Contextual advertising places in real time an ad on a page based on the specific content of that individual page. For example a publisher may have a sports channel and has traditionally sold this placement option with the same ad displayed on all pages in the sports channel. With contextual advertising an ad for tennis shoes would appear on pages about tennis events while an ad for golf clubs would appear on a page about golf events. With a news site this becomes even more powerful due the wide range of ever changing stories and topics covered by each page of the site.

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There are now a huge number of internet explorer toolbars that can be downloaded from the web. They integrate with your browser offering additional functionality including popup blockers and instant search. We have reviewed a number of the most popular ones as each has its own “cool” features.

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http://beta.search.msn.com/

Here’s a statement from Karen Redetzki, MSN Product Manager:
“In order to increase relevancy, MSN Search is testing solutions on MSN Search to a small percentage of consumers in various markets worldwide. Tests serve as no indication as to the direction MSN will eventually take in the future but rather are research to determine the most useful consumer experience on MSN Search. Tests or changes in one country do not necessarily indicate what may or may not be tested or changed in the US or other markets. We determine the needs of customers in individual markets and make the best decision for that market based on both consumer and advertiser wants & needs.”

2003 was dominated by Google who continued to increase their market share to over 32% of direct searches and 76% if you count indirect Google searches carried out on sites like Yahoo. For full details visit: http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/article.php/256431

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