New Moves in Search Engine Advertising - MSN Ad News? That’s Classified
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You may remember an article (http://www.seochat.com/c/a/Search-Engine-
News/Is-Google-Going-into-the-Classifieds-Business/) I wrote recently about Google Automat. Google applied for a patent that made it look very much like the search engine giant was trying to get into the online classified ads business, in a way that would rival the likes of eBay and craigslist. It certainly made a start with Google Base. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Microsoft is developing a service of its own to enter this competitive arena.
The service is codenamed Fremont, and it is supposed to be tied into other offerings from Microsoft. For example, if someone is looking for a particular item, and they use Microsoft’s instant messaging service as well, they might be able to put in an alert so that the IM would send them a message if someone is offering the item they want for sale. Likewise, if they are selling something, they could get IM alerts if someone is interested in buying it.
Some of the options Microsoft is considering take advantage of social networks that are already in place. For example, one possibility might be that users can offer an item for sale only to members of their buddy lists. Or they might be able to offer an item only to those who work at the same company or attend the same university, based on email addresses.
Another good feature Microsoft hopes to integrate is geography-based searching. If you’re looking at buying or selling a car, for instance, you would probably prefer to carry out the transaction with someone in your own area. This may be true of any large, bulky, hard to transport item. Taking a wider look at the kinds of items that typically show up in classified ads, being able to do geography-based searching becomes even more important with things like jobs, houses, apartments, and – one of my favorites – yard sales.
The service is not available yet, however. It is currently being tested by Microsoft employees. Watch for a broader, more public pilot of the service sometime in 2006, probably sooner rather than later.
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