According to a notice issued by Baidu.com to its clients, the company will gradually close its search engine advertising bid ranking system, which has been operating for eight years.

The notice, according to a report from Hexun.com, states that "a professional edition" will gradually take over both the current promotion area and the keywords management function. The professional edition is reportedly the previously mentioned "Phoenix Nest" advertising system, said a representative from Baidu.com. Some parts of the old bidding rank system have already been closed and the management rights to these keywords have been transferred to the Phoenix Nest system.

Executives of Baidu.com previously said on several occasions that as a new-generation search promotion management platform, Phoenix Nest will solve the confusion between general search results and bidding rank search results, helping enterprises to improve the promotional effect of search engine marketing.

Though the Phoenix Nest system is supposed to be better than the old system, it is more complicated and users need time to get used to the new functions. Therefore, Baidu.com has concurrently operated both the old bidding rank system and the Phoenix Nest system for more than a month.

However, the closure of some parts of the bidding rank system marks the beginning of the replacement process. Although Baidu.com refused to reveal when the bidding rank system will be completely replaced, this move shows the company's determination to accelerate the replacement.