Microsoft logged a 23 percent increase in online advertising revenue on its first quarter earnings statements, reports ClickZ.

The increase represents a significant leap ahead of goals set last year. Microsoft touts it as a win for the AdCenter platform, noting the company is better at monetizing ads now than with Overture, an ad platform now owned by Yahoo!.

Overall revenue in the online services group, including MSN, search and AdCenter was up 11 percent over last year.