QUERY STATISTICS PROVIDER

• US 20080294630A1
• Filed: 05/21/2008
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Yan, Weipeng, Bayardo, Roberto J., Fox, Nicholas C., Chang, David Chen, Chawathe, Monica D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,099,412 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search

Abstract

A system to provide search query information. The system receives a request for search query information, identifies a set of search queries from a search query log that includes search queries submitted to a search service over a predetermined length of time, and provides the set of search queries. Each of the set of search queries is associated with at least a predetermined number of unique identifiers. Each of the set of search queries is matched to the request for search query information by a combination of exact matches, expanded matches, and broad matches.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request for search query information;

identifying a set of search queries from a search query log that includes search queries submitted to a search service over a predetermined length of time, in which each of the set of search queries is associated with at least a predetermined number of unique identifiers; and

providing the set of search queries.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each identifier is associated with a client device that submitted a search request containing the search query.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifier comprises a cookie identifier.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the set of search queries comprise identifying search queries that are associated with ah advertisement.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising providing the set of search queries to a sponsor of the advertisement.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising categorizing the set of search queries into two or more categories based on a level of similarity between each of the search queries and a keyword associated with the advertisement.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising providing the two or more categories of search queries to the sponsor of the advertisement.

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising identifying search queries that trigger the display of the advertisement.

9. The method of claim 4, further comprising identifying search, queries that are associated with clicking of the advertisement.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising normalizing the search queries.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein normalizing the search queries comprises identifying query terms in the search queries and preserving an ordering of the query terms.

12. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request for search query information;

identifying one or more search queries that have low probability of including personal information of a user who submitted the search query, the identifying including;

processing search queries submitted by users of a search service over a predetermined length of time to identify a set of search queries each being associated with at least a predetermined number of unique identifiers; and

providing the set of search queries.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein each unique identifier is associated with a unique client device that submitted a search request containing the search query.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein each unique identifier comprises a unique cookie identifier.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein identifying the search queries comprises identifying search queries that are associated with an advertisement.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing the set of search queries to a sponsor of the advertisement.

17. The method of claim 16;

further comprising categorizing the set of search queries into two or more categories based on a level of similarity between each of the search queries and a keyword or key phrase associated with the advertisement.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving from a sponsor of an advertisement a request for search query information;

providing search queries that match the advertisement to the sponsor, the search queries being submitted by users of a search service; and

reducing a probability that the search queries include personal information of the users including providing to the sponsor search queries that were submitted to the search service over a predetermined length of time, in which each of the search queries provided to the sponsor is associated with at least a predetermined number of unique identifiers.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein each identifier is associated with a client device that submitted a search request containing the search query.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the identifier comprises a cookie identifier.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a query statistics engine to automatically identify a set of search queries that has a low probability of including personal data of users who submitted the search queries, in which the query statistics engine identifies the set of search queries from a search query log that includes search queries submitted to a search service over a predetermined length of time, and each of the set of search queries is associated with at least a predetermined number of unique identifiers; and

a data storage device to store the set of search queries.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a search server to receive search requests containing search queries, and store the search queries in the data storage device.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein each identifier is associated with a client device that submitted a search request containing the search query.

24. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the identifier comprises a cookie identifier.

25. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the query statistics engine normalizes the search queries.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the query statistics engine normalizes the search queries by identifying query terms in the search queries and preserving an ordering of the query terms.

27. An apparatus comprising:

means for identifying a set of search queries from a search query log that includes search queries submitted to a search service over a predetermined length of time, in which each of the set of search queries has been submitted by at least a predetermined number of unique users of the search service; and

a user interface to provide the set of search queries in response to a request for search query information.

28. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request for search query information based on at least one query keyword associated with an advertisement;

identifying a set of search queries from a search query log associated with the at least one query keyword, the set of search queries including search queries submitted to a search service over a predetermined length of time, in which each of the set of search queries is associated with at least a predetermined number of unique identifiers; and

associating the set of search queries with the advertisement and the at least one query keyword.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the association between the search queries from the search query log and the at least one query keyword comprises an exact match.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein the association between the search queries from the search query log and the at least one query keyword comprises an expanded match.

31. The method of claim 28 wherein the association between the search queries from the search query log and the at least one query keyword comprises abroad match.

32. The method of claim 28 wherein the association between the search queries from the search query log and the at least one query keyword comprises a combination of at least two of exact matches, expanded matches or broad matches.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising categorizing the set of search queries into two or more categories based on a level of similarity between each of the search queries and the query keyword.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising providing the two or more categories of search queries to a sponsor of the advertisement.

35. The method of claim 28 wherein the identifier comprises a cookie identifier.

36. The method of claim 28, further comprising associating the advertisement with an advertising sponsor, and providing the set of search queries to the sponsor of the advertisement.

37. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request for search query information based on at least one query keyword associated with an advertisement, the advertisement being associated with an advertising sponsor;

identifying one or more search queries that substantially exclude personal information of a user who submitted the search query, the identifying including;

processing search queries submitted by users of a search service over a predetermined length of time to identify a set of search queries each being associated with at least a predetermined number of unique identifiers;

associating the one or more search queries with the at least one query keyword; and

providing the set of search queries associated with the at least one query keyword to the sponsor of the advertisement.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising categorizing the set of search queries into two Or more categories based on a level of similarity between each of the search queries and the at least one query keyword associated with the advertisement.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the categorization includes a matching method including at least one of an exact match, an expanded match, and a broad match.

40. A computer-implemented method comprising;

receiving from a sponsor of an advertisement a request for advertisement placement information;

providing search queries that match the advertisement to the sponsor, the search queries being submitted by users of a search service, the search queries being provided when each search query has been submitted by a number of unique users above a predetermined popularity threshold; and

reducing a probability that the search queries include personal information of the users, including providing to the sponsor search queries that were submitted to the search service over a predetermined length of time, in which each of the search queries provided to the sponsor is associated with at least a predetermined number of unique identifiers.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising matching the search queries to the advertisement through at least one of exact matches, expanded matches, and broad matches.

42. An apparatus comprising:

a data storage device;

a search server to receive search requests containing search queries, and store the search queries in the data storage device;

an advertising server to receive advertisements from advertising sponsors for advertisement placement;

a query statistics engine to automatically identify a set of search queries from the search server that has a low probability of including personal data of users who submitted the search queries, in which the query statistics engine identifies the set of search queries from a search query log that includes search queries submitted to the search Server over a predetermined length of time, and each of the set of search queries is associated with at least a predetermined minimum number of unique user identifiers; and

a matching engine that matches the set of search queries to the advertisement from the advertising sponsor.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the matching engine includes at least one of an exact match engine, an expanded match engine, and a broad match engine.

44. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein each identifier is associated with a client device that submitted a search request containing the search query.

45. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the identifier comprises a cookie identifier.

46. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the query statistics engine normalizes the search queries.

47. The apparatus of claim 46 wherein the query statistics engine normalizes the search queries by identifying query terms in the search queries and preserving an ordering of the query terms.