The latest attempt for Microsoft to gain traction in the search market comes in the shape of SearchPerks. Like [bust] ad models of days gone by [Alladvantage, bepaid.com etc.] SearchPerks encourages users to sign up and earn credits based on searching behaviour.
The programme, limited to 25,000 people installs a small tracking device [Internet Explorer only - another nice touch to keep users locked] and encourages you to change your search engine to MSN or live.com by default. Once you are all set up, the counter tracks how many searches you do and keeps them on record.
After April 15th 2009, your points are collected and can be exchanged for prizes rewards. To quote SEW
Every time you search, you earn tickets. You can earn up to 25 tickets a day. Tickets can later be redeemed for all sorts of rewards including music downloads (5 for 525 points) and airline miles (1000 miles for 1800 tickets).
The plan is certainly different, but our concerns are that the type of audience using the search facility may not be the most engaged and therefore not of similar value to other search traffic. Whilst this programme does not encourage clicks [and I'm sure the T's & C's stress this] there is a concern that it is a paid audience who will ultimately stimulate search clicks for lesser return.
Time will tell if this project has an impact on search performance. We have always found Microsoft search traffic to be lower in volume [than Yahoo & Google] but higher in quality. Let’s hope Searchperks can boost the volume without losing the quality.
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