With Microsoft having begun its AdCenter pilot by rolling out a beta interface, SearchEngineLowdown takes it for a quick spin and reports on how well it handles. Pretty well, judging from the A- grade it receives. "Microsoft has obviously spent time doing market research finding out what users would like in their console…adding features that are unprecedented in the search space," according to SEL, which provides some screenshots as well.

The post points to AdCenter's geo-targeting capability (allowing advertisers to focus efforts down to the local, city level); demographic targeting (by age and gender); time targeting (e.g., bidding a bit more during business hours); and bid matching (on exact, phrase and broad keyword matches). Two of the negatives: no content targeting, lack of Firefox compatibility.