The box outlined in red is the Quick Preview for the first search result. One can see this preview by simply scrolling the mouse over the yellow quick glance button.

Now, would this feature be useful for PPC sponsored links? Think about it. Would it be beneficial for a potential visitor to view a preview of the link’s landing page before even clicking? If Bing applies this feature to sponsored links, it will be imperative to ensure that landing pages consist of enough relevant and useful information to fill in a preview box and cause searchers to want to click on the link.

As a PPC specialist, my main concern is what Bing will do for us Pay per Click marketers. I say us PPC heads should wait for about a month before making a move. Give Bing an opportunity to prove itself to us. There’s a massive buzz going around about Bing (special thanks to its $80-$100 million advertising budget) and as each day passes, the search engine is receiving more and more traffic. Now is this traffic mostly relevant? This question will be answered as time progresses and more data is collected. Oh and FYI, if you have a client that targets an international market, Bing would not be worth investing into as it does not offer a PPC platform outside of the US and UK at the moment.

After an extensive investigation, a colleague of mine discovered that Bing has embedded some form of an ad predictor into its software (way to go Andy). Because of this ad predictor, there are IP addresses that are currently hindering sponsored links from being seen. In addition, Microsoft is using a history tool that blocks certain sponsored links from being displayed if the viewer did not click on these links during previous searches. Let’s take a Caribbean cruise for example.

Aahhhh, don’t you just wish you were there right now, instead of sitting in your dull office?

So, if you search Caribbean cruises and a set of ads promoting cruise deals show up at the side of the screen and you do not click on them and continue not to click on them as you search; as time progresses, the likelihood of these ads displaying will decrease. As some people may think this is intelligent, others would be reminded that often times consumers research products before making a purchase. Suppose you searched Caribbean cruises to see what’s out there and are not ready to make a purchase but the next time you search Caribbean cruises, you are. Because of this feature, a cruise company has lost out on a potential transaction.

With all things considered, it’s going to take some time to see all the things that Bing truly has to offer. Is it safe to say that Bing’s on its way to forcing Google into complete extinction? Of course not; however as a PPC marketer, I see potential for great results and see no reason for not giving it a shot in the very near future.