System and method for reporting website activity based on inferred attribution methodology

• US 7,349,827 B1
• Filed: 09/18/2002
• Issued: 03/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Doubleclick Incorporated (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Heller, Jonathan Marc, Erlichson, Andrew Joel, Kim, James Christopher, Lee, Benjamin Chien-wen, Merriman, Dwight Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): Moazzami; Nasser
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cervetti; David Garcia
• Application Number:
  US10/245,579
• Time in Patent Office: 2,015 Days
• Field of Search: 702/186, 702/124
• US Class Current: 702/186
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level

Abstract

A method and system for reporting website activity. According to an example embodiment, the system receives event-level data representing visitor activity through navigation entities on a client website, infers attribution of one or more metrics to at least one navigation entity based on the visitor activity, and provides online reports to the client based on the inferred attribution.

Claims

1. A method for reporting website activity, comprising:

receiving event-level data representing visitor activity through navigation entities on a client website;

inferring attribution of one or more metrics to at least one navigation entity based on the visitor activity and not based on explicit attribution information from the event-level data associated with the at least one navigation entity; and

providing online reports to the client based on the inferred attribution.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more metrics are applied to the at least one navigation entity based on the event-level data associated with another navigation entity in a navigation path of the visitor at the client website.

3. An apparatus for reporting website activity, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, coupled to the processor, storing instructions adapted to be executed by the processor to;

receive event-level data representing visitor activity through navigation entities on a client website;

infer attribution of one or more metrics to at least one navigation entity based on the visitor activity and not based on explicit attribution information from the event-level data associated with the at least one navigation entity; and

provide online reports to the client based on the inferred attribution.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the one or more metrics are applied to the at least one navigation entity based on the event-level data associated with another navigation entity in a navigation path of the visitor at the client website.

5. A method for reporting website activity, comprising:

receiving event-level data associated with a visitor'"'"'s navigation path through navigation entities on a website;

applying one or more metrics to at least one of the navigation entities based on the event-level data associated with another of the navigation entities in the visitor'"'"'s navigation path; and

generating reports based on the application of the one or more metrics.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one of the navigation entities precedes the another of the navigation entities in the visitor'"'"'s navigation path.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the navigation entities include web pages provided by the website.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the another of the navigation entities in the visitor'"'"'s navigation path includes a product detail page provided by the website, and

the at least one of the navigation entities includes a section page provided by the website.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more metrics include whether a particular type of hyperlink is provided.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the particular type of hyperlink includes a traffic-driving hyperlink.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the traffic-driving hyperlink takes the visitor from any page provided by the web site to a section page provided by the web site.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the particular type of hyperlink includes a product hyperlink.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the product hyperlink takes the visitor from any page provided by the web site to a product detail page provided by the web site.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more metrics includes whether a product is on sale.

15. The method of claim 5, wherein the navigation entities include one or more of the group consisting of a product detail page, a section page, a section, a traffic-driving hyperlink, and a product hyperlink.

16. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more metrics include one or more of the group consisting of a click, page view, a product carting, a product purchase, and revenue.

17. The method of claim 5, wherein the generated reports are provided online.

18. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

pairing web pages from the visitor'"'"'s navigation path in connection with one or more events identified from the event-level data.