As we rapidly approach the holiday shopping season, advertisers are ramping up promotions, holiday campaigns and focusing on maximizing return on investment (ROI). An important aspect to success is optimizing your keywords and ads. Users will see your ads while you bid on the keywords that trigger which ad to show. If you are a computer retailer and a user searches for "PC computer sale", it is important to bid on "PC computer sale" and show an ad that includes "PC computer sale".

Often times, we receive feedback from advertisers that campaign ROI is high and they would like to increase ad delivery. A great tool to increase ad delivery is Microsoft's Advertising Intelligence. This Excel add-in is a powerful keyword research and optimization toolset that provides recommendations for expanding and optimizing keywords. Keyword expansion tools include the Keyword Wizard, Keyword Extraction, Keyword Suggestion, Monetization, Popular Keywords and traffic estimates (both search and content). Demos for several of the keyword research tools can be found on advertising.microsoft.com. Today, I am going to show you how to use the Keyword Wizard for a set of keywords. The example I will use is a computer retail store selling new PC's including Windows 7.

Step 1 (Optional): Run and Download Keyword Performance from adCenter

Prior to using Microsoft Advertising Intelligence, it is important to select the keywords you wish to optimize. One option is to run a keyword performance report and select the keywords you wish to use in the Keyword Wizard. Based on your objectives and ROI metrics, your keyword selection will vary.

Step 2: Highlight Keywords and Select Keyword Wizard in Excel Ribbon

For today, I selected Keyword Wizard followed by Keyword Wizard again. Step 1 (above) will ask you to select at least one way to generate keywords. In this example, I selected Excel Range and click next.

Step 3: Input Keywords into the Wizard

I have added keywords from my computer ad group. These keywords are performing well and I am looking to expand my high performing keywords while increasing traffic to my website. Once you have input your keywords into the wizard, click next.

Step 4: Review Selected Keywords

The Review option allows you to review your keyword list prior to expanding your list using Advertising Intelligence. This is the last chance you can enter keywords before running the keyword expansion tools. Once you are satisfied with your list, click next.

Step 5: Select Algorithm to Expand Keywords

The Keyword Wizard allows you to select two options: "Campaign Association" and "Queries that Contain Your Keyword". Campaign Association enables the tool to suggest keywords based on bidding behavior while Queries that Contain Your Keyword allows the tool to suggest keywords that contain your original keyword. I have selected both options as my overall goal is to expand my campaign. Your selection will vary depending upon your ROI metrics and objectives. Once complete, click next. The next two screens will ask how many keywords you wish to generate for each keyword processed using the tool algorithm. I selected 50 (default) for both and clicked next.

Step 6: Select Algorithm to Add Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Information

The Keyword Wizard has two options available: "Monthly Traffic" and "Monetization". Monthly Traffic allows you to see historical query volume and forecasting for the next three months. Monetization shows up to 30 days of adCenter KPI data including CTR, CPC, impressions and clicks. I want to maintain my high ROI. To do this, I prefer to see CPC's and CTR, therefore I selected Monetization. After completing this step, click next.

Step 7: Customize Settings & Run Report

The final step before running your report is to customize the report you wish to run. If you selected the monetization option, you can customize time period, position and match type. I selected the defaults so I can see aggregate data. If you plan to bid for position 1 or a position you find that best works for you, I recommend choosing the "all" position option instead of aggregate. Once you have selected your options, click finish and the report will run!

Step 8: Analyzing the Results

After running the Keyword Wizard tool, I have a long list of keywords along with KPI data. I sorted the click column from high-to-low to see what keywords garner the highest click volume. Some of these keywords are not relevant to me while others are. I am currently not bidding on PC manufacturer's brand keywords, such as dell, or leveraging campaigns for internet TV streaming, cameras and e-books. While the above keyword lists "books" and "TV", I realize that e-books and internet TV are becoming increasingly popular and I could leverage the computer sub-categories to drive computer sales. Therefore, I could select the keywords I wish to build out and run the wizard or an alternative keyword generation report until I have my keyword list completed.

Microsoft Advertising Intelligence offers numerous keyword research and expansion tools with customizable options that you can utilize to best fit your campaign needs. I have only scratched the surface in this tutorial by demonstrating the endless possibilities of the Keyword Wizard. For additional demos or Advertising Intelligence tips, check out the Microsoft adCenter Learning Center. If you would like to create a negative keyword list, manage budgets or create bid proposals, I recommend checking out Carolyn Miller's "Keyword Research with Microsoft Advertising Intelligence: Tips and Tricks from the Blog" post.

What Microsoft Advertising Intelligence tools do you find yourself using most often when creating keyword expansion lists?