Personalization of placed content ordering in search results

• US 20050240580A1
• Filed: 07/13/2004
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Lawrence, Stephen R., Fikes, Andrew B., Zamir, Oren Eli, Korn, Jeffrey L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,693,827 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A system and method for using a user profile to order placed content in search results returned by a search engine. The user profile is based on search queries submitted by a user, the user'"'"'s specific interaction with the documents identified by the search engine and personal information provided by the user. Placed content is ranked by a score based at least in part on a similarity of a particular placed content to the user'"'"'s profile. User profiles can be created and/or stored on the client side or server side of a client-server network environment.

Claims

1. A method of personalizing placed content, comprising:

determining an interest of a user;

accessing a user profile associated with the user;

identifying a set of placed content that matches the interest of the user; and

ordering the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the ordering includes assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile and a respective bid for the placed content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the ordering includes assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile and a respective click through rate for the placed content.

4. A method of personalizing placed content associated with a search query, comprising:

receiving a search query from a user;

accessing a user profile associated with the user;

identifying a set of placed content that matches the search query; and

ordering the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the ordering includes assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile and a respective bid for the placed content.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the ordering includes assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile and a respective click through rate for the placed content.

7. A method of personalizing placed content associated with a search query, comprising:

receiving a search query from a user;

accessing a user profile associated with the user;

identifying a set of placed content that matches the search query;

assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile, a respective bid value for the placed content, and a respective click through rate for the placed content; and

ranking the set of placed content according to their scores.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the user profile is based, at least in part, on query terms in a plurality of previously submitted search queries.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the user profile is based on information about the user, including information derived from a set of documents, the set of documents comprising a plurality of documents selected from the set consisting of documents identified by search results from a search engine, documents linked to the documents identified by search results from the search engine, documents linked to the documents accessed by the user, and documents browsed by the user.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the assigning the score includes

determining a similarity score between the user profile and a placed content profile associated with each placed content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining of the similarity score includes

determining a mathematical distance between a user profile vector of the user profile, the user profile vector including first pairs of categories and respective weights, and a placed content profile vector of the placed content, the placed content profile vector including second pairs of categories and respective weights.

12. The method of claim 10, further including associating the similarity score with a scaling factor.

13. The method of claim 10, further including associating the similarity score with a scaling factor wherein the scaling factor is selected from one of a plurality of subfactors, each of the subfactors associated with a respective range of values of the similarity score.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the assigning the score to each of the set of placed content includes multiplying the scaling factor, the respective click through rate and the respective bid value.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the scaling factor associated with a maximum similarity score is less than the scaling factor associated with a mid-point similarity score.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the scaling factor is determined in accordance with statistical information relating similarity scores to click through rates.

17. The method of claim 71, further including providing the placed content as an advertisement.

18. A system for personalizing placed content, comprising:

a user profile; and

a placed content server, including a plurality of placed content, for identifying a subset of the plurality of placed content that matches an identified user interest and that assigns a score to each placed content in the subset in accordance with the user profile, and that ranks the subset based on the respective scores of the placed content.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the placed content server is configured to assign a score to each placed content in the subset in accordance with the user profile and a respective bid for the placed content.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the placed content server is configured to assign a score to each placed content in the subset in accordance with the user profile and a respective click through rate for the placed content.

21. A system for personalizing placed content associated with a search query, comprising:

a user profile; and

a placed content server, including a plurality of placed content, for identifying a subset of the plurality of placed content that matches a search query and that assigns a score to each placed content in the subset in accordance with the user profile, and that ranks the subset based on the respective scores of the placed content.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the placed content server is configured to assign a score to each placed content in the subset in accordance with the user profile and a respective bid for the placed content.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the placed content server is configured to assign a score to each placed content in the subset in accordance with the user profile and a respective click through rate for the placed content.

