MSN takes search battle to Google, Yahoo

MSN Keywords offers advertisers everything from demographic and geographic audience intelligence -- including age and gender -- to what time of day and what day of the week users go online. The solution also includes a cost estimator, campaign optimisation and post sales reporting services.

MSN general manager, search engine strategy and global marketing initiatives, David Jakubowski, said the product positions MSN's advertiser portal adCenter as a one-stop shop, which would ultimately allow advertisers to refine campaigns to achieve a better ROI.

"The market today wasn't adequately addressing the advertising need to have enriched targeting tools and audience intelligence," he said. "(MSN Keywords) provides real, next-generation audience intelligence capability so that (advertisers) can make that connection with their desired customer."

But similar already-established solutions in the marketplace will ensure MSN Keywords has a difficult road ahead in gaining market share, according to OneXeno managing director Michael Zung, who added that clients and advertisers would probably take a 'wait and see' approach. "It's a very competitive landscape, and they're definitely coming in later," he said. "A lot rests on the amount of natural search volume that they get, because advertisers will only go to where the customer is, even if Microsoft has the best tool available."

MSN Keywords is currently undergoing testing in France, with the US version slated to begin testing later this year.

This article was first published on Media Asia

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