Microsoft announced today that their online search portal MSN would be following the lead of Google, Yahoo! and other on-line competitors and plans to start selling sponsored links on its search web pages.
The move, anticipated by numerous web marketing sources will help Microsoft move into the pottentially lucrative area of paid search listing.
MSN aggressive effort to catch up in on-line search with market leaders Google and Yahoo will be using demographic information the software company has gathered over the years, raising privacy concerns for some.
Microsoft's paid search effort will be unveiled today at the company's annual MSN Strategic Account Summit, geared toward the on-line advertising industry.
At this year's event on Microsoft's Redmond campus, speakers include Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Barry Diller, CEO of InterActiveCorp. But in a switch from previous years, Microsoft is not allowing journalists to attend the meeting.