Microsoft updates adCenter quality scores

2 October 2007

To coincide with the launch of its updated Live Search, Microsoft has changed the way it calculates the quality score of pages.

In an adCenter blog post, marketing manager Jen K and community team member Carolyn outline the modifications.

As a result of the new method, a wider variety of advertisements may appear in the mainline - the area immediately above search results - they explain.

Propensity for this to happen is linked to the maximum bid set for the commercial, as well as the click-through rate it has achieved in the past.

The authors write: "Prior to this change, the algorithm used to determine when ads could appear in the mainline was more rigid.

"With these changes, the marketplace is now more dynamic and any ad with a quality-based ranking above the mainline threshold may appear."

In a separate post, Carolyn states that the new version 2.0 of Live Search indexes four-times as many pages to offer more complete search results.

Category: Paid search