This is the second in a series of blog posts focusing on Microsoft Advertising Intelligence (formerly Microsoft adCenter Add-inBeta for Excel), coinciding with the launch of Microsoft Advertising Intelligence in the UK. Last week I covered the Keyword Extraction and Keyword Suggestion tools; this week I will be looking at the Keyword Research tools. The Keyword Research tools provide up-to-date traffic and demographic data for your selected keywords.
Traffic
The Traffic tool is split into two separate tools - Traffic by Month and Traffic by Day. (Note that in the U.S. you can also view Content Impressions by Month; Content tools will be covered in a separate post.)
What do they do?
The Traffic tools provide monthly and daily traffic volumes for any keywords that you select. The Traffic by Month tool provides historical data and forecasts monthly query counts, and the Traffic by Day tool provides daily query counts for given keywords.
By simply highlighting keywords in an Excel worksheet and clicking the Traffic by Month or Traffic by Day button, the tool will provide you with traffic volumes for each of those time periods.
Example of Traffic by Month results
Using the Options button and the Tool Settings tab, you can tailor the report to show the data you need. The Traffic by Month tool can report data from up to 24 months back and forecast up to 12 months ahead. You also have the option of choosing a custom date range for your report. And, to display the results in a graph, tick the Display Graph check box in the Options dialog box.
The Traffic by Day tool can also be customised in the Options dialog box. You can receive data from up to 60 days back and forecast up to 7 days, as well as having the option of a custom date range.
Example of Traffic by Day results
Demographic
What do they do?
The Age Group and Gender tool provides age and gender information for keywords for a given time period, and the Search-User Location tool provides data on selected UK countries or top cities for your selected keywords.
Age Group and Gender
By selecting keywords in an Excel worksheet and hitting the Age Group and Gender button, you will receive an age and gender split for each of your keywords as above.
The age split in the report is the same split used in adCenter for incremental targeting. Findings from Microsoft Advertising Intelligence can be used to set incremental bids on your account. Currently you can receive age and gender data for the last month, e.g. in the above example you might want to increase bids by 10% for 35-49 and 50-64 year olds for the term 'cruises'.
For more information on demographic targeting in adCenter, check out adCenter Help.
Search-User Location
By selecting keywords in an Excel worksheet and hitting the Search-User Location button, you can get information on the percentage of searches for top cities in the UK or for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
How I can use these tools?
Traffic Proposals
- The Traffic by Month and Traffic by Day tools are ideal to use for keyword traffic proposals
Keyword Prioritisation
- The traffic tools can be used to identify the high volume terms and therefore the terms to focus on in your account
- Tailor your keyword lists from other ad platforms to adCenter
- Use the traffic tools to see which terms in accounts you have with other engines will drive traffic through adCenter
Seasonality
- Use the traffic tools to distinguish seasonal patterns year on year, and review how terms perform year on year i.e. see how the keyword flowers performed on Valentine's Day 2008 vs. 2009
Targeting
- The demographic tools help you to identify your audience and their location, and helps you to target them using incremental targeting through adCenter
In the next blog we will be looking at the Pricing – Keyword Monetization feature, which provides up-to-date traffic and cost data for your selected keywords.
For more information on the Microsoft Advertising Intelligence or to download the tool visit the U.K. www.letsearchmakeyousmarter.com page or the U.S. Microsoft Advertising Intelligence page. And take a look at the tutorial videos as well.