Adjusting ad costs using document performance or document collection performance

• US 20060004628A1
• Filed: 06/30/2004
• Published: 01/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Axe, Brian, Stoll, Nathan, Beeferman, Doug, Patel, Amit, Varian, Hal
• Granted Patent: US 8,494,900 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.460
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0247 Calculate past, present or future revenues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions

Abstract

Documents or document sets may be scored to reflect a value of an action, such as a selection for example, when an ad is served with the document (or a document belonging to a document set). A cost associated with the action with respect to an ad that was served with a document may then be adjusted using the score. For example, ad scores may be accepted or determined, and a document may be scored using the ad scores when served with the document and ad scores across a collection of documents to generate a document score. Each of the ad scores may indicate a value of an action with respect to an ad, such as a conversion rate, or a return on investment for an ad selection for example. Document scores used in this way may help advertisers get a more consistent cost per conversion, or return on investment, without requiring them to enter and manage various offers for various documents and/or various ad serving systems having various conversion rates or returns on investment.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a) accepting ad scores; and

b) scoring a document using ad scores when served with the document and ad scores across a collection of documents to generate a document score.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the ad scores indicate a value of selecting an ad.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the ad scores indicate a conversion rate of an ad.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the ad scores indicated a return on investment for an ad selection.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

c) determining a measure of confidence of ad scores for the document; and

d) adjusting the document score using the determined measure of confidence to generate a new document score.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the determined measure of confidence of ad scores is a function of a standard deviation of the ad scores for the document.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining the accepted ad scores, wherein the act of determining the accepted ad scores includes, for each ad served with a document for which a value of an action with respect to the ad is tracked,

i) for each document

A) determining a score for the ad on the document, and

B) combining the determined score for the ad on the document with previously determined scores for the ad on other documents to generate a combined score for the ad, and

ii) determining an ad score across a collection of documents using the combined score for the ad.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the ad score across the collection of documents is an average score.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

c) accepting a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with the document; and

d) adjusting the cost using the document score to generate a modified cost.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the act of adjusting the cost reduces the cost.

11. The method of claim 9 where the document score is less than one, and wherein the act of adjusting the cost includes multiplying the cost by the document score.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

c) accepting ad serve information used to determine a cost for an action with respect to the ad that was served with the document; and

d) determining a cost using the accepted ad serve information and the document score.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the document is a Web page.

14. A method comprising:

a) accepting a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with a document;

b) obtaining a document score associated with the document; and

c) adjusting the cost using the document score to generate a modified cost.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the act of adjusting the cost reduces the cost.

16. The method of claim 14 where the document score is less than one, and wherein the act of adjusting the cost includes multiplying the cost by the document score.

17. The method of claim 14 where the document score indicates a combined value of the actions with respect to ads when served with the document.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the combined value is a combined a conversion rate.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the combined value is a combined return on investment.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein the document is a Web page.

21. A method comprising:

a) accepting ad serve information used to determine a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with a document;

b) obtaining a document score associated with the document; and

c) determining a cost using the accepted ad serve information and the document score.

22. The method of claim 21 where the document score indicates a combined value of the actions with respect to ads when served with the document.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the combined value is a combined a conversion rate.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the combined value is a combined return on investment.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein the document is a Web page.

26. A method comprising:

a) accepting ad scores; and

b) scoring a document set including at least two documents using ad scores when served with the document set and ad scores across a collection of document sets to generate a document set score.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein each of the ad scores indicate a value of selecting an ad.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein each of the ad scores indicate a conversion rate of an ad.

29. The method of claim 26 wherein each of the ad scores indicated a return on investment for an ad selection.

30. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

c) determining a measure of confidence of ad scores for the document set; and

d) adjusting the document set score using the determined measure of confidence to generate a new document set score.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the determined measure of confidence of ad scores is a function of a standard deviation of the ad scores for the document set.

32. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

determining the accepted ad scores, wherein the act of determining the accepted ad scores includes, for each ad served with a document of the document set for which a value of an action with respect to the ad is tracked,

i) for each document set

A) determining a score for the ad on the document of the document set, and

B) combining the determined score for the ad on the document with previously determined scores for the ad on other documents of other document sets to generate a combined score for the ad, and

ii) determining an ad score across a collection of document sets using the combined score for the ad.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the ad score across the collection of document sets is an average score.

34. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

c) accepting a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with a document of the document set; and

d) adjusting the cost using the document set score to generate a modified cost.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the act of adjusting the cost reduces the cost.

36. The method of claim 34 where the document set score is less than one, and wherein the act of adjusting the cost includes multiplying the cost by the document set score.

37. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

c) accepting ad serve information used to determine a cost for an action with respect to the ad that was served with the document of the document set; and

d) determining a cost using the accepted ad serve information and the document set score.

