Microsoft adIntelligence

By Steven Bauer

Microsoft adIntelligence is a plug-in for Excel 2007. This tool is AWESOME! It is simple to use and provides great directional information for existing clients as well as for new business development.

The adIntelligence plug-in provides insights to the following areas:

• Keyword Research
• Monthly Traffic
• Geographic
• Demographic
• Monetization

Keyword Research

There are several ways to use adIntelligence for keyword research. You are able to enter a list of keywords and the tool will generate a list of variations of these keywords. The generated list will include the base keyword (from your original list), the suggested keyword(s) and a confidence score. The confidence score is a number between 0 and 1. The higher the confidence score, the “better” the keyword.

TIP: If you access the Keyword Suggestion tool from the Advanced Algorithm tab in the toolbar, you can set the level of confidence for the keywords the tool will return. Generally, I would recommend a confidence of 0.2.

You are also able to enter a single URL or a series of URLs, and adIntelligence will crawl the page(s) listed and provide a list of keywords based on the content of the URL.

Monthly Traffic

Estimating monthly traffic is a guessing game at best. The Monthly Traffic tool within adIntelligence is better than most. The tool will provide actual impressions that were served on Microsoft Live.com for up to the previous 12 months and will provide a forecast of impressions for up to 12 months.

TIP: The Advanced Algorithm tab in the toolbar allows you to set how much history is displayed and how far in advance to forecast. You may also select a specific data range.

To use this tool for estimating total potential Internet search traffic, remember Microsoft delivers between 10-12% of the total Internet search traffic.

Geographic

The geographic functionality allows you to see the locations where traffic is being generated on specific keywords. By starting in the Advanced Algorithm tab you are able to select what level of detail you want to see – country, state or city; the maximum number of locations to display from 1 -10; and the date range from 1 – 60 days or a specific range. The one drawback to this functionality is you are not able to select a country and then choose state or city level information. The display results always include international locations.

Demographic

The demographic functionality breaks down traffic by age and gender. The Advanced Algorithm tab allows you to adjust the date range from 1 – 60 days or select a specific data range.

Monetization

The monetization functionality has a lot of useful information that can be sliced and diced six ways to Sunday. It breaks down data by clicks, impressions, position, CTR, average CPC, match type and date range. The Advanced Algorithm tab allows you to set parameters for the data. You may select a specific position for the keywords, you can see the data in aggregate or you can see the data for all positions. You are able to request the data in graph format as well. All the data is delivered in pivot table, which allows you manipulate the information in a fashion that is most useful.

Using adIntelligence

The best way to learn how to use this plug-in is to USE IT! I strongly recommend starting with the Advanced Algorithm tab. This tab allows you set parameters for each of the functionalities I have mentioned here and save those parameters as your default. Once you have established your default parameters, use the individual tabs in the toolbar.