Click Forensics has created an industry group to develop pay-per-click quality standards for the search marketing industry.

The formation of the Click Quality Council was announced Tuesday, with marketers LendingTree and Visa USA and agencies Carat Fusion and Agency.com saying they have joined the group, reports BtoB Online. Kevin Embree, an advisory board member of Click Forensics, will head the group and represent it in the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Click Measurement Working Group.

The IAB working group was formed in August to develop industry-wide PPC standards. Embree is the former head of anti-phishing industry initiatives for eBay.

"The absence of pay-per-click quality standards is the single largest barrier for large advertisers to expand their media-buying strategies on search engines and contextual networks alike," said Robert Pettee, senior search marketing manager for LendingTree, in a statement.