Method and system for providing advertising through content specific nodes over the internet

• US 7,752,072 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2002
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: McCoy, Ron, Ewerdt, Jacob Paul, Donovan, Kevin R J B, Barry, Christopher J., Day, William C., Hammond, Brian, Bronnimann, Eric Robert, Plath, Sara Frances, Porter, Dan C., Saam, Eric Christopher, Knell, Matthew Gordon, Klein, Elizabeth
• Primary Examiner(s): FADOK, MARK A
• Application Number:
  US10/309,332
• Publication Number:
  US 20040015397A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,771 Days
• Field of Search: 706/26, 706/27, 725/26, 725/27, 725/14, 705/14, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/14.7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0209 Incentive being awarded or redeemed in connection with the playing of a video game
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0274 Split fees
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing advertising content over the Internet through a hierarchical content-specific node structure and pricing advertising delivery over each node independently. Independent delivery and pricing allows an advertiser to pay more for advertisements delivered to a narrowly targeted audience likely to be interested in the goods or services offered by the advertising entity and to pay less for advertisements directed at a more general audience who may or may not have an interest in the goods or services offered. The less content specific the node is, the less targeted the advertisement will be, and therefore, the less valuable the advertisement will be to the advertising entity. Targeted advertising to multiple levels of content specific nodes is enabled.

Claims

1. An Internet advertising system comprising:

a bid receiving device for sending a multi-level representation of at least a portion of a hierarchy of content nodes to a plurality of advertiser user systems to facilitate user selection of one or more of the nodes for an advertisement listing, the hierarchy of content nodes providing a categorization of information and each content node being associated with one or more web pages, and receiving a first bid amount and a second bid amount associated with an advertisement listing that includes a title and a target location, the first bid amount for a first content node and the second bid amount for a second content node within the hierarchy of content nodes;

computer memory for storing the first bid and the second bid for the advertisement listing; and

advertisement server means for serving an electronic advertisement based on the advertisement listing for placement on a web page of the first content node based on the first bid amount.

2. The Internet advertising system of claim 1 further comprising receiving means for receiving advertisement listing information from a plurality of advertiser users over a network comprising the Internet, the advertisement listing information comprising a title and a target location.

3. The Internet advertising system of claim 1 further comprising an advertisement ranking means for ranking advertisements based on a monetary value associated with the topic.

4. The Internet advertising system of claim 1 further comprising a monetary determination means for determining a monetary value to be charged to an entity associated with the electronic advertisement, the monetary value being based on the first bid amount.

5. The Internet advertising system of claim 1, wherein a category of the first content node is broader than a category of the second content node.

6. The Internet advertising system of claim 1, wherein the advertisement server means further serves the electronic advertisement for placement on a web page of the second content node based on the second bid amount.

7. The Internet advertising system of claim 6, wherein the advertisement server means identifies a position from a number of selectable positions on the web page of the first content node for placement of the electronic advertisement based on the first bid amount, and identifies a position from a number of selectable positions on the web page of the second content node based on the second bid amount.

8. The Internet advertising system of claim 6, wherein:

serving an electronic advertisement based on the advertisement listing for placement on a web page of the first content node comprises serving the electronic advertisement for delivery along with web page content through a first distribution partner to an end user over the Internet; and

serving an electronic advertisement based on the advertisement listing for placement on a web page of the second content node comprises serving the electronic advertisement for delivery along with web page content through a second distribution partner to an end user over the Internet.

9. The Internet advertising system of claim 1, wherein:

serving an electronic advertisement based on the advertisement listing for placement on a web page of the first content node comprises serving the electronic advertisement for delivery along with web page content through a first distribution partner to an end user over the Internet.

10. The Internet advertising system of claim 1, wherein a lowest level in the hierarchy of content nodes comprises a plurality of document level content nodes each comprising a single web page.

11. The Internet advertising system of claim 10, wherein an uppermost level in the hierarchy of content nodes comprises a plurality of language level nodes each language level node comprising a group of web pages with content written in a given language, each language level node corresponding to a different language.

12. The Internet advertising system of claim 1, wherein the first content node comprises a plurality of web pages from different web sites, and the advertisement server means serves the electronic advertisement for placement on the web pages of the first content node based on the first bid amount.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the representation of the content node hierarchy comprises at least three levels.

14. An Internet advertising system comprising:

a bid input server configured to send a multi-level representation of at least a portion of a hierarchy of content nodes to a plurality of advertiser user systems to facilitate user selection of one or more of the nodes for an advertisement listing, the hierarchy of content nodes providing a categorization of information and each content node being associated with one or more web pages, and receive a first bid amount and a second bid amount associated with an advertisement listing that includes a title and a target location, the first bid amount for a first content node and the second bid amount for a second content node within the hierarchy of content nodes; and

an advertisement server configured to serve an electronic advertisement based on the advertisement listing for placement on a web page of the first content node based on the first bid amount.

