January 15, 2006
Microsoft and PPC (Pay Per Click)
Well, the day some have been waiting for is almost here.
Many have been wondering when Mighty Microsoft would take on Google where it could hurt them most, as well as taking on Yahoo's Overture PPC system instead of feeding it $$$'s by using their system.
According to this Associated Press story Microsoft/MSN is shooting to fully release their own PPC component by June of 2006. Or I should say they're planning to release it in the US by June.
PPC, or Pay Per Click, is a huge deal. As I've written here previously, the vast majority (90% +) of Google's revenue can be directly tracked to their Adwords and Adsense sells. Yahoo! has already been competing Google's Adwords model via their Overture purchase from some time ago, and have introduced their own service to compete against Adsense as I wrote a bit about here and here.
Now it would appear that MSN is finally preparing to enter the PPC fray.
As I've said before, Microsoft is truly the Sleeping Giant. They have a huge network of sites they can use to feed a PPC component, and lots of money to throw at creating a better mouse. I've not seen the interface as yet since their pilot adCenter program is a By Invitation Only thing and I really don't have a personal need to sign up. However in reading through some of the documents and specifications it appears that this is exactly what they've been attempting to do in secret. To build a better PPC program.
(Click on the Learning Center link in the adCenter page to see most of those documents.)
It also appears that they're taking Click Fraud quite seriously and being very proactive in stopping it before it happens, rather than relying on reports from advertisers. Which is more than can be said for the others from everything I've been able to see.
Since their entry into the realm of Search MSN/MS has been pretty open to listening to Webmasters and SEO professionals IMHO. From initial indications it looks like they've been listening pretty closely to PPC advertisers as well.
Interestingly, it looks like they're going to give their PPC advertisers ways to target specific types of searchers. Their system attempts to support targeting via gender, age, geographic location, days of the week, time of day, etc. So if you truly understand who your target audience is you should be able to better limit your advertising spend yet still reach those you're trying to reach. This targeting aspect looks to be a really cool feature for advertisers.
It's sure going to be an interesting year in 2006! The sleeping giant is starting to awaken from its slumber, and we all know how grandiose some of the plans coming out of Redmond can be. Let's see if they can pull of some of these grandiose ideas. I'm hoping they do, because it will force others to follow suit and offer better tools and better control for all advertisers.