When you're a distant third in search, it's easy to downplay the channel. But regardless of its position, Microsoft is making the case that search should only be one component of a marketer's digital ad spend.

Speaking at the IAB's MIXX conference in New York, Young-Bean Song, Microsoft's VP of analytics for the company's advertiser and publisher solutions group, told the attendees that they are assigning more value to search than they probably should.

"You don't have to be in marketing to realize that there's a lot more going on [besides search]," Song said. "People are seeing ads across many, many sites, across many, many channels, over extended periods of time. And all of those different touchpoints are making a difference."

According to Song, the myopic view of search places a disproportionate emphasis on the so-called last click. But while Song may be right on the larger point, his insights may not carry the weight that they need to. After all, search is still incredibly important, and no one knows that more than Song's employer, Microsoft, which went through months of acrimony in its failed bid to acquire Yahoo. That deal would have given a combined company an edge in a wide open display market, but it also would have narrowed the gap in the critical search sector. Without Yahoo, Microsoft has had to go it alone, and that means it will have to make its case to advertisers with less search muscle than it may have hoped for.