Microsoft’s Facebook Ad Deal Doesn’t Include Search

Wondering why Microsoft’s search isn’t being promoted on Facebook? Greg Sterling has noted this odd absence a couple of times, such as in his article today on a possible Microsoft purchase of Facebook. Others have as well. The answer is simple. Last year’s big Microsoft-Facebook ad deal didn’t include search. I asked Facebook about the […]

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Wondering why Microsoft’s search isn’t being promoted on Facebook? Greg
Sterling has noted this odd absence a couple of times, such as in his article
today on a possible
Microsoft purchase of Facebook
. Others have as well. The answer is simple.
Last year’s big
Microsoft-Facebook ad deal
didn’t include search. I asked Facebook about the
absence of a Microsoft search box today and got back the following:

It is not part of our deal–our deal is directly for MS running industry
standard banners in US and internationally.

The big picture? If Facebook does potentially offer a goldmine of search
traffic, it’s still up for grabs. The
exodus of Googlers
from there to Facebook could suggest that Facebookers wouldn’t want to fall
under the shadow of Google in any way, not to maintain its "next big thing"
position with some. Then again, those Googlers might still want to work with the
Big G. Or Yahoo. Or Microsoft, which already has an investment. We’ll see.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Danny Sullivan
Contributor
Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land and MarTech, and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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