Systems and methods for analyzing web site search terms

• US 20060218106A1
• Filed: 03/24/2005
• Published: 09/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAS Institute Incorporated
• Original Assignee: SAS Institute Incorporated
• Inventors: Pope, David C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,685,195 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for identifying candidates for new search terms that may be purchased from a search engine company. Candidate search terms are identified from a session log, such as by analyzing the presence of the candidate search terms in relation to data stored in the session log.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for identifying web site search terms, comprising:

receiving a session log that stores data associated with pages in a web site that were accessed during a web browser session; and

processing the session log to identify one or more candidate search terms based upon analyzing the presence of the candidate search terms in relation to the data stored in the session log;

wherein the one or more candidate search terms are provided for use as input to a search engine program to locate information associated with the web site.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the session log also stores data associated with a referring web page from which the user accessed the pages.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the session log also stores one or more referring search terms used to locate the web site from the referring web page, and wherein the session log is processed to identify the one or more candidate search terms by relating textual data stored in the session log with the one or more referring search terms.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the referring search terms are stored as a first page of the session log.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

processing click-stream data to identify the referring search terms.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the session log is processed to identify the one or more candidate search terms by relating textual data in the session log with one or more previously-identified search terms.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more candidate search terms are provided as a list, and wherein the list of candidate search terms is considered by a user in order to purchase one or more of the candidate search terms for use as input to the search engine program.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating display information that includes the one or more identified terms;

wherein the generated display information is for use in providing a graphical display that shows the one or more identified terms.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more candidate search terms are identified based on a frequency that the candidate search terms are included in the session log.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the session log also stores one or more referring search terms used to locate the web site from the referring web page, and wherein the session log is processed to identify the one or more candidate search terms based upon a statistical correlation between the candidate search terms and the one or more referring search terms.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the session log is processed to identify the one or more candidate search terms based upon a statistical correlation between the candidate search terms and one or more previously-identified search terms.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user input that includes instructions whether to include data from a referring page in the session log; and

if the user input indicates that data from the referring page should be included in the session log, then storing data associated with the referring page in the session log prior to processing the session log to identify the one or more candidate search terms.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the session log also stores one or more referring search terms used to locate the web site from the referring web page, and further comprising:

grouping a plurality of session logs according to the referring search terms; and

processing the plurality of session logs to calculate probability information relating to the referring search terms and the pages within each session log; and

generating display information that includes the referring search terms and the probability information, wherein the generated display information is for use in providing a graphical display that relates the probability information to the referring search terms.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of session logs are processed to identify a probability that a particular path of pages will be accessed during a web browser session initiated by the referring search terms.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of session logs are processed to identify a number of sessions that include the referring search terms.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

processing the plurality of session logs to calculate one or more of a number of sessions associated with the referring search terms, a percent of all session associated with the referring search terms, an average number of pages viewed during each session initiated with the referring search terms, a number of sales resulting from sessions initiated with the referring search terms, a number of information requests made during each session initiated with the referring search term.

17. A system for identifying web site search terms from a session log that stores data associated with pages in a web site that were accessed during a web browser session, comprising:

a processing device configured to receive the session log; and

software instructions that are executable by the processing device, and when executed by the processing device are operable to process the session log to identify one or more candidate search terms based upon analyzing the presence of the candidate search terms in relation to the data stored in the session log;

wherein the one or more candidate search terms are provided for use as input to a search engine program to locate information associated with the web site.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the software instructions are a data mining program.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the session log also stores data associated with a referring web page from which the user accessed the pages.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the session log also stores one or more referring search terms used to locate the web site from the referring web page.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the referring search terms are stored as a first page of the session log.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the software instructions are configured to identify the one or more candidate search terms by relating textual data stored in the session log with the one or more referring search terms.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the software instructions are configured to identify the one or more candidate search terms by relating textual data in the session log with one or more previously-identified search terms.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the software instructions are configured to provide the one or more candidate search terms as a list, and wherein the list of candidate search terms is considered by a user in order to purchase one or more of the candidate search terms for use as input to the search engine program.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the software instructions are configured to generate display information that includes the one or more identified terms, and wherein the generated display information is for use in providing a graphical display that shows the one or more identified terms.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the software instructions are configured to identify the one or more candidate search terms based on a frequency that the candidate search terms are included in the session log.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the session log also stores one or more referring search terms used to locate the web site from the referring web page, and wherein the session log is processed to identify the one or more candidate search terms based upon a statistical correlation between the candidate search terms and the one or more referring search terms.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein the software instructions are configured to identify the one or more candidate search terms based upon a statistical correlation between the candidate search terms and one or more previously-identified search terms.

29. The system of claim 17, wherein the session log also stores one or more referring search terms used to locate the web site from the referring web page, and further comprising:

a search term validation program configured to group a plurality of session logs according to the referring search terms, and to process the plurality of session logs to calculate probability information relating to the referring search terms and the pages within each session log.

30. A system for identifying web site search terms, comprising:

means for receiving a session log that stores data associated with pages in a web site that were accessed during a web browser session; and

means for processing the session log to identify one or more candidate search terms based upon analyzing the presence of the candidate search terms in relation to the data stored in the session log, wherein the one or more candidate search terms are provided for use as input to a search engine program to locate information associated with the web site; and

means for generating display information that includes the one or more identified terms, wherein the generated display information is for use in providing a graphical display that shows the one or more identified terms.

31. The system of claim 30, further comprising:

means for receiving a user input that includes instructions whether to include data from a referring page in the session log, and if the user input indicates that data from the referring page should be included in the session log, then storing data associated with the referring page in the session log prior to processing the session log to identify the one or more candidate search terms.