70%, 3.96%	Said to be easier than Baidu 9	RMB 30,000, sometimes negotiable 9	One agency, 2025; same figure in 2018 26
Sogou	1.72%, 1.17%, 2.02%	Tencent’s ad system, per one agency 10	None found	One agency, 2026
Shenma	0.21%, all devices 1	Via agencies, in 2018 25	None found	Old

1. All devices · Baidu49.00%
2. All devices · Bing21.69%
3. All devices · 3608.67%
4. All devices · Sogou1.72%
5. Desktop · Bing46.01%
6. Desktop · Baidu29.65%
7. Desktop · 36016.70%
8. Desktop · Sogou1.17%
9. Mobile · Baidu60.37%
10. Mobile · Bing7.20%
11. Mobile · 3603.96%
12. Mobile · Sogou2.02%

StatCounter, Oct. 2026

Even so, a Baidu-only plan left about half of October’s measured clicks to other engines. Yandex and Google took 18.6 points of that, and we don’t plan around either here. Bing, 360 and Sogou together took about 32%, and about 64% on desktop.

Our page on market share explains the data.

Baidu

Baidu is the realistic first stop. The 2026 guides we read send a company without a mainland license to an authorized agent.⁵⁶ They differ on details. Marketing to China says the account opens under the agency’s credentials.⁶ AppInChina says the domain, site and account entity must match, with one Chinese entity running the site.⁵

Deposits differ too. A Sohu author gives RMB 3,000 to 5,000 through agents for most ordinary sectors.²⁷ E-Commerce China Agency quotes RMB 7,800 for overseas accounts, plus about RMB 1,000 in service fees and RMB 600 a year for authentication.⁸

It says entities in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, the UK or France may qualify for waivers.

Our Baidu Ads guide compares the routes, the deposits, and the ICP dispute over landing pages.

Bing

Bing is the gap in the guides we read. It leads desktop in StatCounter’s data, and we couldn’t confirm how a foreign company buys ads on the China site.

• Microsoft: Since June 2023, marketers in China have had access to its search ads through InMobi, which handles sales and billing for mainland customers.¹² The post doesn’t say where those ads appear, and it concerns customers in the mainland, not foreign firms.
• Microsoft’s Chinese policy PDF: Dated May 31, 2023, it says promoted beauty products must hold the matching Chinese government qualifications.²⁸ We found nothing in it on who can buy or where ads serve.
• The Egg, an agency selling this: It says campaigns run from overseas are possible, with longer timelines and more rejections. It names entity registration, ICP filing and payment methods as delays.¹³
• A forum report: In an October 2023 Microsoft Q&A thread, an advertiser said campaigns aimed at China, South Korea and Hong Kong got zero impressions. Another user reported the same in January 2024, and the public thread ended with no fix.¹⁴ Those are anonymous posts, nearly three years old.

If your buyers search at a desk, this question matters most. That’s our reasoning, since we found no data on the devices Chinese B2B buyers use.

See Bing in China for the organic side.

360, Sogou and Shenma

These are secondary, and the evidence thins out quickly.

• 360: Sampi says registration is often faster than on Baidu, with similar paperwork. It quotes a RMB 30,000 minimum deposit, with no time limit for spending it.⁹ That’s five to six times the Baidu figures from AppInChina.
• Sogou: Marketing to China says paid search now runs through Tencent’s ad system, not a separate account.¹⁰ Our Sogou guide notes a source that describes the route differently.
• Shenma: A 2018 article says accounts go through agencies.²⁵ We found nothing recent, and at 0.21% it doesn’t justify chasing. See Shenma.

For listing your site on these engines for free, see 360 Search and which engines to target.

What rules apply to a paid search result in China?

Every paid result must be labeled and kept apart from natural results, and your claims and landing page are covered too. The guides we read don’t cite these articles.

Rule	Where it comes from	What it means for you
Paid-ranking results are marked 广告 and clearly separated from natural results	Internet Advertising Measures, art. 9, in force May 1, 2023 15	You can’t buy a result that looks organic
No paid-ranking ads in results for searches of government service sites, apps or accounts	Measures, art. 17 15	Those searches are off the table
Agencies and publishers register who the advertiser is, check ad content and documents, and keep records at least 3 years	Measures, art. 14 15	Expect paperwork on any route
Advertisers, agencies and publishers check ad content on the linked page	Measures, art. 18 15	Your landing page is part of the review
Search providers verify client qualifications, set a limit on paid share, and label each item	Search service rules, art. 11, in force August 1, 2016 16	Regulated sectors need their permits ready
Terms such as 最佳 (“best”) are banned, with fines from RMB 200,000 to 1,000,000	Advertising Law, art. 9(3) and 57 17	Reread translated slogans
False advertising can be fined 3 to 5 times the ad cost, and 5 to 10 times in repeat or serious cases	Advertising Law, art. 55 17	Claims need proof
Medical, drug, health food and some other ads need prior review	Advertising Law, art. 46 17	Check your category first

These rules have a history. In May 2016, after a student’s death drew attention to Baidu’s medical ads, regulators ordered changes, including an end to ranking by price alone.¹⁸¹⁹

Reports of the limit differ. China Digital Times says commercial content was to stay under 30% of each screen page, and CNBC says health care ads were to stay within 30% of ads on a page.¹⁸¹⁹

We found nothing showing how that limit applies today. The 2016 rule itself only requires providers to set a limit, without giving a number.¹⁶

Our list of banned advertising words has more on wording.

