Microsoft Asking for Sign-Ups for adCenter Desktop Beta

The official Microsoft adCenter blog announced the beta testing of a desktop utility for their paid search platform.

For paid search managers, this software will function much like Google’s Adwords desktop application.

Basically you will be able to manage your adCenter campaigns from the convenience of your desktop without the use of a browser. The positives of software like this are numerous. The most obvious is that it allows you to make wholesale edits and revisions without worrying about the real time implications on your account. Such software also makes the initial process of paid search account setup much easier.

According to the blog teh adCenter application allows:

Quickly navigate through multiple accounts

Copy and paste keywords, negative keywords, match types and bid amounts from the adCenter Add-in for Excel into the Desktop application

Bulk edit multiple items at once (bid prices, destination URLs, ad group targeting, etc.) —within or across groups of items

Scan campaigns for editorial issues before uploading to adCenter

Upload changes to the adCenter user interface instantly with one click

You can participate in the beta testing by visiting the applications official page on the adCenter website.

This is just one more notable move in Microsoft’s visible focus on their paid search initiative. It seems as though the minds at Microsoft are focusing on showing on the value of paid search to advertisers as a way to grow their market share. I am not sure how this works since their low quality organic results keep their search share at such a small share.

Microsoft should probably take a look back at what the big G did. Their high quality search results gave birth to their industry changing paid search program, not the other way around. Traffic is based on users, and until the organic results of Live become usable to searchers adCenter will suffer no matter the initiatives of the company.