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Microsoft to pay firms to use Live Search in bid to catch Google and Yahoo
Microsoft is to pay corporate customers to use its Live Search service, it has emerged.In a statement, the software giant confirmed that it would give business customers service or training credits if their employees used the search engine, in a bid to claim a greater market share from the likes of Google and Yahoo.
Search ad revenue is Google's primary source of income and it is the undisputed leader in the field, even though the latest figures from Compete.com show that Live search is making gains.
The smaller Ask.com is also looking to increase its own market share with a guerrilla marketing campaign.
Microsoft's latest campaign will specifically target businesses.
"We are conducting a trail program through which Microsoft is providing service or training credits to a select number of enterprise customers based on the number of web search queries conducted by their employees via Live Search," the company said.
"As search evolved into more of a productivity tool, and revenue sharing becomes more commonplace across the industry, we are engaging in mutually beneficial partnerships such as this and our recently announced deal with Lenovo to more easily enable customers to choose Live Search."
He was referring to the agreement between Microsoft and Lenovo to pre-load the latter's PCs with Live Search.
Business looking to optimise their websites efficiently should not neglect Microsoft's Live Search and Yahoo, even though Google can sometimes seem like the be-all and end-all.
Link building delivers results across all major search engines, ensuring that the largest possible audience hears about your product.
Microsoft News posted on 19 March 2007
