Microsoft, which trails far behind Google in the search market, says 30% of searches are abandoned without a satisfactory result. It claims that Bing, which replaces Microsoft Live, delivers results and content that are more relevant to how users actually search.
Microsoft's initial goal is to establish itself as the second-biggest search player within five years, a position held by Yahoo! However, it says its ultimate ambition is to supplant Google as market leader.
'Today most advertisers buy search ads only with Google and Yahoo! because Microsoft has a measly share of searches; not enough reach to make buying search ads with it worth the trouble,' says Shar VanBoskirk, an analyst with technology and market research company Forrester.
Microsoft says Bing moves 'beyond text search ads' and hopes advertisers will benefit from improved 'intent to buy' as a result of richer, more relevant search results.
The search engine's home-page offers categories such as shopping, travel, news, maps, video and images. If a user searches for a holiday or flight, for example, they will get relevant price and travel information rather than a list of sites.
Ciao, Microsoft's online shopping and price-comparison website, will be integrated into Bing, bringing 'one-click' purchasing a step closer.
Microsoft also plans to offer demographic and geographic ad targeting.
Alex Hoye, chief executive of search agency Latitude, says the advantage of the Bing interface to advertisers lies in features such as 'best match' results and 'instant answers', as well as a contents table for categories of search results.
To take advantage of this in future, brands will have to optimise their ads for subcategories, rather than keywords.
'Any advertiser should take a look at it, with the caveat that, in the short term, there will be more lookers than buyers on the site,' adds Hoye.
Microsoft marketing director Cedric Chambaz argues that Microsoft already has some advantages over Google. 'Google is the absolute target for us, but it is dependent on search as it is something that works for it,' he says. 'If users don't demand change, why change it? We can offer consumers a new alternative.'
While Chambaz admits that the success of Bing will depend on user endorsement, the size of its marketing war-chest should convince sceptics of the seriousness of Microsoft's ambition.
In the US, Microsoft has set aside $100m for advertising Bing, with a campaign created by JWT launching this week. Marketing activity in the UK will be held back until the end of the year to give Microsoft the time it needs to increase the relevance of the country-specific site
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