Omniture Upgrades SEM Tool

Web analytics firm Omniture today is expected to relaunch its SearchCenter application, in an effort to simplify the management of paid search campaigns.

Omniture will integrate the new version of SearchCenter with its analytics service, to provide a single user interface, as well as a single source for tracking codes between search engine marketing and Web analytics.

SearchCenter, the first version of which Omniture launched early this year--integrates with most major search networks, including MSN.

"Our goal is to reduce the time and energy it takes marketers to experiment with their campaigns, so they can get the most out of their campaigns faster," Chris Parkin, Omniture's senior director of product marketing, said.

New features include a rule builder for marketers to create customized rules to guide their bidding strategies. Once keyword bids are defined and implemented, bid managers view results in SearchCenter's real-time environment to analyze performance.

SearchCenter's Bid Strategy Manager applies a set of rules to a group of keywords and allows the strategy to run in an unassisted mode of operation. Bidding strategies can be modified for various time frames during the day to ensure that the correct bidding takes place based upon changing customer behavior.

In another change, search engine marketers familiar with spreadsheets can manage thousands of keywords through SearchCenter's OneList feature with Excel. Keyword information from SearchCenter can be transferred to and from a spreadsheet using a Microsoft Excel plug-in.

SearchCenter 2.0 also includes a ClickProtect feature that provides alerts and reports on what Omniture and the individual marketer consider to be suspicious keyword activity. ClickProtect is meant to help marketers determine if such suspicious activity is the result of good marketing efforts or if some level of click fraud is occurring.

Finally, Omniture's new application offers AdMatch. The technology associates specific keywords with precise text ads that are served to reduce confusion when marketers create multiple text ads, which search engines often display randomly when a keyword is searched for.

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