Microsoft Unveils Tools For Advertisers, WebmastersMicrosoft Unveils Tools For Advertisers, Webmasters

Microsoft on Monday introduced a batch of new tools and services designed to make it easier for Internet advertisers and producers to create more effective online campaigns and build high-traffic sites.

The products are designed to work with Microsoft's adCenter and Live Search environments.

A new tool called adCenter Add-in for Excel 2007 lets users of Microsoft's adCenter paid search platform more easily research the effectiveness of keywords in terms of attracting eyeballs and targeting specific interest groups.

The product effectively allows Excel 2007 to act as a front end for Microsoft's vast repository of keyword statistics that's accessible to adCenter customers. It's expected to be available Jan. 8.

Another new offering, Webmaster Center, is a portal through which Webmasters and search engine optimizers can access a range of resources to help them create Web sites that get high-profile listings on Live Search queries.

The resources include information on how Live Search crawls and indexes site pages and on site map creation and submission. They also include data on Web sites currently indexed by Live Search. A beta version of Webmaster Center is now online.

Microsoft is offering the new products and services through its Advertiser & Publisher Solutions unit -- a group that the company recently formed as part of an effort to establish a bigger presence in the digital advertising market.

Microsoft also is hoping to beef up traffic on its MSN and Windows Live search sites. Despite the efforts, the company appears to be losing ground against rivals Google and Yahoo in the race to attract traffic.

Microsoft in September captured 10.3% of all search traffic, compared with 57% for Google and 23.7% for Yahoo, according to the latest numbers published by Search Engine Watch. Microsoft's share fell 1% from the previous month, while Yahoo and Google posted slight gains.