After backing off from its proposed Yahoo takeover, Microsoft has pumped up its advertising worth with the results of a Nielsen study showing Microsoft web surfers are more receptive to pay per click advertising Read More .

The study commissioned by Microsoft last year and carried out by respected analysts Nielsen claims that Live Search users are 50% more likely than Google users to trust the sponsored listings returned at the side of search results. Aware that action speaks louder than words a further 36% of those users claimed to be more likely to click on a pay per click advert on MSN than those returned by California rival, Google.

Interestingly, the survey also found that Live Search users were more likely than users of other search engines to believe that sponsored links were more relevant than web sites featured in the natural listings. While Google users lagged behind, AOL was a surprise second party entrant on this question with 17% of their users saying the sponsored links often returned more relevant results.

So what does the survey mean? From an MSN perspective the results are positive, given the trust its users seem to feel towards the search engine. Search marketers can put this to the test themselves by comparing click through rates from their Google advertising with their MSN results.