• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, July 13, 2009

Microsoft's new search engine Bing might have achieved impressive traffic growth in the second quarter, but advertisers appear to be adopting it at a much slower pace then users, according to a new report from AdGooroo, a provider of Web marketing data and keyword tools.

"We measured a 5.46% increase in first-page advertisers in May -- just ahead of Bing's release -- but saw a 3.31% decrease in June," said Rich Stokes, AdGooroo founder and CEO. "The data also uncovered substantial decreases in ad coverage," Stokes said. "So Bing is serving up significantly fewer first page ads than Live Search had served previously.

That equals big opportunity for advertisers, Stokes added. "This is great news for Bing users and advertisers since reduced ad coverage typically improves the user experience and indicates less competition for advertisers that decide to get in the game."

Also of note, Bing could presently be considered Google's greatest "frenemy" ever, as the search newcomer made the search leader's list of top advertisers inBing the in second quarter.

Newcomers on the Microsoft list of top advertisers, meanwhile, include many well known brands that have embraced the engine early, perhaps hoping to capitalize on the substantial Microsoft ad campaign currently supporting the Bing launch.

Microsoft's aggressive marketing push for Bing -- which reports suggest will top $100, have been paying off in other ways. According to YouGovPolimetrix's BrandIndex measurement, 25% of U.S. adults had heard something about Bing between June 8 and June 22. By contrast, on June 8, only about 8% of adults had heard anything about the search engine.

Overall, while Microsoft generated an impressive 35% growth in its advertiser base year over year, Google won the battle by increasing its own base of advertisers -- the largest by far among the three engines -- by 52%. Poor Yahoo grew only 14% over the same time period.

Microsoft launched Bing in early June, dubbing it a "decision engine" that helped people find what they were looking for in Web searches.