SEO Home reports that the MSN UK home page currently has the search box prefilled with the query “The Apprentice BBC,” effectively making it into an ad. Here’s a screenshot:
Clicking “Search” takes you to the search results for The Apprentice BBC. The first result I see is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/ with information about the show provided by the BBC.
I wonder how much that cost? :-)
Postscript From Danny: I’m trying to get comments and more details from both the BBC and Microsoft about this unprecedented deal.
Postscript from Barry: It appears MSN UK is now testing several keyword phrases in the search box. At this time I see “Cricket World Cup” but earlier I saw “Euro 2008 results.” Here are more screen captures:
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Related Topics: Microsoft: adCenter | Microsoft: General | Microsoft: Partnerships | Search Ads: General
Wow! Nice catch! Please can you let us know what youfind out, and I’ll do some digging too.
first feedback:
Yahoo! says:
“We do not currently have plans to populate the search box as you describe below. Nonetheless, we can keep you apprised of future product development initiatives as appropriate. “
not sure what it is – and a Google rep says that they are ‘very protective’ of their search bar over there, and that they have no plans to pre-populate either… so what’s up with MSN?
This has become popular in Poland. The 3 major portals (including one that uses Google for search results) are prefilling their search boxes almost daily. Please feel free to contact me if you’d like more details.