38. The method of claim 26 wherein the document set is a Website.

39. The method of claim 26 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular Web publisher.

40. The method of claim 26 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular content server.

41. A method comprising:

a) accepting a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with a document belonging to a document set;

b) obtaining a document set score associated with the document set; and

c) adjusting the cost using the document set score to generate a modified cost.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the act of adjusting the cost reduces the cost.

43. The method of claim 41 where the document set score is less than one, and wherein the act of adjusting the cost includes multiplying the cost by the document set score.

44. The method of claim 41 where the document set score indicates a combined value of actions with respect to ads when served with documents belonging to the document set.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein the combined value is a combined conversion rate.

46. The method of claim 44 wherein the combined value is a combined return on investment.

47. The method of claim 41 wherein the document set is a Website.

48. The method of claim 41 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular Web publisher.

49. The method of claim 41 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular content server.

50. A method comprising:

a) accepting ad serve information used to determine a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with a document belonging to a document set;

b) obtaining a document set score associated with the document set to which the document belongs; and

c) determining a cost using the accepted ad serve information and the document set score.

51. The method of claim 50 where the document set score indicates a combined value of the actions with respect to ads when served with documents belonging to the document set.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein the combined value is a combined a conversion rate.

53. The method of claim 51 wherein the combined value is a combined return on investment.

54. The method of claim 50 wherein the document set is a Website.

55. The method of claim 50 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular Web publisher.

56. The method of claim 50 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular content server.

57. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer readable data structure comprising a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries including (a) a first field storing an identifier of a document or a set of documents, and (b) a second field storing a score, wherein the score indicates a value of an action with respect to ads when served with the document or set of documents identified by the first field.

58. The computer readable medium of claim 57 wherein the value is a conversion rate.

59. The computer readable medium of claim 57 wherein the value is a return on investment.

60. A method comprising:

a) accepting a potential cost to be paid by an advertiser for an action with respect to a served ad; and

b) adjusting the cost using a value score of the action in the context in which the ad was served.

61. The method of claim 61 wherein the value score is a function of one or more serving parameters.

62. The method of claim 61 wherein the value score is a function of a relevancy of the ad to document with which the ad was served.

63. The method of claim 61 wherein the value score is a function of a targeting type that was used to serve the ad.

64. The method of claim 61 wherein the value score is a function of a publisher quality metric associated with the document with which the ad was served.

65. Apparatus comprising:

a) an input for accepting ad scores; and

b) means for scoring a document using ad scores when served with the document and ad scores across a collection of documents to generate a document score.

66. The apparatus of claim 65 wherein each of the ad scores indicate a value of selecting an ad.

67. The apparatus of claim 65 wherein each of the ad scores indicate a conversion rate of an ad.

68. The apparatus of claim 65 wherein each of the ad scores indicated a return on investment for an ad selection.

69. The apparatus of claim 65 further comprising:

c) means for determining a measure of confidence of ad scores for the document; and

d) means for adjusting the document score using the determined measure of confidence to generate a new document score.

70. The apparatus of claim 65 further comprising:

means for determining the accepted ad scores, wherein the means for determining the accepted ad scores include, for each ad served with a document for which a value of an action with respect to the ad is tracked,

i) means, for each document, for

A) determining a score for the ad on the document,

B) combining the determined score for the ad on the document with previously determined scores for the ad on other documents to generate a combined score for the ad, and

ii) means for determining an ad score across a collection of documents using the combined score for the ad.

71. The apparatus of claim 70 wherein the ad score across the collection of documents is an average score.

72. The apparatus of claim 65 further comprising:

c) an input for accepting a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with the document; and

d) means for adjusting the cost using the document score to generate a modified cost.

73. The apparatus of claim 72 wherein the means for adjusting the cost reduce the cost.

74. The apparatus of claim 72 where the document score is less than one, and wherein the means for adjusting the cost include multiplying the cost by the document score.

75. The apparatus of claim 65 further comprising:

c) an input for accepting ad serve information used to determine a cost for an action with respect to the ad that was served with the document; and

d) means for determining a cost using the accepted ad serve information and the document score.

76. The apparatus of claim 65 wherein the document is a Web page.

77. Apparatus comprising:

a) an input for accepting a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with a document;

b) means for obtaining a document score associated with the document; and

c) means for adjusting the cost using the document score to generate a modified cost.

78. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein the means for adjusting the cost reduce the cost.

79. The apparatus of claim 77 where the document score is less than one, and wherein the means for adjusting the cost include multiplying the cost by the document score.

80. The apparatus of claim 77 where the document score indicates a combined value of the actions with respect to ads when served with the document.

81. The apparatus of claim 80 wherein the combined value is a combined a conversion rate.

82. The apparatus of claim 80 wherein the combined value is a combined return on investment.

83. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein the document is a Web page.

