The new Agency Center 1.0, so-called, gives its users a bird's-eye view of the interface, which provides information for multiple accounts from a centralized location.

The changes are the result of growth within the industry, which has led to overwhelmed agency marketers responsible for managing their companies' contextual pay-per-click campaigns, according to Seb Bishop, director and chief marketing officer at Miva. "This is a sign that the industry is growing," said Bishop.

At least one analyst concurred. "This is clearly a big time saver for marketers--an efficiency tool--as the industry grows and becomes more complicated," said Chuck Richard, vice president and lead analyst at Outsell, an industry research firm in Burlingame, Calif.

Miva garnered 1 percent of search spending this past holiday season, according to a survey of media executives conducted by Deutsche Bank in conjunction with MediaPost and released in mid-January. That same study showed that 57 percent of search spending went to Google, while Yahoo garnered 23 percent of spending, and MSN accounted for 5 percent. Ask Jeeves also got 1 percent.

Independent of the Deutsche Bank/MediaPost study, Miva recently hired Deutsche Bank to help it explore new options aimed at boosting its value for shareholders. The company will pursue various strategies--including a possible sale, which has been widely speculated in the last several months. Other possibilities include selling securities, assets, recapitalizing, or making acquisitions.

Miva was one of the early successful adopters of pay-per-click advertising, but last August the company had to pay Yahoo subsidiary Overture Services $8 million for using technology it had patented. Miva's estimated public value is just above $170 million.

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