In an attempt to attract more search traffic and more ad dollars, Microsoft is exploring the possibility of compensating users of its search engine. Last week, Chairman Bill Gates said Microsoft would
dole out rewards in the form of cash, free content or software in order to lure more users to MSN Search, which was a distant third to Google and Yahoo! in the latest Nielsen/NetRatings search poll.
The idea, of course, is that more users mean more advertisers, but paying off consumers to use a search engine could create all sorts of problems, such as clicking on ads with no intention to buy a
product just to receive compensation or, worse, a new kind of click fraud in which fraudsters receive money for using a search engine to waste advertisers' money. This would seriously dilute the
effectiveness of search advertising. Gates is going to have to give us a lot more detail about his plans for this one.
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