We were contacted by our Microsoft AdCenter account rep last week about the AdCenterAdd-in(beta) for Excel 2007 with Ad Intelligence. Excited to install a new module for Excel, this new tool seamlessly integrated itself into Excel 07 as a separate category tab.

The Verdict: This Beta add-in is the first time MSN AdCenter has truly developed a tool with the end-user held close at mind. This client-side add-in is a really good tool not a revolutionary tool, but a valuable feature set to call upon at any given moment you are in Excel plugging away at new keywords. The beauty of this program is that the data can be applied to non-MSN marketing channels.

Here’s a list of notable features with some good suggested uses. There is nothing revolutionary about any single feature, but it does consolidate tools and reports currently scattered across Ad Centers back end. It saves SEM developers valuable time by integrating (adding-in) these features directly into theExcel editing environment. Results are returned to you in Auto-Filter format which allows you to get very detailed by widdling away all but the best keywords for your account based on user preference.

• Keyword Extraction:
  Enter URL(s) in Excel This feature crawls the website(s) and extracts keywords from meta tags and content. This tool differs from Google’s website content keyword tool because it does not return actively advertised keywords, only raw content based keywords.

Try this> Copy the URLs of allof your competitors into Excel and see if there are keywords or perhaps alternate verbiage being used which you can add to your accounts. Use it to help you get those creative juices flowing and to avoid a keyword writer’s block from advertising an unfamiliar product or industry vertical.

• Keyword Suggestion:
  • Campaign Association: Returns similar words competitors are bidding on.
  • Contained: Returns similar words users are searching for on MSN.
  • Similarity: Returns similar words in context to other keywords used on the Web.

Try This > First use Campaign Association to get a list of competitor keywords then compare the results of Contained and Similarity to see if there are any opportunities to bid on keywords which have little or no competition on MSN.

• Search Buzz:
  • Top Spiky Keywords: Choose your vertical from the drop-down menu and see which buzzwords are showing an unusual spike in activity.
  • Top Frequent Keywords: Choose your vertical from the drop-down menu and see which are the most popular keywords.

Try This > Use the Top Spiky Keywords to help you develop negative keywords. i.e. Real Estate Lending the results return the keyword Mortgage Leads and show that it is spiking. Since in the example we are advertising to the consumer, adding Leads as a negative keyword would help limit B2B lead resellers from seeing your ads.

• Traffic:
  Monthly & Daily. View historical & forecasted impression counts for your keyword(s).

• Monetization:
  Same as the keyword estimations when adding a new listing. Shows potential Clicks, Impressions, Avg Position, CTR, CPC. The added benefit to this feature is that it compares the estimated performances of Broad, Phrase and Exact match.

• Geographic:
  Uses your keyword(s) to provide impressions estimates based on the available geo-targeted locations available in the Ad Group settings and a over a given time period.
  Try this> Use this feature to spot dips and peaks in account activity over the course of a year. Optimize by geo-targeting your Ad Groups around seasonal search activity across the country.

• Demographic:
  Uses your keyword(s) to provide percentages of your search audience: Male vs. Female & Age Range (0-12), (13-18), (18-25),(25-35),(35-50),(50-65), (65+)
  Try this > Who is your product or service being targeted to? After you research a bunch of new keywords, you can use this feature to isolate the keywords most relevant to your target-base and thus improve your CTR.

(The one feature which would be exceptional to have with this utility would be a BulkUpload functionality thus avoiding the current online model which is in place and very cumbersome. )

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