Over 450,000 Chinese keywords have been registered and every day an estimated million Chinese internet users prefer to type a keyword into a browser rather than a domain name. Read our brief guide to Chinese Keywords here.

Chinese Keywords are terms recorded at the Chinese domain name registry, CNNIC which, when entered into a browser, point directly to a website. The Registry promotes keywords as a way for Chinese entities to establish their online presence in their native language. The standard domain name system, being based on ASCII characters, means that Chinese entities lose their true identity if they are forced to use Roman character domain names. Chinese Keywords allow the user to type into a browser, for example, the name of the Chinese company they are looking for in Chinese characters. The keyword must be setup to forward to a destination website. Therefore, as an example, Com Laude has the keyword, COMLAUDE. This has been setup so that if it is typed into a browser (with the required software – see below) it will forward to our company website, www.comlaude.com.

In order for keywords to work, it is necessary for the person browsing the internet to install a piece of software downloadable from the Chinese registry. However, we advise our clients that this software may pose a security risk as it appears to contain spyware.

The only restriction on registering a keyword is that the website which the keyword points to must contain some Chinese content. This is a slightly subjective clause, raising the question “what constitutes Chinese content?”. In our experience so far, if your website has, for example, an article about or relating to China or Chinese issues, or lists an office address in China, then this should be sufficient for the registration (there are other acceptable examples). Destination websites are not approved for Chinese content at the time of registration, but they can be periodically checked by the Chinese registry to ensure they contain the relevant content. Therefore, it is your responsibility as Registrant to make sure that the website adheres to the rules: the Chinese registry do reserve the right to delete the keyword if they find that it does not comply.

The official fees for Keyword registrations are RMB 500 (approx GBP 38) per annum. However, it is also necessary to pay a local attorney fee of US$210 whilst we charge £100 for our service. This makes the total cost of a Chinese Keyword £243. Some premium keywords are charged at higher official rates, going up to RMB 10,000 per annum.

Keywords can be registered for terms of between one and ten years

ENDS
© Com Laude 2008