Microsoft Office Live today announced that it is adding Ask Sponsored Listings to its adManager Beta search advertising service.

Through adManager, small businesses will be able to purchase and manage search-based keyword advertising from the Microsoft Office Live platform and appear within Ask Sponsored Listings. This is a very big deal as it may signal further consolidation within the competitive search engine and Internet advertising industries.

 "We are very excited about the integration of Ask Sponsored Listings, as this provides more options for our small businesses to market their companies and attract new customers," said Baris Cetinok, director of product management and marketing for Microsoft Office Live. "Adding Ask Sponsored Listings to our adManager service gets us one step closer to our goal of providing small businesses with an all-inclusive search engine marketing service."