MSN Embracing Paid Search

Paid search, in which advertisers pay to be listed prominently in end users’ search results, was one of the few bright spots in a poor Internet advertising market in 2002. In an effort to increase MSN’s appeal to partners and advertisers and bolster its drive to profitability, MSN will likely increase its investment in paid search through acquisitions of paid search companies or technology, or by developing new technology to create better results for advertisers.

Two Types of Search

Searching for a specific term is often the easiest and most useful way for users to get information from the Web. Some prominent Web sites, including Microsoft.com and Amazon.com, have built their own search engines for use within their sites. But most Web sites—particularly consumer portals that offer searches of the entire Web—outsource this function to companies that specialize in search, such as AskJeeves, Google, Inktomi, LookSmart, and Overture.

These search specialists offer two very different types of search functionality: algorithmic search and paid search.