Microsoft Calls Google’s Bluff

Microsoft is throwing down as rival Google continues to rake in the money and the traffic. The company is accusing Google of getting credit it doesn’t deserve for clicks on a lot of the ads it delivers through its search engine.

At least according to Brian McAndrews, senior VP of Microsoft’s Advertiser Publisher Solutions Group. McAndrews made comments in a panel discussion on Thursday at the Web 2.0 Summit as reported by InfoWorld.

McAndrews said that the methodology behind analyzing and tracking ad conversions currently looks at the last ad viewed that a user had clicked on rather than the locations a user could have potentially been at before that influenced the action, therefore giving the last publisher full credit for the conversion.

Microsoft is developing a solution called “conversion attribution” that tracks the entire search trail of ads a user sees, so complete details of a campaign’s effectiveness can be monitored.

McAndrews statement, which was quoted in InfoWorld said

“We’ll introduce conversion attribution to give [more publishers] credit and it will devalue search [advertising].”

Search claims 40% of all ad spend and Google has gotten to where it is today because of PPC ads. McAndrews continued that although search has been important for the growth in online advertising, a new era will replace the frontrunner in this market.

Display and rich media are gaining speed, which PPC is not the best choice for according to his forecasts.