Search engine with demographic-based advertising
First Claim
1. A method for electronic advertising associated with a search engine for searching a computer network, the method comprising:
- providing an incentive to users of the search engine to provide demographic information; and
associating the demographic information with advertisements selected by the users.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for electronic advertising using a search engine include providing an incentive to users of the search engine to become members, collecting demographic information from users while registering to become a member, and associating the demographic information with an advertisement when a user responds to the advertisement. The method may also include providing advertisers with statistical information relative to user demographics for users who responded to a particular advertisement. In one embodiment, the member demographics may be used by advertisers to target particular advertising campaigns to members based on member demographic information. Likewise, demographic information entered by advertisers may be used by the administrator or other advertisers to target advertising information to those advertisers using the search engine. An advertiser determines a target audience based on selected demographic information and is charged based on the number of selected members which meet the advertisers demographic selection criteria. If the advertisement includes a link to the advertiser, the search engine tracks the response or click-through rate. Banner ads or text areas on the search engine website may also be presented based on search terms entered by a user or member with click-through rates determined by the search engine.
372 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A method for electronic advertising associated with a search engine for searching a computer network, the method comprising:
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providing an incentive to users of the search engine to provide demographic information; and
associating the demographic information with advertisements selected by the users. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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15. A method for electronic advertising using a search engine for searching a computer network, the method comprising:
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collecting demographic information from users of the search engine;
searching a database of advertiser listings with associated keywords and bid prices based on search terms entered by a user;
displaying advertiser listings with keywords matching the search terms in an order based at least on the bid prices; and
associating a user'"'"'s demographic information with an advertiser listing when the user selects the advertiser listing.
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27. A computer readable storage medium having stored data representing instructions executable by a computer to integrate electronic advertising with a search engine for searching a computer network, the computer readable storage medium comprising:
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instructions for collecting demographic information from users of the search engine;
instructions for searching a database of advertiser listings with associated keywords and bid prices based on search terms entered by a user;
instructions for displaying advertiser listings with keywords matching the search terms in an order based at least on the bid prices; and
instructions for associating a user'"'"'s demographic information with an advertiser listing when the user selects the advertiser listing.
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39. A method for electronic advertising using a computer network, the method comprising:
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providing an incentive for new users to voluntarily enter personal information including at least demographic information and an email address to become registered users;
storing the personal information of registered users in a searchable database;
receiving demographic selection criteria for an advertising campaign from an advertiser;
searching the database to determine the number of registered users meeting the demographic selection criteria;
reporting the number of registered users meeting the demographic selection criteria and a price for sending email to those registered users meeting the demographic selection criteria to the advertiser;
determining how many of the registered users meeting the demographic selection criteria will be sent email as part of the advertising campaign; and
sending email to the number of registered users selected by the advertiser and meeting the demographic selection criteria without providing the email addresses of the registered users to the advertiser.
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Specification