A new type of online advertising that features search within ads was announced at this week's OMMA East conference, reports DM News. The patent-pending Search&Display technology by Inoventiv Corp. of Toronto enables users to search an advertiser's database and return relevant results within an online ad unit. "Our technology goes out and brings back whatever you ask for, directly into the ad. You don't have to go look for it" on another site, said Inoventiv CEO John Marshall.

Moreover, users can click on "Buy" in the ad and are then taken to the product's purchase page, bypassing several pages and steps. Advertisers that have tested Search&Display report click-through rates of 11 percent to 14 percent, Marshall said.

"There is a great demand for search, branding, relevance and higher conversion rates. Search&Display combines these requirements to convert Web users into qualified online buyers, before the click-through," he said.