Method for cross-domain tracking of web site traffic

• US 8,131,861 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2006
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WebTrends Incorporated (WebTrends Holding, Inc.)
• Inventors: Butler, Eric, Teddy, John, Waugh, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Pwu, Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): KHAJURIA, SHRIPAL K
• Application Number:
  US11/437,989
• Publication Number:
  US 20060265495A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,118 Days
• Field of Search: 709/228, 709/220
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Web traffic reporting methods that rely upon third-party cookies suffer in accuracy when those tracking cookies are frequently refused by web users or deleted once they have been accepted. The invention described herein circumvents this problem by employing first-party cookies instead. This is accomplished by a client-side script that maintains the first-party cookie (as placed by the web site in question) and sends a site-maintained visitor ID to a tracking service for analysis. The effect is to improve the accuracy of traffic statistics that rely on that cookie.

Claims

1. A method for tracking activity on a web site comprising:

storing a web site on a first server coupled to a network, said website belonging to a first-party domain;

using a second server at a second domain, different from the first-party domain, to place a third-party cookie on a visitor computer to track activity of the visitor computer on the first server;

loading a web page from the web site on the visitor computer;

executing computer code associated with the web page at the visitor computer;

sending a data request to the second server responsive to execution of the computer code;

generating identification code at the second server responsive to the data request and returning the identification code from the second server to the visitor computer; and

associating at the visitor computer the identification code with a first-party cookie, said first party cookie being associated with the first-party domain;

again loading a web page from the web site on the visitor computer;

storing information about the visit to the web site in the first-party cookie;

opening the first-party cookie at the visitor computer; and

sending the information about the web visit to the second server.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said method further comprises associating visitor computer activity on a third server with the identification code.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein opening the first-party cookie at the visitor computer and sending the information about the web visit to the second server are done in response to execution of computer code associated with at least one of the web pages loaded from the web site on the visitor computer.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said method further includes associating information at the second server from both the third-party cookie and the first-party cookie with the identification code.

5. A method for tracking a visitor computer across multiple domains on a network comprising:

loading a web page from a first web site at a first domain on the visitor computer;

reading an identification code in a first-party cookie set by the first domain at the visitor computer;

sending a data request to a server coupled to the network;

sending the identification code with the data request;

creating a third-party cookie using the identification code;

placing the third-party cookie on the visitor computer;

loading a web page from a second web site at a second domain on the visitor computer;

sending the third party cookie to the server; and

storing visitor computer activity across both domains at the server.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the stored activity at the server is associated with the identification code.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the data request is an image request.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein after storing visitor computer activity across both domains at the server the third party cookie is deleted or the visitor computer begins to reject the third party cookie, said method further comprising:

loading another page from one of the first and second web sites;

reading the identification code in the first party cookie associated with the one web site;

sending the identification code to the server; and

creating a new third party cookie using the identification code.

9. A method for tracking activity on a web site comprising:

providing a script for embedding in downloadable content and configured to be downloaded by a visitor computer over a network from a first party, the script operable to;

obtain a unique ID;

assign the unique ID to a first party cookie associated with the downloadable content of the first party; and

transmit a communication over the network to a third party tracking server;

receiving the communication at the third-party tracking server and, responsive to receipt, causing a third party cookie having the unique ID to be set on the visitor computer; and

maintaining a record of visitor computer activity on the web page using the third party cookie.

10. The method of claim 9, further including:

embedding a script on second downloadable content downloaded by a visitor computer from a second party;

responsive to the script on the second downloadable content, determining that the third party cookie having the unique ID has been set on the visitor computer and setting a first party cookie associated with the second web page of the second domain using the unique ID of the third party cookie.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of obtaining a unique ID includes generating the unique ID on the visitor computer, wherein the communication includes the unique ID.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of obtaining a unique ID includes generating the unique ID on the third party tracking server.

13. The method for claim 9, further including:

determining that the third party cookie is no longer set on the visitor computer and, responsive to the determination, causing the unique ID to be transmitted to the web tracking server;

responsive to receipt of the unique ID at the web tracking server, causing the third party cookie having the unique ID to be set on the visitor computer.

14. A method for tracking activity on a network resource comprising:

providing one or more scripts for embedding on a web page and configured to be downloaded by a visitor computer from the network resource, the scripts operable to;

transmitting a communication to a third party tracking server, receiving a response from the third-party tracking server along with an ID, storing the ID in a first party cookie associated with the network resource, and storing the ID in a third party cookie associated with the tracking server.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the network resource is a web page.

16. The method of claim 15, further including determining that settings of a visitor computer prevent operation of one or more of the storing steps, and not performing one or more of the storing steps responsive to the determining step.