Domain Popularity Scoring

• US 20110087769A1
• Filed: 04/06/2010
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VeriSign, Inc.
• Original Assignee: VeriSign, Inc.
• Inventors: Kamara, Tamir, Zohar, Nir, Mankin, Shevek, Kosters, Mark, Larson, Matt, Lanxner, Eyal, Simpson, Andrew W., Shyamsunder, Karthik, Orentas, Leonard, Sunkara, Srinivas, Holmes, Alexander D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,909,760 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]

Abstract

Systems and methods for scoring a domain including analyzing counter data and information obtained from a web site associated with the domain. Methods may include receiving requests to resolve the domain at an authoritative domain resolution server. A counter may be incremented for the domain based on the received requests. Information may be obtained from a web page associated with the domain. For example, obtaining information from the web page may include obtaining quantitative, qualitative, and/or functional information from the web page, such as link information, a status of network links corresponding to the link information, and associated ratios. The status of link information may include searching for functional details and/or results, such as, domain redirections, domain errors, mirror content, and commonly linked sites. A score may be calculated for the domain based upon the counter data and the information obtained from the web page associated with the domain.

Claims

1. A method for scoring a domain, comprising:

receiving requests to resolve the domain at an authoritative domain resolution server;

automatically incrementing a counter for the domain based on the received requests;

obtaining information from a web page associated with the domain; and

automatically calculating a score for the domain by a computer processor based upon the counter and the information obtained from the web page associated with the domain.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining information from a web page associated with the domain includes obtaining link information from the web page and analyzing the status of network links corresponding to the link information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein analyzing the status of the link information includes searching for at least one of domain redirections, domain errors, mirror content, and commonly linked sites.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining information from another web page that is linked to the domain.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing characters of a domain name of the domain and applying a weighting factor to the calculation based on the results of the analysis.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating a score for the domain includes applying a quality factor based on a relationship between total links of the domain and responsive links of the domain.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a purpose of the domain and applying a weighting factor to the calculation based on the determined purpose.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a frequency at which information of the domain is updated and applying a weighting factor to the calculation based on the determined frequency.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein requests that include a “

www”

string are counted separately from requests that do not include a “

www”

string.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein separate counters are incremented for at least two request formats of the requests to resolve the domain, the method further comprising:

comparing a first number of requests incremented by a first counter corresponding to a first request format to a second number of requests incremented by a second counter corresponding to a second request format; and

applying a weighting factor to a traffic score of at least one of the counters based on the comparison.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein separate counters are incremented for at least two request formats of the requests to resolve the domain, the method further comprising:

determining a number of external links to subdomains of the domain; and

applying a weighting factor to a traffic score of at least one of the counters based on the number of external links to the subdomains.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining information from a web page associated with the domain includes obtaining link information from the web page and analyzing the status of network links corresponding to the link information.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein analyzing the status of the link information includes searching for at least one of domain redirections, domain errors, mirror content, and commonly linked sites.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining information from another web page that is linked to the domain.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing characters of a domain name of the domain and applying a weighting factor to the calculation based on the results of the analysis.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating a score for the domain includes applying a quality factor based on a relationship between total links of the domain and responsive links of the domain.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a purpose of the domain and applying a weighting factor to the calculation based on the determined purpose.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a frequency at which information of the domain is updated and applying a weighting factor to the calculation based on the determined frequency.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein requests that include a “

www”

string are counted separately from requests that do not include a “

www”

string.

21. The method of claim 9, wherein a count of the requests including the “

www”

string are weighted differently in the calculation than a count of the requests not including the “

www”

string.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein separate counters are incremented for at least two request formats of the requests to resolve the domain, the method further comprising:

comparing a first number of requests incremented by a first counter corresponding to a first request format to a second number of requests incremented by a second counter corresponding to a second request format; and

applying a weighting factor to a traffic score of at least one of the counters based on the comparison.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein separate counters are incremented for at least two request formats of the requests to resolve the domain, the method further comprising:

determining a number of external links to subdomains of the domain; and

applying a weighting factor to a traffic score of at least one of the counters based on the number of external links to the subdomains.

12. A computer-readable storage medium bearing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the following steps:

receive requests to resolve a domain at a top-level domain resolution server;

automatically increment a counter for the domain based on the received requests;

obtain information from a web page associated with the domain; and

automatically calculate a score for the domain based upon the counter and the information obtained from the web page associated with the domain.

24. A system for scoring a domain comprising:

a processor; and

a storage medium including instructions for causing the processor to;

receive requests to resolve a domain at a top-level domain resolution server;

automatically increment a counter for the domain based on the received requests;

obtain information from a web page associated with the domain; and

automatically calculate a score for the domain based upon the counter and the information obtained from the web page associated with the domain