Did everyone see that Microsoft Released the Ad Intelligence Excel Add-in today? I got a sneak peak and blogged about it yesterday, but didn't see anyone here talking about it yet so I thought I'd start a post about it. Have any of you used this yet..? I'm curious to see how quickly it will be adopted or dissed by the community. I personally think it's the sweetest keyword research tool I've used yet (and I've used practically everything) in fact I probably sound like a complete goober raving about it on my blog. It has a bunch of 'paid media' data from adCenter, which has to be fantastic for people building & managing paid media campaigns, but since my primary focus has always been SEO - I found myself most interested in the natural optimization applications of the tool - namely keyword list buildout & qualification for selecting targt phrases to pursue/optimize around or build content for. It's been a while since we've seen a new, quality keyword tool in the marketplace, which raises a bunch of questions: Are we ready for it, or happy to keep using KeywordDiscovery & WordTracker? Will you use this? (Are you using it already?) Can we trust data from adCenter? Is the data robust enough to represent the overall marketplace? Developers: Will you (or have you) use(d) the API & KSP to make tools of your own? I really like it - now all I have to do is get Office upgraded to 2007 on my home computer - heh (typical Microsoft - always tricking us into buying the upgrades) ADMIN NOTE: I couldn't decide whether to put this under Marketing > Search Engine Optimization > Keywords or Marketing > Pay Per Click Advertising > MSN adCenter , however, since my personal passion lies with SEO and thats where I'll use this tool most often, I opted to place it here.
In case you don't want to read my whole blog post but are curious about the basics of the tool... It's an add-in (like a plugin) for Excel 2007 (there isn't anything for Excel 2003 I asked ) Once you install/activate it - you get an extra tab in your toolbar. The tab has a number of new buttons & drop downs which perform different functions one a word or list of words (or URL's in the case of one of the tools) As far as I know it ONLY works through Excel and there isn't any 'freestanding tool' apart from the add-in. But I really like that it integrates with Excel - since I've used Excel all along to build out reports and presentations from daa I collected from other sources. The only problem I have is that I don't have Office 2007 on my home computer (hey I'm still rocking Windows XP )
Very interesting. Does it say exactly where MS is pulling the data from? It may be worth upgrading my Excell if this works good and the data is solid. Thanks for the post!
I am not upgrading my Office just for this !!! There are so many other ways to find out relevant keywords around the net
@motoxxx Depending on which tool you're using (there are some 10+ tools wrapped up in this add-in) the data comes from either Microsoft's AdLabs semantic index or adCenter paid campaign data. They say they want to be 100% transparent about the source and methodology behind the data - there is more info in their FAQ's and as I know more details I continue to update my post/blog. @crystak It's a toolbar of sorts - it's actually an add-in for Excel 2007 - it expands the normal Excel 2007 functions to add SEO specific mcros & algorithms that ping the adLabs semantic index and a pool of adCenter paid media campaign data. As far as I know there are no plans to introduce a toolbar. @Chios I think there will be many people who agree with you. Many mom & pop sites/freelancers that offer optimization service can make do with the resources available to them - especially in light f the nature of their clientelle - generally small-medium sized businesses. However most corporate level agencies and contract service providers serve clients that require more than just keyword volume and a 'gut feeling based on instinct and experience' to justify multi-million dollar media spends and natural optimization contracts. The kind of data you get out of a tool like this goes a long way in simplifying the market research & ROI projection necesarry to satisfy clients who require a bit more than 'expert consultation' Either way those who need/want this level of data now have it - complete with an easy to use interface While many smalltime, self service SEOers may choose not to, I can totally see agencies using this and more than likely using the KSP & API to create variations of their own with additional tools tapping into additional information that Microsfot collects and stores.
I work for a top digital media agency, name withheld, and we have been trying out this tool for about the past month. You would get a little different take from one person to another here at our office, but the general consensus is that this is a solid step-up from Keyword Discovery & other similar products. One of the most important reasons why Ad Intelligence ("AI"), formerly "adSage," is a step-up from its competitors is because of the source of the KW data. AI draws KW info from two main sources, 1). from Live.com search queries. 2). from AdCenter's paid search data. The ability to tap into the data from both sources (and search in various ways within each data source) has been an excellent way to develop a strategy for our clients. Keyword Discovery & other similar sites are drawing from much smaller sample sizes. AI isn't perfect, but after speaking directly with Microsoft's AI project lead last week, you can be sure this tool will be updating and improving quickly and often. She, the project lead, is dedicated to making this product work best for those using it -- so she wants to hear from those users. Agencies will be using this tool more and more, and feedback from us alone should get this tool up-to-speed very quickly. But, Microsoft doesn't just want to hear from us agency-types. They, very honestly, want to hear from all types of users. So, send your ideas from improvement to MS. They're willing to listen, so get talking. You'll be helping us all.
Very cool that MS is willing to listen to input about this tool. Do you think are as willing to listen if I tell them that Vista sucks?