84. Apparatus comprising:

a) an input for accepting ad serve information used to determine a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with a document;

b) means for obtaining a document score associated with the document; and

c) means for determining a cost using the accepted ad serve information and the document score.

85. The apparatus of claim 84 where the document score indicates a combined value of the actions with respect to ads when served with the document.

86. The apparatus of claim 85 wherein the combined value is a combined a conversion rate.

87. The apparatus of claim 85 wherein the combined value is a combined return on investment.

88. The apparatus of claim 84 wherein the document is a Web page.

89. Apparatus comprising:

a) means for accepting ad scores; and

b) means for scoring a document set including at least two documents using ad scores when served with the document set and ad scores across a collection of document sets to generate a document set score.

90. The apparatus of claim 89 wherein each of the ad scores indicate a value of selecting an ad.

91. The apparatus of claim 89 wherein each of the ad scores indicate a conversion rate of an ad.

92. The apparatus of claim 89 wherein each of the ad scores indicated a return on investment for an ad selection.

93. The apparatus of claim 89 further comprising:

c) means for determining a measure of confidence of ad scores for the document set; and

d) means for adjusting the document set score using the determined measure of confidence to generate a new document set score.

94. The apparatus of claim 89 further comprising:

means for determining the accepted ad scores, wherein the means for determining the accepted ad scores include, for each ad served with a document of the document set for which a value of an action with respect to the ad is tracked,

i) means, for each document set, for

A) determining a score for the ad on the document of the document set, and

B) combining the determined score for the ad on the document with previously determined scores for the ad on other documents of other document sets to generate a combined score for the ad, and

ii) means for determining an ad score across a collection of document sets using the combined score for the ad.

95. The apparatus of claim 94 wherein the ad score across the collection of document sets is an average score.

96. The apparatus of claim 89 further comprising:

c) means for accepting a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with a document of the document set; and

d) means for adjusting the cost using the document set score to generate a modified cost.

97. The apparatus of claim 96 wherein the means for adjusting the cost reduce the cost.

98. The apparatus of claim 96 where the document set score is less than one, and wherein the means for adjusting the cost include multiplying the cost by the document set score.

99. The apparatus of claim 89 further comprising:

c) an input for accepting ad serve information used to determine a cost for an action with respect to the ad that was served with the document of the document set; and

d) means for determining a cost using the accepted ad serve information and the document set score.

100. The apparatus of claim 89 wherein the document set is a Website.

101. The apparatus of claim 89 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular Web publisher.

102. The apparatus of claim 89 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular content server.

103. Apparatus comprising:

a) an input for accepting a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with a document belonging to a document set;

b) means for obtaining a document set score associated with the document set; and

c) means for adjusting the cost using the document set score to generate a modified cost.

104. The apparatus of claim 103 wherein the means for adjusting the cost reduce the cost.

105. The apparatus of claim 103 where the document set score is less than one, and wherein the means for adjusting the cost include multiplying the cost by the document set score.

106. The apparatus of claim 103 where the document set score indicates a combined value of actions with respect to ads when served with documents belonging to the document set.

107. The apparatus of claim 106 wherein the combined value is a combined conversion rate.

108. The apparatus of claim 106 wherein the combined value is a combined return on investment.

109. The apparatus of claim 103 wherein the document set is a Website.

110. The apparatus of claim 103 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular Web publisher.

111. The apparatus of claim 103 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular content server.

112. Apparatus comprising:

a) an input for accepting ad serve information used to determine a cost for an action with respect to an ad that was served with a document belonging to a document set;

b) means for obtaining a document set score associated with the document set to which the document belongs; and

c) means for determining a cost using the accepted ad serve information and the document set score.

113. The apparatus of claim 112 where the document set score indicates a combined value of the actions with respect to ads when served with documents belonging to the document set.

114. The apparatus of claim 113 wherein the combined value is a combined a conversion rate.

115. The apparatus of claim 113 wherein the combined value is a combined return on investment.

116. The apparatus of claim 112 wherein the document set is a Website.

117. The apparatus of claim 112 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular Web publisher.

118. The apparatus of claim 112 wherein the document set consists of Web pages of a particular content server.

119. Apparatus comprising:

a) an input for accepting a potential cost to be paid by an advertiser for an action with respect to a served ad; and

b) means for adjusting the cost using a value score of the action in the context in which the ad was served.

120. The apparatus of claim 119 wherein the value score is a function of one or more serving parameters.

121. The apparatus of claim 119 wherein the value score is a function of a relevancy of the ad to document with which the ad was served.

122. The apparatus of claim 119 wherein the value score is a function of a targeting type that was used to serve the ad.

123. The apparatus of claim 119 wherein the value score is a function of a publisher quality metric associated with the document with which the ad was served.