14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently announced that ads will be offered as part of the Windows 8.1 search experience, so advertisers can now connect to users even easier.
As you most likely heard by now, Windows 8.1 comes with a completely revamped search option that allows consumers to look for information both online and offline. You can search for basically everything, including photos, files, documents, web links, and SkyDrive content straight from the Start screen.
Microsoft is now planning to use this option to give advertisers the power to reach the targeted audience a lot easier.
“Now, with a single campaign setup, advertisers can connect with consumers across Bing, Yahoo! and the new Windows Search with highly relevant ads for their search queries. In addition, Bing Ads will include web previews of websites and the latest features like site links, location and call extensions, making it easier for consumers to complete tasks and for advertisers to drive qualified leads,” the company explained.
This is most likely part of Microsoft’s efforts to make Bing a dedicated platform, as the search engine is now playing a much more important role for the software maker’s long-term strategy.
“Bing Ads within Windows 8.1 Smart Search allows advertiser campaigns that are already participating on the Yahoo! Bing Network to automatically be eligible to be shown without any additional setup. As we’ve said before, our goal is to make search advertising easier for our customers, while providing the best consumer experience with the most relevant results for the tasks they are looking to accomplish,” it also added.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether users agree with such a change and if the company is planning to offer an option to disable ads in Windows 8.1’s search screen. The company has promised to offer more details on this in the coming months, as the feature will most likely be launched in Windows 8.1 RTM.