• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 15, 2011

Microsoft will deliver a wave of enhancements to adCenter. Some will come from the company's engineers, while third-party developers will deliver the others. Changes afoot at the Bellevue, Wash. company clearly show a push to gain on rival Google when it comes to making it easier for marketers to run search engine marketing campaigns. 

During the first three to six months of 2012, Microsoft will release Match Type by URL. The tool aims to give marketers more control by allowing them to pick the exact URL to which the Match Type will drive traffic.

The platform also will get new reporting capabilities that improve the relevancy in campaigns. Algorithms suggest changes to landing pages, bids, ad copy and more. AB tests will offer up comparison features through adCenter and the API.

New ad units will also become available through pilot programs. In fact, lots of them, according to David Pann, GM for Microsoft Advertising Search Network. One pilot ad unit, Entity, streams real-time price information directly into adCenter, so as the price for goods changes it gets updated in the ad copy without going through an editorial process.

Marketers will also see Microsoft expand Rich Ads in Search templates to support mortgage and travel categories, as well as experimenting with embedded links in ad units.

Aside from its search alliance with Yahoo, partnerships will continue to support adCenter. A recently announced partnership between Microsoft and adChemy demonstrates performance through the number of campaigns that have grown from 10,000 to several thousand. The idea is to allow marketers to easily scale up the number of campaigns focused on consumer intent. The platform takes intent and creates keyword combinations for marketers, so advertisers tap into the broadest set of keyword available. 

That's the strategy behind the advertising technology, but the philosophy supporting the psychology digs deeper into the building blocks that made Microsoft the innovator. It means building out a third-party network to nurture the development community.

Microsoft built a business based on third-party developers. A preferred partner program created with Yahoo will do the same, giving search engine marketers (SEM) better insight into adCenter's product roadmap. "Microsoft has had phenomenal experience and success in embracing the developer community," Pann said. "We will try to take the history and success and apply it to get the SEMs or technology provides to help build capabilities on top of adCenter."