15. The Internet advertising system of claim 14 further comprising an advertisement input module that receives advertisement listing information from a plurality of advertiser users over a network comprising the Internet, the advertisement listing information comprising a title and a target location.

16. The Internet advertising system of claim 14 further comprising an advertisement ranking module that ranks advertisements based on a monetary value associated with the topic.

17. The Internet advertising system of claim 14 further comprising a monetary determination module that determines a monetary value to be charged to an entity associated with the electronic advertisement, the monetary value being based on the first bid amount.

18. The Internet advertising system of claim 14, wherein the first content node comprises a plurality of web pages from different web sites, and the advertisement server serves the electronic advertisement for placement on the web pages of the first content node based on the first bid amount.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the representation of the content node hierarchy comprises at least three levels.

20. An Internet advertising method, the method implemented by a server system and comprising:

sending, through a communication interface, a multi-level representation of at least a portion of a hierarchy of content nodes to a plurality of advertiser user systems to facilitate user selection of one or more of the nodes for an advertisement listing, the hierarchy of content nodes providing a categorization of information and each content node being associated with one or more web pages;

receiving, through a communication interface, a first bid amount and a second bid amount associated with an advertisement listing that includes a title and a target location, the first bid amount for a first content node and the second bid amount for a second content node within the hierarchy of content nodes; and

selecting, using one or more data processors, an electronic advertisement from a database of electronic advertisements based on the advertisement listing for placement on a web page of the first content node based on the first bid amount.

21. The Internet advertising method of claim 20 further comprising receiving advertisement listing information from a plurality of advertiser users over a network comprising the Internet, the advertisement listing information comprising a title and a target location;

22. The Internet advertising method of claim 20 further comprising ranking advertisements based on a monetary value associated with the topic.

23. The Internet advertising method of claim 20 further comprising determining a monetary value to be charged to an entity associated with the electronic advertisement, the monetary value being based on the first bid amount.

24. The Internet advertising method of claim 20, wherein the first content node comprises a plurality of web pages from different web sites, and further comprising serving the electronic advertisement for placement on the web pages of the first content node based on the first bid amount.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein:

the communication interface is part of a first server; and

at least one of the data processors is part of a second server.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the representation of the content node hierarchy comprises at least three levels.

27. An Internet advertising system comprising:

a content database adapted to provide a hierarchy of content nodes, the hierarchy of content nodes providing a categorization of information and including a first content node and a second content node, each content node being associated with one or more web pages;

a bid input server adapted to send a multi-level representation of at least a portion of the hierarchy of content nodes to a plurality of advertiser user systems to facilitate user selection of one or more of the nodes for an advertisement listing and receive a first bid and a second bid both being associated with an advertisement listing, the advertisement listing including a title and a target location, the first bid for the first content node and the second bid for the second content node, the first bid and the second bid being associated with a single advertiser; and

an advertisement server adapted to serve an electronic advertisement based on the advertisement listing for placement on a web page of the first content node based on the first bid amount.

28. The Internet advertising system of claim 27, wherein the first bid and the second bid are received from an advertiser.

29. The Internet advertising system of claim 27, wherein the first content node comprises a plurality of web pages from different web sites, and the advertisement server serves the electronic advertisement for placement on the web pages of the first content node based on the first bid amount.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the representation of the content node hierarchy comprises at least three levels.

31. A method, the method implemented by a server system and comprising:

generating, using one or more data processors, a hierarchy of content nodes, each content node of the hierarchy having a category in the hierarchy and being associated with one or more web pages identified as having content related to the category;

sending, through a communication interface, a multi-level representation of at least a portion of a hierarchy of content nodes to a plurality of advertiser user systems to facilitate user selection of one or more of the nodes for an advertisement listing;

receiving, through the communication interface, a first bid for a first content node and a second bid for a second content node, both the first bid and the second bid being associated with an advertisement listing, the advertising listing including a title and a target location, both the first bid and the second bid being associated with a single advertiser; and

sending through the communication interface an instruction directing an advertisement server to serve an electronic advertisement based on the advertisement listing for placement on a web page of the first content node based on the first bid.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the first content node comprises a plurality of web pages from different web sites, and further transmitting instructions directing the advertisement server to serve the electronic advertisement for placement on the web pages of the first content node based on the first bid amount.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein:

at least one of the data processors is part of a first server; and

the communication interface is part of a second server.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the representation of the content node hierarchy comprises at least three levels.