How is running a campaign different from Google Ads?

The logic is familiar: keywords, bids and quality. The operating conditions differ, and most of these points come from sellers rather than the engines.

Topic	What sources say	What to do
Billing	Prepaid; ads run until the balance is used 6	Budget cash up front
Language	Baidu rejects English or Traditional Chinese copy, per one agency 7	Write in Simplified Chinese
Ad rank	Quality score of 1 to 10, from expected clicks, relevance and landing page 5	Fix the page before raising bids
Price paid	Usually below your maximum bid 5	Set a ceiling you accept
Match type	Broad match is the default and burns budget, per one agency 7	Start with phrase or exact match
Query control	Search term reports feed negative keywords 5	Review them from the first week
Copy	Often only one of two lines displays 23	Put the message in line one
Landing page	Slow international hosting risks rejection or a low score 6	Test speed from China

Measurement needs its own check. Analytics that fail from China will undercount paid visits, so see which Google services fail first.

On Bing, The Egg says Microsoft’s tracking tag operates in China, but warns of attribution gaps with cross-border setups.¹³

Free check

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Enter your website. We check Baidu, access from China and how your site is set up, then email you the report.

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What does search marketing cost in China?

There’s no reliable price list. Each figure below comes from a seller, and one seller’s figures don’t agree with each other.

Source	Cost per click	Scope
Marketing to China, undated page 22	USD 0.30 to 1.50; above USD 2 in finance, health and legal	Most industries; “lower for niche B2B”
Marketing to China, international guide 6	RMB 5 to 40	Competitive sectors
Marketing to China, foreign brands guide 7	RMB 20 to 60 for B2B tech; RMB 15 to 50 for education; RMB 50 to 150 for luxury	Described as 2025 benchmarks
AppInChina, July 2026 5	No figures	Says finance, health and B2B run higher

Those pages clash. The agency’s own conversion, 6,000 RMB for about USD 830, turns USD 1.50 into about RMB 11.⁶ That’s far below its RMB 20 floor for B2B tech.⁷

Treat any click price as a guess until you see estimates for your own keywords.

We found no published conversion rate for foreign companies in China. Change the rate to 1% and every figure doubles.

One agency suggests larger budgets. Marketing to China mentions RMB 20,000 to 50,000 a month, and RMB 30,000 to 80,000 for B2B software.⁶ That’s a seller’s range, not a requirement.

Is search still worth buying, with AI answers arriving?

Search remains large, and it is shrinking on the measures we have. Nobody has published what that does to a paid click, so don’t let either trend decide for you.

• Users: China had 782.06 million search engine users at the end of 2025, or 69.5% of internet users. A year earlier it was 877.82 million, or 79.2%.²⁰
• Cause: CNNIC says intelligent search products are affecting classic search users, without putting a number on it.²⁰
• AI: It counted 602 million generative AI users at the end of 2025, and 76.0% use it to answer questions.²⁰
• Baidu’s pages: CNNIC reports that Baidu upgraded its classic results page to a 百看 page carrying a summarized AI answer.²⁰
• Ad model: CNNIC says the industry hasn’t found the right way to place ads in search results, and that revenue has fallen as a result of that and of fewer classic users.²⁰
• Baidu’s ad revenue: Online marketing fell 19% year over year in Q2 2026, to RMB 13.1 billion.²¹
• Baidu’s AI ads: AI-native marketing services were roughly flat at RMB 2.6 billion.²¹
• Baidu’s reach: The Baidu App still had 644 million monthly users in June 2026.²¹

Follow the changes in Baidu’s AI answers and AI search in China, and treat your own test as better evidence than any trend.

How do you plan a first search campaign in China?

Settle access and measurement before you spend. Most of this work is the same on every engine.

1. Test one page from China. Use our guide to checking whether your site is accessible.
2. List your Chinese queries. Start from what buyers type, not a translation of your English terms. See Baidu tools and keyword research.
3. Get each route in writing. Ask who holds the account, which documents are needed, what is spendable, and who owns the data. Our Baidu agent questions work for other engines too.
4. Check your entity and sector. See working without a Chinese company, and confirm permits with a local adviser.
5. Prepare copy and landing page together. Art. 18 ties them to each other.¹⁵
6. Set a stop rule. Write down your budget, end date and enquiry goal before launch. Results can vary widely, and nothing here predicts yours.
7. Build organic alongside it. Pages stay in place when spending stops, with no guarantee of position. Start with how to rank on Baidu.

The bottom line

Search marketing in China is mostly a question of access. Baidu’s route is the best documented, Bing’s is the biggest open question, and nobody publishes reliable click prices.

Label rules are firm, and the evidence on AI’s effect is missing. Get answers in writing, measure enquiries, and fix your rule for stopping before you spend.

How Index in China can help

We work on the organic side: a Chinese version of your site, reviewed by a person, and its submission to Chinese search engines. We don’t buy ads, and we don’t promise rankings or traffic.

See what we do.

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