Cashback is a campaign run by Microsoft that allows users who buy computers, electronics or clothing through Live Search to get discounts on their products. The campaign’s sole purpose is to increase traffic on Microsoft’s search engine by attracting more users in order to compete with other similar sites like the ones offered by Google or Yahoo. The Cashback campaign was born in May this year, and it has been clear from the beginning what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was looking for. The campaign was both criticized and praised by many. Some found that the campaign was too aggressive, taking advantage of the economic crisis, rewarding people for using Live Search, while others believed that this is the main purpose of the Internet, making life easier for people and, ultimately, shoppers.

Recently, Microsoft issued a press release describing the current benefits of the Cashback program. According to them, the site has been taking approximately 4, 5 million visitors through Cashback per month since the beginning of the program. Also from the beginning of the campaign Microsoft successfully managed to attract sponsors like AT&T, Drugstore.com, Banana Republic, Kmart and Saks Fifth Avenue. Microsoft announced that the total number of product available through the Cashback program is now reaching 1, 3 million.

It seems that Cashback is really helping out with Live Search’s popularity and even if Microsoft’s search engine is not as popular as Google, with a little more work and more discounts, Live Search can increase its traffic even more.