One of the most common questions we get from our readers is about what’s required to setup an account on Chinese search engines. To make life easier, we’ve put everything you need to know into one simple image.
Notice there’s nothing about having a Chinese company or hosting in China. That’s because these things don’t matter for setting up a paid search account.
As long as you can provide the proper documentation, having a foreign business will not preclude you from setting up an account.
Just to add a few more details to the above graphic:
- Only the “About Us” and “Contact” pages need to have Chinese content on them. It doesn’t have to be much either, just enough so that people can quickly figure out what your business does and how you can be contacted. However, your campaign is not going to perform well if you have English content on the rest of the site, so it’s best to have the whole site translated. If creating Chinese content for your site is an issue, we can give you a hand.
- Below is an example of a company (KFC) listed on its relevant corporate registration site. Keep in mind that this is all publicly available information. You can find the relevant corporate registry for your business by googling “corporate registry” + your state or country.
- Qihoo 360 requires a scan of your overseas server registration documentation and utility bills from the last 3 months to confirm that your company is operating normally.
Any Exceptions?
A few select industries like food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, and finance may need to provide additional documentation before the account is approved. For example, a food and beverage company will typically need to provide something from the FDA (or other regulatory body) showing that its products are safe for consumption. But don’t let this worry you too much. You won’t be required to submit more than a couple extra documents.
In general, provided you aren’t an arms dealer, political activist, or casino owner, setting up an account is not a problem. Any additional required documentation will be made known to you after the standard documents are submitted.
What’s Next?
So what do you do after you get all of these documents together? You’ll want to find an agency to help you setup the account, as Baidu, Sogou, and Qihoo 360 generally don’t deal directly with end users. Plus, there’s also that pesky language issue.
If you’re concerned about paying an agency for its services only to find there’s a problem with setting up your account, don’t be; any reputable agency will refund your money in the event it can’t get your account setup. We’ve setup our share of paid search accounts over the last 6 years, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you need some help getting started.
Any other questions about setting up a PPC account on Chinese search engines? Let me know in the comments and I’ll get back to you ASAP.