Providing links to related advertisements

• US 8,407,094 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2004
• Issued: 03/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Axe, Brian, Koningstein, Ross, Felker, Jerry
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Alvin L
• Application Number:
  US10/814,101
• Time in Patent Office: 3,282 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14
• US Class Current: 705/14.73
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements

Abstract

A document, such as a Web page, includes content and a set of related ad links. When a user selects one of the related ad links, they are brought to a linked document including a set of one or more ads. Unless there is an agreement to the contrary (such as a pay per impression agreement), the advertisers do not compensate the document owner for the selection of a related ad link. However, when a user selects one of the ads on the linked document, they are brought to a corresponding ad landing page linked from the ad. The advertisers may compensate the Web page owner for such selections. The related ad links may be automatically generated using document content information, the number, performances, and/or compensation offers of ads corresponding to the related ad link, etc.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a) accepting, with a computer system including at least one computer, document information of a document;

b) selecting, with the computer system, one or more words or phrases using the accepted document information;

c) generating, with the computer system, a set of links including the selected one or more words or phrases, wherein each of the links, when selected, causes the presentation of another document with at least one advertisement;

d) sending, with the computer system, the set of links to a client device on which the document is being rendered to induce rendering of the set of links on the client device; and

e) accepting a parameter that indicates a level of aggressiveness of related ad link duplicate filtering.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the document information is document relevance information.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein the act of selecting one or more words or phrases includesdetermining a set of ads using the document relevance information, anddetermining keyword and phrase targeting criteria previously associated with the ads of the set of ads.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein the act of selecting one or more words or phrases further includesscoring each of the targeting criteria using at least one of (A) relevance of the targeting criteria to content of the document, (B) number of ads associated with the targeting criteria, (C) offer information related to the targeting criteria, (D) revenue information related to the targeting criteria, (E) the number of ads related to the targeting criteria, (F) performance of the ads related to the targeting criteria, and (G) an estimated compensation for the targeting criteria.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the document information is at least one topic or concept of content of the document.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein the act of selecting one or more words or phrases includesdetermining a set of ads using the topic or concept, anddetermining keyword and phrase targeting criteria previously associated with the ads of the set of ads.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 wherein the act of selecting one or more words or phrases further includesscoring each of the targeting criteria using at least one of (A) relevance of the targeting criteria to content of the document, (B) number of ads associated with the targeting criteria, (C) offer information related to the targeting criteria, (D) revenue information related to the targeting criteria, (E) the number of ads related to the targeting criteria, (F) performance of the ads related to the targeting criteria, and (G) an estimated compensation for the targeting criteria.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

accepting a requested number of links,

wherein the set of links complies with the accepted requested number.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

accepting a requested character limit on each link,

wherein each link of the set of links complies with the accepted requested character limit.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the set of links is encoded as a JavaScript array.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the set of links is encoded using extensible markup language.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising accepting a requested maximum footprint of the set of related ad links,

wherein the set of links is encoded so that it is rendered in compliance with the requested maximum footprint.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising accepting requested rules for determining links,

wherein the act of generating a set of links including the selected one or more words or phrases uses the rules for determining links.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 wherein the requested rules include a rule that the links must be relevant to the content of the document.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 wherein the requested rules include a rule that the links must be selected to maximize monetization.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 wherein the requested rules include a rule that the links must be selected to maximize a score determined using relevance of the link to the content of the document and estimated monetization of the link.

17. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a) accepting, with a computer system including at least one computer, document information of a document;

b) generating, with the computer system, a set of links using the document information, wherein each of the links, when selected, causes the presentation of another document with at least one advertisement;

c) determining, with the computer system, whether to render one of (A) an ad and (B) the generated set of links, with the document; and

d) rendering, with a client device, one of (A) the ad and (B) the generated set of links, with the document based on the determination.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 wherein the act of determining whether to render one of (A) an ad and (B) the generated set of links with the document includes determining an expected value of both the ad and the generated set of links.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 wherein the act of determining whether to render one of (A) an ad and (B) the generated set of links with the document includes determining whether the ad is targeted to a more general concept or a more specific concept.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 further comprising:

e) accepting, with the client device, a user selection of a link of the generated set of links; and

f) re-rendering, with the client device, at least a portion of the document to include one or more ads associated with the selected link, wherein the other document corresponds to the re-rendered document.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 wherein the act of determining whether to render one of (A) an ad and (B) the generated set of links with the document includes determining whether the ad can be included in a second document linked from the set of links.

21. Apparatus comprising:

a) at least one processor; and

b) at least one storage device storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, performs a method including,

1) accepting document information of a document,

2) generating a set of links using the document information, wherein each of the links, when selected, causes the presentation of another document with at least one advertisement,

3) determining whether to render one of (A) an ad and (B) the generated set of links, with the document, and

4) rendering one of (A) the ad and (B) the generated set of links, with the document based on the determination.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the act of determining whether to render one of (A) an ad and (B) the generated set of links with the document includes determining an expected value of both the ad and the generated set of links.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the act of determining whether to render one of (A) an ad and (B) the generated set of links with the document includes determining whether the ad is targeted to a more general concept or a more specific concept.

24. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the act of determining whether to render one of (A) an ad and (B) the generated set of links with the document includes determining whether the ad can be included in a second document linked from the set of links.

25. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the method further includesaccepting a user selection of a link of the generated set of links, andre-rendering at least a portion of the document to include one or more ads associated with the selected link.