PREFERRED COST BIDDING FOR ONLINE ADVERTISING

• US 20080255922A1
• Filed: 04/12/2007
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Pal, Martin, Feldman, Jon, Kim, Guem R., Narendran, Balakrishnan, Wildavsky, Adam, Liang, Joanna Jung-Yen, Rao, Rohit
• Application Number:
  US11/734,765
• Publication Number:
  US 20080255922A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

In an online advertising system, preferred cost bidding allows advertisers to specify a preferred “average” cost target (e.g., cost-per-click (CPC), cost per thousand impressions (CPM)), rather than a “maximum” cost target (e.g., maximum CPC, CPM). The system attempts to bring the advertiser'"'"'s overall advertising cost as close as possible to the advertiser'"'"'s specified average cost, using an iterative process (e.g., a feedback loop) that updates bids for keywords using historical performance data for the key words. In some implementations, a bid is automatically adjusted in an adaptive way to compensate for natural changes in fluctuations of the market using historical performance data to compute a bid that is likely to result in an average cost (per click) that is close to the advertiser'"'"'s preferred average target cost (per click).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying input specifying a preferred average cost target for a keyword; and

automatically updating a bid for the keyword using historical performance data for the keyword to achieve the preferred average cost target.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically updating a bid further comprises:

calculating a linear projection using historical performance data for a previous time period; and

setting the bid equal to a linear combination of the bid and a previous bid calculated from the linear projection.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the linear projection includes an origin point.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the preferred average cost target is from a group of average cost targets including:

a historical average cost-per-click (CPC), average cost-per-action (CPA), average return on investment (ROI) and average cost per thousand impressions (CPM).

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the historical average CPC is set equal to a maximum CPC.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the preferred average cost target is multiplied by a factor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the bid is automatically updated over multiple time periods.

8. A method comprising:

identifying input specifying a preferred average cost target for a key word; and

automatically adjusting a bid for the keyword during a time window to achieve the preferred average cost target, using a linear combination of the bid and a previous bid for a previous time window, determined by a linear projection through an origin point on a plot of cost as a function of bid.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the preferred average cost target is from a group of average cost targets including:

a historical average cost-per-click (CPC), average cost-per-action (CPA), average return on investment (ROI) and average cost per thousand impressions (CPM).

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the historical average CPC is set equal to a maximum CPC.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the preferred average cost target is multiplied by a factor.

12. A method comprising:

identifying input specifying a preferred average cost target for a keyword; and

automatically adjusting a bid for the keyword by setting the bid equal to a convex combination of weighted past linear projections on a plot of cost as a function of bid.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein weights applied to the past linear projections decrease geometrically as a function of time.

14. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor and including instructions, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations, comprising;

identifying input specifying a preferred average cost target for a keyword; and

automatically updating a bid for the keyword using historical performance data for the keyword to achieve the preferred average cost target.

15. The system of claim 14, where automatically updating a bid further comprises:

calculating a linear projection using historical performance data for a previous time period; and

setting the bid equal to a linear combination of the bid and a previous bid calculated from the linear projection.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the linear projection includes an origin point.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the preferred average cost target is from a group of average cost targets including:

a historical average cost-per-click (CPC), average cost-per-action (CPA), average return on investment (ROI) and average cost per thousand impressions (CPM).

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the historical average CPC is set equal to a maximum CPC.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the preferred average cost target is multiplied by a factor.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the bid is automatically updated over multiple time periods.

21. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

identifying input specifying a preferred average cost target for a keyword; and

automatically updating a bid for the keyword using historical performance data for the keyword to achieve the preferred average cost target.

22. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

identifying input specifying a preferred average cost target for a key word; and

automatically adjusting a bid for the keyword during a time window to achieve the preferred average cost target, using a linear combination of the bid and a previous bid for a previous time window, determined by a linear projection through an origin point on a plot of cost as a function of bid.

23. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

identifying input specifying a preferred average cost target for a keyword; and

automatically adjusting a bid for the keyword by setting the bid equal to a convex combination of weighted past linear projections on a plot of cost as a function of bid.

24. A system comprising:

means for identifying input specifying a preferred average cost target for a keyword; and

means for automatically updating a bid for the keyword using historical performance data for the keyword to achieve the preferred average cost target.