Via Adage (registration required) comes word that Microsoft is … well … being innovative? From the article:

In a effort to technologically outflank Yahoo and Google, Microsoft Corp. will launch a new U.S. keyword paid-search program that enables marketers to target their keyword buys at specific consumer segments. The new feature links keyword search techniques to MSN.com’s demographic database of 400 million registered users.

Under other circumstances I might liken this to tagging the word. But “tag” doesn’t sound as distasteful as “parasite”; and this new MSN service – innocently named “adCenter” – sounds distasteful.