Microsoft unveiled new tools and an accreditation program to help advertisers improve the quality of their search advertising campaigns and help optimize web sites for Live Search.

1) adCenter which is similar to Google Adwords now has a Add-in for Excel 2007. It will enable adCenter customers to easily research keywords to help them reach and capture the right audience with their paid search advertising campaigns. Users of the adCenter can now rapidly build keyword lists and plan keyword strategy based on a variety of attributes including relevance, historical cost information and projected volume, and manipulate the data in the easy-to-use Excel format. The tool will help advertisers quickly understand keyword popularity and trends and gain valuable insight about demographic and localization information of actual queries.

“The adCenter Add-in for Excel raises the bar for search- and data-driven marketing tools. The ease of use with Excel and vast amount of keyword data are all extremely valuable for the online marketer,” said Jeffrey Pruitt, executive vice president of Corporate Partnerships at iCrossing. “This product helps unlock the true power of search data, providing access to more data than any other engine, enabling increased understanding of consumer behavior and intent. Within minutes of using this tool, a savvy marketer will be able to discover new information to help drive more successful, consumer-driven campaign strategies.”

Data accessible via the adCenter Add-in comes from Microsoft’s Keyword Services Platform (KSP), a revolutionary set of Web service application programming interfaces related to keyword technologies, including keyword recommendation, forecasting, categorization and monetization. The adCenter Add-in, which will be available Jan. 8, 2008, provides easy access to the tremendous amount of data available through the KSP and is the latest technology from Microsoft adCenter Labs to be fully integrated into adCenter following customer trial and feedback.

2) Webmaster Center is a portal specifically designed for webmasters and search engine optimizers. It provides all the necessary resources to optimize a Web site for achieving the highest possible algorithmic or “organic” listing on Live Search. This includes information about how Live Search crawls and indexes site pages; site map creation and submission; statistics about Web sites currently indexed by Live Search; consolidated content submission guidelines; and new content and community resources.

3) adExcellence program provides agencies and advertisers with the opportunity to become certified adCenter experts similar to the Google Adwords Certification. The program offers more than 20 free training modules and a fee-based examination, providing users with the ability to demonstrate to their customers and prospects that they are fully trained and proficient in using adCenter. Accredited members will be listed in the adExcellence Membership Directory and will receive an adExcellence logo for use on their Web sites and marketing collateral.