Previously, changes to Microsoft’s adCenter interface would not take place with so much of regularity – just once or twice at the most, a quarter. However, this is going to change with more frequent updates in the offing – Broad Match Modifier, the Mac-driven desktop version, a customized version for smaller businesses, plus more integrated interactive advertisements on Bing, to name a few.
To accelerate velocity in terms of bringing value to advertisers, the Microsoft Advertising’s Search Network has made efforts to pilot high-demand features. We’ve already considered some of the enhancements in our previous post. There are more in the offing or already under development, such as:
Enhanced location targeting: Advertisers may access more relevant users in any targeted location with lesser steps. Also, they can leverage newer advanced location options from now on for targeting users by their physical location/ intent.
Broad Match Modifier: A targeting feature to allow advertisers to generate more effective keywords. They can get more clicks and higher conversions at an improved ROI, especially if they use exact & phrase match keywords.
Comprehensive Quality Score data: Advertisers can soon get more detailed data on their respective quality scores (for different match types and also for mobile-only targeted ads) so that they can take steps to improve their ad performance in the competitive marketplace.
Desktop tool specifically for The Mac: Last but not the least, Microsoft is working towards creating desktop software to monitor and manage adCenter from the Macintosh.
Dynamic Location and Sitelink extensions: Advertisers with multiple locations will be in a position to set up ads, which serve the most pertinent result – in terms of the closest location. The nearest business address as well as an optional contact number can be featured alongside the standard text-based ad. Sitelink extensions are currently in a pilot stage.
The platform is also investing efforts into delivering more interactive ad formats so as to complement some of the mobile features recently released. For instance, Location Extensions will show your business address plus phone number (optional) right alongside any standard text ad. When users search for your ad within a 50-mile radius of your business location(s), the ad will display the closest business location and its phone number. Giving an overview of the changes, an official post reveals:
“The research teams are focused on delivering the feature enhancements most relevant and impactful to for search advertising customers. Our goal is to maximize our customers’ investment and minimize their level of effort, while opening up impression volume and new opportunities.”
To sum it up, here is a quick look at specific adCenter features and enhancements recently unveiled based on customer feedback and requests:
1. Ease of navigation in both the Web UI & Desktop – Menu redesign to make way for easy discovery of features
2. Faster and more reliable experience in managing bulk tasks
3. Browser compatibility – adCenter support for Chrome/ Safari
4. Historical & aggregated Quality Score – To improve the campaign performance by ensuring higher visibility into its quality scores
