Microsoft has announced an increase in advertising revenue.

In the three-month period ending March 31st, the company saw income rise by 23 per cent compared to the same period in 2006.

Meanwhile, traffic to Microsoft websites was reported to have increased four per cent from last year, which is likely to be welcomed by marketers advertising on the portal.

Chief financial officer Chris Liddell told Clickz: "We are now monetising more effectively in the US on our own adCenter platform than we had under third-party Overture at this time last year."

"Our display growth was in line with what is a healthy market, driven by an increase in page views," he added.

Earlier this month, Microsoft reported it is to make an updated version of adCenter available to marketers in May, which could help firms target users more effectively.

Writing on Search Engine Watch, Eric Enge claimed the new system could allow advertisers to edit keywords from different campaigns on a single screen, in addition to providing support for Firefox and pop-ups.