Microsoft announced the launch of Microsoft Advertising Intelligence, a keyword research and optimization tool which operates in Microsoft Office Excel 2007. It can help paid search advertisers in expanding keyword lists, researching keywords, identifying keyword prices and KPI (key performance indicators) data.

Advertisers can build out lists of suggested keywords, develop informed keyword strategies based on actual Bing and MSN query data, including: relevance, volume, cost history, demographic, and geographic. Perhaps the most noteworthy feature is the Excel plugin provides actual historic and forecasted monthly query and content data for optimizing keyword campaigns based on what potential customers are actually doing.

Being able to a) tailor a bidding strategy based on pricing data for keyword-specific metrics such as clicks, impressions, position, click-through rate, and cost per click, and b) gather pricing KPIs for specific businesses to determine the monetization potential of a vertical and how well it performs are imperative for a properly functioning paid search campaign.

If you're using AdCenter this is, and will be, one of those essential tools.