The Microsoft Advertising Content Network continues to grow its ranks of desirable publishers with the recent addition of PC World. As the content network expands, so too does the need for tools to help US advertisers understand this product better and enable them to optimize their campaigns more easily. Enter Microsoft Advertising Intelligence.

The latest release of Microsoft Advertising Intelligence now includes tools for Content Ad Keyword Generation, Content Ad Volume Estimations, and Content Ad Vertical Research. This is, indeed, a big win for our content advertisers.

Summary of the top features:

1. Keyword Generation. Optimally Content campaigns should be structured uniquely from search campaigns and use keywords that will enable their ads to appear on pages relevant to their product and their target audience. Keyword lists should include top head keywords for search campaigns, as well as unique vertical keywords that are likely to be crawled within our publisher network. Advertising Intelligence offers two methods of generating Content campaign keywords.

a. By Vertical: Vertical keywords are a good place to start, and Advertising Intelligence provides easy access to the top keywords by impression volume for every vertical and sub-vertical. See screenshot for access point.

b. By Domain (Publisher): If you know that your audience spends most of their time reading MSN Entertainment, Ad Intelligence will reveal which keywords are frequently triggering ads on that specific site. For this tool you have to include the domain name.

2. Volume Estimation: For budgeting and estimation, it is always handy to know how much volume you can expect from a keyword, or a specific set of keywords. Advertising Intelligence, again, delivers two methods to get this done.

a. Traffic by Keyword: View impression volume for selected keywords by month.

b. Keyword Monetization: View the essential KPI for specified keywords for a specified date range.

3. Content Vertical Research: Vertical data can be very important in understanding the competitive landscape and tailoring your campaigns to best position your products, services, or brand. This tool provides the KPI for each specific vertical.

These Content Ad specific tools provide our advertisers with easy access to a wealth of data, and enables them to run more efficient campaigns. We invite you to participate in the Advertising Intelligence forum and share you experience: http://community.microsoftadvertising.com/forums/11.aspx