This blog covers the chapter “Microsoft adCenter Desktop”
The topics included in this post are:
Overview
- adCenter Desktop is an intuitive, easy to use desktop application for managing your adCenter campaigns offline.
- Home Tab: Lets you synchronize accounts, import and export data and download performance statistics
- Manage Tab: Helps you manage your campaigns
- Research tab: Helps you research new keywords and bids
- Quick access toolbar helps you store frequently used shortcuts
- Use desktop button to switch users, import and export
- Desktop options: Easily access helpful resources
- Online help and contact information is available
- Browser pane: organizes accounts as folders
- Select the account from the drop down list. You can select one account at a time
- Click an item to view its content in the manager pane.
- Manager pane: lets you view and edit the folder contents
- It has tabs including campaigns, ad groups, text ads, WAP mobile ads, keywords
- You can filter displayed items by selecting a different view in the manager pane or search on criteria
- You can do bulk edit in the manager pane and advanced copy-paste
- You can click an item to edit its pane in the Editorial pane
- Editorial pane: You can edit any of the items of the manager pane in this area
- You can also use bulk replace feature
- Dashboard: Gadgets provide a quick visual overview of the campaigns
- Use dashboard to display performance alerts and add them to your favorites campaigns or ad groups
- Performance alerts notify you about key performance behaviors
Summary
- · adCenter Desktop enables you to bulk manage your adCenter accounts
- · Use the familiar office user interface as you create and edit multiple campaigns, ad groups, ads and keywords
- · Adjust your campaigns based on performance alerts
Account Basics
- adCenter Desktop allows you to download the accounts and campaigns you want to work on
- Upload and download changes with one click
- Quickly determine conflicts, updates and errors in your data
- Desktop Options è Account List shows all your accounts
- Synchronizing accounts and campaigns
- Next, you will see the sync settings. You can select the entire account or only the campaigns that you need.
- You can monitor the progress of the sync through the sync progress window.
- Sync changes to upload and download data in one operation. It does both downloading the data from online and uploading data
- Download changes only: Allows you to download changes from adCenter online to Desktop
- Restore Account: Downloads and replaces all data to the desktop
- Follow best practices by syncing your data regularly
Conflicts
- Conflicts occur when different changes are made to the desktop versus the online version. This can occur if several people work on the same account.
- If the desktop detects conflict while uploading and downloading the data, it must be fixed in order to complete the sync
- The manager view automatically changes to the conflict view to help you resolve changes
- The conflict view displays only the items with conflicts and lists both versions of the data
- The number on conflicts at each level of the data is displayed in the tabs
Updates
- New and modified items are shown in bold
- Deleted items are shown in gray with a strikethrough
- In the browser view, paused items appear in grey
Errors
- Items with errors are shown by a x in a red circle
Notification stacks
- If errors are not fixed, the conflict notification stack appears. To complete syncing, all conflicts must be resolved
Error View
- The error view displays on the items with errors
Summary
- Subscribe only to accounts and campaigns you want to work on
- Synchronize your changes with one click
- Easily identify updates, locate and resolve conflict and errors
Desktop Importing and Exporting
- Exporting campaigns and ad groups from adCenter Desktops
- Prepare exported Google files for importing to adCenter Desktop
- Import campaigns and ad groups to adCenter Desktops
Introduction
- Bulks edit campaign data
- Quickly create new campaigns from existing campaigns
- Import campaigns from other online advertising programs
File Formats
- Use comma separated values (csv) where possible. Else use tab separated values or Excel workbooks
Exporting Desktop campaigns
- Right click a campaign and select Export
Preparing exported Google files 
Setting default values
- You can set default values including budget type, ad distribution and keyword match type,
Importing campaigns
- Import from Google and adCenter can be done through CSV, TSV, Workbooks.
- Import from Y! can be done directly using Y! Credentials
- Select the destination URL by associating it with ads or keywords
- Import Completed mentions the new/updated/deleted/skipped columns that will happen during importing
- Skipped campaigns will not be created as they duplicate values or contain invalid data
- You must sync the changes with online before they can become active
Tips and Tricks
- Quickly update an existing campaign or ad group
- Export the campaign or ad group
- Bulk edit the exported data in Excel
- Re-import the data into adCenter Desktop
- Easily create new campaigns or ad groups
- Export a campaign or ad group
- Change the name of the campaign or ad group in Excel
- Re-import the data to create a new campaign or ad group
Summary
- Follow best practices for preparing exported Google files
- Before importing, set default values for campaigns, ad groups and keywords
- Bulk edit exported Desktop campaigns in Excel, then re-import the data to update or create new campaigns
Account Management Top Tips
- You can copy/paste keywords/adgroups/campaigns from one location to another.
- Multiple changes wizard: You can make multiple changes to keywords by copying to excel, making changes in the workbook
Desktop Customizations
- Set default values for new and imported campaigns, ad groups and keywords
- Set default keyword bids at ad group level
- Default keyword bids at an ad group level
- Select columns to view in Manager Pane
- Set custom date ranges for downloading performance statistics
- In the desktop options, select advanced
- Select the import and bulk creation default settings
- Choose what to do for Duplicates, Track conversions, Budget Types, Budget distribution, Time zones, Ad Groups, Keywords (match type)
- You can define the default bids for keywords
- You can also customize the manager columns that are viewable
Desktop Optimization
- Access keyword optimization tools on Research tab
- Use keyword generation tools to generate additional keywords and add them the list
- Use keyword intelligence tools to improve your bidding and targeting strageties
- Use keyword bid estimation to place optimal bids
- Set targeting and incremental bids in bulk
- Copy targeting from one campaign or ad group to another
Keyword Generation tools: Provide keyword suggestions that you can add to your keyword or negative keyword list
- Similar keywords – Displays a list of terms similar to the word or phrase you enter
- Extracted Keywords – Displays a list of keywords from a webpage URL you enter
- Frequent Keywords – Display a list of terms that were most frequently used in search queries during the previous month
- Category Keywords – Display a list of terms associated with a business category you select
Keyword Intelligence tools: Provide demographic information about monthly search trends
- Monthly Traffic – Displays the number of times each keyword was used as a search term for previous and next 3 months
- Age Demographic – Displays the percentage of total searches on each keyword made by people in 6 age ranges
- Gender Demographic – Displays the percentage of searches on keywords made by males and females
Bid Estimation tool: Provides a bid estimate for an ad to appear in a top search position
- Keyword Bid – Displays estimates of the bid required for an ad to appear in the top 3 ad positions for each keyword
- In the manager tab, select the Apply position 1 bid (or 2 or 3)
- Sync with adCenter online to activate your bids.
Bulk targeting: You can set targeting in bulk or copy targeting settings Copy Targeting: You can copy and paste campaigns/ad groups/keywords from one location to another