Source: INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Microsoft (MSFT) might not have to search hard to find advertisers for its new paid search service.
On Tuesday, the firm is expected to unveil its first such service.
And it will outdo competing services from Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO) in two major respects: It will let advertisers reach segments of consumers according to age and gender, and it will let them reach consumers based on previous shopping habits.
So say online marketing executives who have seen the service in action, Microsoft's bid to grab a big chunk of paid search ad revenue.
Google and Yahoo don't include these targeting features in their paid search programs. Many search marketers are bullish on the upcoming service from Microsoft's MSN.
In the last two months, Microsoft has been testing the service, called adCenter, in Singapore and France.
Google controls roughly half of the multibillion-dollar paid search market, and No. 2 Yahoo is near 30%.
As with most such services, adCenter advertisers will bid to get their ad links next to search results pages for certain keywords that best describe their products. The ads will likely show up as "sponsored links" near search results.
Advertisers pay each time a consumer clicks on their ad. Those that agree to pay the most per click get the best placement among the sponsored paid search results.
MSN already offers ad links on its existing search service, but it's Yahoo's paid search. Analysts expect that relationship to continue for at least a few months. Yahoo provides the ads, and the two share in revenue from clicks made on MSN.
Like Google and Yahoo, MSN will likely offer local search services.
Day-Parting, Behavioral
But Microsoft's demographic targeting is a step ahead of other services. And adCenter will let advertisers target groups of customers during certain times of the day, a tactic called day-parting.
Microsoft will also provide advertisers with the ability to serve ads to consumers who use Microsoft's search for multiple searches of the same products. After someone does one search for "digital cameras," the person often will soon do a second and third search fairly soon.
Microsoft is feeding its search service personal information such as age, gender and ZIP codes provided by folks who have signed up for the company's Hotmail e-mail and Passport instant messaging services throughout the years.
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