24. A system for personalizing placed content associated with a search query, comprising:

a user profile; and

a placed content server, including a plurality of placed content, for identifying a subset of the plurality of placed content that matches a search query and that assigns a score to each placed content in the subset in accordance with the user profile, a respective bid value for the placed content, and a respective click through rate for the placed content, and that ranks the subset based on the respective scores of the placed content.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the user profile is based, at least in part, on query terms in a plurality of previously submitted search queries.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the user profile is based on information about the user, including information derived from a set of documents, the set of documents comprising a plurality of documents selected from the set consisting of documents identified by search results from a search engine, documents linked to the documents identified by search results from the search engine, documents linked to the documents accessed by the user, and documents browsed by the user.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the score is based on a similarity score between the user profile and a placed content profile associated with each placed content.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the similarity score is based on a mathematical distance between a user profile vector of the user profile, the user profile vector including first pairs of categories and respective weights, and a placed content profile vector of the placed content, the placed content profile vector including second pairs of categories and respective weights.

29. The system of claim 27, further including a scaling factor associated with the similarity score.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the scaling factor is one a plurality of subfactors, each of the subfactors associated with a respective range of values of the similarity score.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the score of each placed content in the set of placed content corresponds to the multiplicative product of the respective scaling factor, the respective click through rate and the respective bid value for the placed content.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the scaling factor associated with a maximum similarity score is less than the scaling factor associated with a mid-point similarity score.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein the scaling factor is based on statistical information relating similarity scores to click through rates.

34. The system of claim 24, wherein the placed content is an advertisement.

35. A computer program product, for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising:

instructions for identifying an interest of a user;

instructions for accessing a user profile associated with the user;

instructions for identifying a set of placed content that matches the identified user interest;

instructions for ordering the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the instructions for ordering include instructions for assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile and a respective bid for the placed content.

37. The computer program product of claim 35, the instructions for ordering include instructions for assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile and a respective click through rate for the placed content.

38. A computer program product, for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising:

instructions for receiving a search query from a user;

instructions for accessing a user profile associated with the user;

instructions for identifying a set of placed content that matches the search query;

instructions for assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile; and

instructions for ranking the set of placed content according to their scores.

39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the instructions for ranking include instructions for assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile and a respective bid for the placed content.

40. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the instructions for ranking include instructions for assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile and a respective click through rate for the placed content.

41. A computer program product, for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising:

instructions for receiving a search query from a user;

instructions for accessing a user profile associated with the user;

instructions for identifying a set of placed content that matches the search query;

instructions for assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile, a respective bid value for the placed content, and a respective click through rate for the placed content; and

instructions for ranking the set of placed content according to their scores.

42. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein the user profile is based, at least in part, on query terms in a plurality of previously submitted search queries.

43. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein the user profile is based on information about the user, including information derived from a set of documents, the set of documents comprising a plurality of documents selected from the set consisting of documents identified by search results from a search engine, documents linked to the documents identified by search results from the search engine, documents linked to the documents accessed by the user, and documents browsed by the user.

44. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein the instructions for assigning the score include determining a similarity score between the user profile and a placed content profile associated with each placed content.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the instructions for determining the similarity score include determining a mathematical distance between a user profile vector of the user profile, the user profile vector including first pairs of categories and respective weights, and a placed content profile vector of the placed content, the placed content profile vector including second pairs of categories and respective weights.

46. The computer program product of claim 44, further including instructions for associating the similarity score with a scaling factor.

47. The computer program product of claim 45, further including instructions for associating the similarity score with a scaling factor wherein the scaling factor is selected from one of a plurality of subfactors, each of the subfactors associated with a respective range of normalized values of the mathematical distance.

48. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the instructions for assigning the score to each of the set of placed content includes instructions for multiplying the scaling factor, the respective click through rate and the respective bid value.

49. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein the scaling factor associated with a maximum similarity score is less than the scaling factor associated with a mid-point similarity score.

50. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the scaling factor is determined in accordance with statistical information relating similarity scores to click through rates.

51. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein the placed content is an advertisement.

52. A system for personalizing placed content associated with a search query, comprising:

means for receiving a search query from a user;

means for accessing a user profile for the user;

means for identifying a set of placed content that matches the search query;

means for assigning a score to each of the set of placed content in accordance with the user profile; and

means for ranking the set of placed content according to their scores.