What’s the story of "chocolate"? As learned from data freely available to all adCenter users via the adCenter Add-in for Excel:

• There are more searches for Chocolate in February than any other month, but there are notable peaks throughout the year in June and October (a demonstration of appropriate year-round appreciation for the subject). Find this data in Monthly Traffic
• Ads for “chocolate” in an average position of 2 have a higher CTR than other positions. Find this data in Monetization
• Women tend to search for “chocolate” more than men, with 64.27% probability from 3/22/08 to 3/31/08. Find this data in Demographic
• Most searches including the term “chocolate” skewed female from 3/22/08 to 3/31/08. Find this data in Demographic
• The sweet spot for “chocolate” searchers from 3/22/08 to 3/31/08 are those aged 35-50. Find this data in Demographic
• People in California, Texas, and New York searched more for “chocolate” than other states from 3/22/08 to 3/31/08. Find this data in Geographic
• Campaigns including the keyword “chocolate” are very focused to chocolate as a food and not focused on chocolate in all its other iterations and meanings. Find this data in Keyword Suggestion, Campaign Association
• Searches including the term “chocolate” demonstrate the many facets of the word, as a food, a name, a musical group, a breed description, a color, an ingredient, etc… Find this data in Keyword Suggestion, Contained

How can you use this information to improve your marketing efforts?

• Understanding historical valleys and peaks enables better budget planning and campaign planning for both online and offline efforts.
• Analyzing position and associated CTR will help to anticipate traffic, budget and potential interest in your terms and products
• Researching keyword demographic data can help you hone your marketing message to the audience most likely to be searching for your terms. This is also a way to hone offline messages according to the audience you are attempting to reach -- by answering their conversation in a manner similar to the way they began it with you.
• Geographic and Demographic data gleaned from search can help you cross validate your offline message content to ensure you are speaking to the audience you intend to.
• Specifically for “chocolate” there may be opportunity to expand this to campaigns reaching beyond the core food -- primarily around ingredients.
• Identify possible negative keywords by reviewing terms likely to include your core term.

While this has been a story of one word, a sweet one, the story gets sweeter when you analyze many related words to understand the complex language around a concept and all the associated data available to inform this. You can look at all of your keywords and pull all of the above data points to find similar highlights and action items, but your analysis will be representative of your entire product line, service offering, or campaign versus one simple keyword. That said, search data provides a new window into the value of a word, even just one. Have fun exploring words that are core to your business!

Note: Come join me at the PPC Summit in San Francisco on May 19^th! I will be speaking on Keyword Research and the Campaign Lifecycle. Details of the event and talk follow:

Date:  May 19^th

Time: 8:45 AM

Location: Marriott San Francisco Airport

Registration Link:  http://www.ppcsummit.com/register-san-francisco.html

Discount Code:  10% using code: MS10

Keyword Research and the Campaign Lifecycle:  What is the Microsoft Keyword Services Platform (KSP) and how can it help you? Learn that and more in this keynote address by Jorie Waterman. See how to access KSP data using the adCenter Add-in for Excel 2007 and how it can be used at each stage of your campaign’s lifecycle.  You’ll be taken step by step through the tool and see specific usage scenarios for each piece of data opening up new possibilities. Come prepared with your questions and ask how to complete tasks that are highly relevant to your business.