Facebook is testing new “Sponsored Results” ads that will let advertisers promote their businesses in the social network’s drop-down search results, according to a new report. TechCrunch reports that the service will let advertisers bid against specific pages, apps or places (rather than just keywords).
For example, a competing game company could target Zynga’s CityVille so anyone searching for “CityVille” would see an ad leading to their game alongside the organic search result leading to Zynga’s game.
The service will complement Facebook’s other demographic and interest targeting, which could make the ad units a major new source of revenue for the social network.
“Sponsored Results” appear in similar format as organic results, though they include the word “sponsored” and a brief message from the advertiser, based on screenshots provided to TechCrunch.
The value of the service is up for debate, as Facebook is notoriously secretive about the keywords typed into its search engine. It’s likely users most often search for their friends and pages or apps they are already connected to, so Sponsored Results might come across as irrelevant.
In reaction to the report, Facebook issued an official statement: “We are currently testing a feature that surfaces sponsored results along with the organic results when people are looking for things on Facebook. We try to show people apps and pages they’ll be most interested in.”
Back in 2009, Facebook struck a deal with Microsoft to let it place ads at the bottom of the search results page, but now Facebook is taking control and offering a fully-owned platform for search ads.
Source: TechCrunch: http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/19/facebook-sponsored-results
