Systems and methods for determining user actions

• US 20050160002A1
• Filed: 03/31/2004
• Published: 07/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Jindal, Deepak, Roetter, Alex
• Granted Patent: US 11,042,886 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.420
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0243 Comparative campaigns
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0258 Registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A system tracks user actions associated with advertisements. The system may receive information in response to a user action. The system may then determine whether the action performed by the user resulted from an advertisement.

Claims

1. A method for tracking user actions, comprising:

receiving information in response to a user action, the information indicating that the user performed a conversion; and

determining whether the conversion resulted from an advertisement provided by a first entity.

2. The method of claim 1, the conversion corresponding to at least one of a purchase, a registration, a sign-up, a page view or a download.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking conversions associated with advertisements provided by a second entity, the second entity being different from the first entity; and

comparing conversion related information associated with the first entity with conversion related information associated with the second entity.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the comparing conversion related information comprises:

comparing a conversion ratio for a first advertisement provided by the first entity with a conversion ratio for the first advertisement provided by the second entity.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by a second entity, a user interface for enabling conversion tracking; and

receiving a request for conversion tracking from an advertiser, the request being associated with tracking conversions relating to advertisements provided by the first entity, where the first entity is not affiliated with the second entity.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

providing software to be included on the advertiser'"'"'s web site in response to the request for conversion tracking, the software including at least one of a value field or a label field associated with a conversion.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating conversion related information for at least one advertisement provided by the first entity;

generating a report including the conversion related information; and

providing the report to an advertiser associated with the at least one advertisement.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the generating conversion related information comprises:

determining a number of times each of the at least one advertisement has been displayed or selected,

determining a number of conversions resulting from the display or selection of each of the at least one advertisement, and

generating a conversion ratio for each of the at least one advertisement based on the number of times each of the at least one advertisement has been displayed or selected and the number of conversions resulting from the display or selection.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:

determining that a conversion resulted from the advertisement based on receipt of a cookie.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an ad click from a client;

generating a cookie in response to the ad click, the cookie including an identifier representing an advertiser; and

sending the cookie to the client.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving the cookie from the client, wherein the determining includes;

determining that the conversion resulted from the advertisement based on receipt of the cookie.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first entity represents an external ad provider with respect to an entity performing the determining.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking conversions associated with a second entity, the second entity not being affiliated with the first entity.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

generating conversion information associated with the first and second entities.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

generating a report including the conversion information associated with the first and second entities.

16. A system, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions in the memory to;

provide a user interface comprising an option to track user actions associated with an ad provider that is not affiliated with the system,

receive a selection from an advertiser, and

enable tracking of user actions associated with the ad provider.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

generate an identifier for the advertiser,

include the identifier in a cookie, and

transmit the cookie to a client device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive a conversion indication associated with the advertiser, and

determine whether the conversion resulted from an ad provided by the ad provider based on receipt of the cookie from the client device.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

generate a tracking identifier that is to be included with an ad provided by the ad provider.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the tracking identifier comprises a uniform resource locator associated with the system.

21. A system for detecting user actions, comprising:

means for receiving information in response to a user action with respect to an advertiser; and

means for determining whether the user action resulted from an ad provided by a first entity.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

means for tracking user actions with respect to ads provided by a second entity, the second entity being different from the first entity.

23. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

means for generating conversion information associated with the first entity;

means for generating conversion information associated with a second entity; and

means for comparing the conversion information for the first and second entities.

24. In a system associated with a first entity, a method for enabling tracking of users'"'"' actions, the method comprising:

providing a conversion tracking option to an advertiser, the conversion tracking option including an option to track conversions associated with a second entity, the second entity not being associated with the first entity;

receiving a selection from the advertiser, the selection indicating that the advertiser wishes to enable tracking of users'"'"' actions associated with ads provided by the second entity; and

tracking at least some user actions associated with ads provided by the second entity.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the tracking at least some user actions comprises:

tracking conversions resulting from ads provided by the second entity.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

tracking conversions resulting from ads provided by the first entity; and

comparing conversion related information for the first entity with conversion related information for the second entity.

27. A method for tracking user actions, comprising:

receiving an ad selection from a user;

generating a cookie in response to the ad selection;

transmitting the cookie to the user;

receiving information in response to a user action, the information indicating that the user performed a conversion associated with an advertiser; and

determining whether the conversion was associated with an ad.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

receiving a destination location from the advertiser, the destination location identifying a document associated with the ad;

generating a tracking identifier associated with the destination location; and

forwarding the tracking identifier to the advertiser.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

receiving the cookie in response to the user action, wherein the determining comprises;

determining that the conversion resulted from the ad based on receipt of the cookie.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the user action represents a purchase, a registration, a sign-up, a page view or a download.

31. A system, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

at least one processor to execute the instructions in the memory to;

track users'"'"' actions associated with a first ad provider, and

track users'"'"' actions associated with a second ad provider, the first ad provider not being affiliated with the second ad provider.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the users'"'"' actions associated with the first ad provider comprise conversions associated with ads provided by the first ad provider and the users'"'"' actions associated with the second ad provider comprise conversions associated with ads provided by the second ad provider.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

compare conversion related information associated with the first ad provider with conversion related information associated with the second ad provider.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

compare users'"'"' actions associated with the first ad provider with users'"'"' actions associated with the second ad provider.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein the first ad provider is not affiliated with the system.

36. In a system associated with a first ad provider, a method for tracking users'"'"' actions, the method comprising:

tracking users'"'"' actions associated with a second ad provider, the second ad provider not being affiliated with the first ad provider.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the second ad provider is associated with a search engine.

38. A method for tracking user actions, comprising:

receiving an ad click from a client;

generating a cookie in response to the ad click, the cookie including an identifier associated with an advertiser in the cookie'"'"'s path; and

transmitting the cookie to the client.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

receiving the cookie from the client; and

determining that a conversion resulted from an ad based at least in part on receipt of the cookie.