With MSN's adCenter system up and running for many U.S. advertisers, there's been a lot of speculation over whether or not Microsoft will finally be able to give Google a true run for their money in the world of search.

I've long said that I have my doubts over Microsoft's ability to best Google in a battle of pure algorithmic strength. However, Microsoft's deep pockets and their ability to deliver a better option when it comes to pay-per-click advertising and contextual ad publishing deals are going to give it some serious firepower in the search wars.

To this end, Mike Grehan has a worthwhile read over at ClickZ today. In "AdWords vs. adCenter: The Personalization Factor" he talks about MSN's giant database of user behavior and their ability to data mine that information for advertising purposes.

A snippet:

If Google has an Achilles heel, this is it. And they're very much aware of it. Most certainly, MSN's new product will add a much higher level of precision advertising than what Google currently offers. Gender, age range, and geographic location are among the demographics and stats adCenter offers to advertisers seeking tightly targeted accuracy.

Google's constant stance of "We're not a portal" is valiant insofar as keeping up the engine's uncluttered interface and search-first image goes. However, it doesn't help when it comes to data mining for personalization.

Mike makes some excellent points in the article and it will be interesting to see how this starts to play out once adCenter goes into wider release.