There have been reports that Microsoft is spending a lot in advertising to promote its newly unveiled search engine- Bing. The search giant’s ad campaign for Bing took another turn when Microsoft launched a week-long ad campaign for the search engine on The Daily Show. With the new campaign called “Fast Forward” it seems Microsoft is paying for several minutes of commercial time, only to air the 30-second “Fast Forward” in place of several other ads.

The ad which is yet to make available publicly, begins with a Snuggie commercial, but after a few seconds the video, along with audio fast forwards through the Snuggie spot and other commercials. Then audio goes silent and it shows Bing’s message on two slides: “Getting You What You Want Faster / It’s What We’re All About.”

Reportedly, Microsoft is all set close down its Question and Answer portal, MSN QnA by coming May 21, 2009.

“At this time, we are closing the QnA site, but the experience of running QnA and gathering all of the great feedback you’ve shared with us will certainly influence future product direction”- Microsoft

Yes, you read it right! Microsoft is giving perks even during recession.

Microsoft’s SearchPerks program has been running a three-day incentive in order to encourage participants to do more searches on Live Search. It has started on January 21, and running through January 23, which is offering double tickets for every search with a maximum of 50 tickets available that can be earned each day.

Below is the snapshot of the email through which SearchPerks is notifying members about the incentive offer:

Microsoft adCenter in their official press revealed the results of an online survey which was conducted in order to examine the search marketing behaviors of 400 small-business owners in the United States. The survey found that a majority of the small businesses (considered in survey) invest in developing Web sites, but are unable to take even the simplest steps to enhance their online business presence. According to the survey, almost fifty nine percent of small businesses with Web sites are not currently practising paid search marketing, and of those, 90 percent have not even attempted it!

Let’s have look at the extracts from the Microsoft adCenter press release:

If reports from Liveside.net are to be believed, then it has been noticed that Microsoft is having the ownership of a new domain name kumo.com!

The reports are even pointing towards an internal Microsoft test site as well. Can it be seen as an option that Microsoft’s Live Search is going to have a new name?

In a post that was written by Mary Jo Foley, a firm discussion has been done on Microsoft’s plan of rebranding Live Search.

Recently, an article by Skip Chilcott, Sr. Product Manager of Microsoft has amazed many SEOs, as he openly asked the entire webmasters to participate in Link Exchange program. This is because, Link Exchange program is likely to result in providing a boost to their ranks in search engines. However, Chilcott’s statement contradicts with

Google’s Webmaster and Microsoft’s guidelines

Here is what Google has to say regarding participation in the link schemes:
“…there are some webmasters who get involved in link exchange programs and other build partner pages just for the purpose of cross linking and disregarding the quality of links. This leaves a long term impact on their sites. But the strategy totally violate the set guidelines of Google Webmaster and can also have negative affect on search engine ranking results..”