Microsoft Debuts Search Ad Platform

A highly coordinated advertising service under one roof will allow Microsoft to offer combined programs for companies that wish to buy both display ads on particular areas of MSN and keywords in the search engine.
MicrosoftRelevant Products/Services from Microsoft has taken the offensive again in the Web search engine Latest News about search engine wars with the launch of a new online-advertising platform. Called "adCenter," the new tool was unveiled Wednesday by CEO Steve Ballmer at a conference in Redmond.

The search war is all about eyeballs, Forrester Research's Charlene Li told NewsFactor. And the main motivation for getting those eyes to a search page is to put paid advertising in front of them.

This business model operates in both the Web-based and desktop search worlds, where companies are competing to provide the tools that customers will use day in and day out to find documents, Web sites and multimedia files on the Web, and also in their own computers.

Registered Users

Microsoft's new ad service relies heavily on MSN, the company's online network. Microsoft touts adCenter as a way for advertisers to get higher returns by understanding and connecting to their desired audience through the network.

Of course, those results depend on users registering with MSN and also agreeing to provide the kind of demographic information that will make advertisers better able to target specific segments.

The paid-search features will allow advertisers to purchase keywords along with demographic identifiers, such as geographic location, gender, age group, lifestyle segment and time of day, says Microsoft.

Fighting on All Fronts

Microsoft's latest move stokes the red-hot competition among search vendors looking for an edge with customers and advertisers. In recent months, Microsoft has challenged traditional search companies Google Latest News about Google and Yahoo Latest News about Yahoo by introducing both a Web-based search engine and a desktop-search tool.

Microsoft says it will pilot a prototype of the adCenter tool in the next six months in Singapore and France to gather customer feedback. The company also notes that it will continue to work with Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) and will continue to collaborate with it to offer search listings to advertisers.

Eventually, said Li, a highly coordinated advertising service under one roof will allow Microsoft to offer combined programs for companies that wish to buy both display ads on particular areas of MSN and keywords in the search engine.

"Right now, companies buy these ads completely separately," she noted. "Having their own ad network will give Microsoft more control."

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