Altering keyword-based requests for content

• US 7,813,959 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2006
• Issued: 10/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zia, Aftab, Khan, M. Sultan, Sobotka, David C., Tonse, Sudhir
• Primary Examiner(s): Bekerman; Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): BROWN, LUIS A
• Application Number:
  US11/390,868
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150344A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,659 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.54, 705/14.43, 705/14.4, 705/10
• US Class Current: 705/14.54
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for increasing user response to advertisements from advertisement suppliers obtained in response to keywords. In one embodiment, a method includes identifying a base request from an advertisement requester; identifying a first and second keyword associated with the base request, the first and second keyword having both previously been used in advertisement requests to a first advertisement supplier; ranking the first keyword and the second keyword based on a user response history for each of the first keyword and second keyword; and identifying the higher ranked of the first keyword and the second keyword to be used to dynamically alter the base request to form an altered request to be sent to the first advertisement supplier.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying by an optimizing engine on one or more servers a base request from an advertisement requester;

identifying by the optimizing engine a first and second keyword associated with the base request, the first and second keyword having both previously been used in advertisement requests to a first advertisement supplier;

ranking by the optimizing engine the first keyword and the second keyword based on a user response history for each of the first keyword and second keyword, the first and second keyword being grouped into a ranked keywords criteria bin;

identifying by the optimizing engine a weighting assigned to the ranked keywords criteria bin and weightings assigned to one or more other criteria bins;

identifying by the optimizing engine the higher ranked of the first keyword and the second keyword from the ranked keywords criteria bin;

selecting by the optimizing engine the higher ranked keyword from the ranked keywords criteria bin based on the weightings assigned to the ranked keywords criteria bin and the one or more other criteria bins; and

forming by the optimizing engine an altered request to be sent to the first advertisement supplier using the selected higher ranked keyword.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein identifying by the optimizing engine a first keyword and a second keyword associated with the base request comprises identifying by the optimizing engine the first keyword and the second keyword based on at least one of:

the content of the base request based on at least one of;

identifying search terms in the base request;

crawling the content of a URL identified in the base request;

or

identifying content in a content, category or hint parameter included with the base request;

or

factors that may or may not be related to the content of the base request based on at least one of;

synonyms to content in the base request;

relevancy to the content of the base request;

current popular keywords for a given day;

historically popular keywords for a given day;

the time of day;

the time of week;

or

the context of the base request based on at least one of;

identifying trends;

identifying system requirements of a user;

identifying the time and date of the base request;

identifying past user search history;

or

identifying user demographics.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein identifying by the optimizing engine a first keyword and a second keyword associated with the base request comprises identifying by the optimizing engine that the first keyword and the second keyword is undesirable based on at least one of:

adult controls;

predetermined offensive material;

or

an exclusivity requirement.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein ranking by the optimizing engine the first keyword and the second keyword based on a user response history for each of the first keyword and second keyword is based on a user history comprising at least one of:

click-through-rate (CTR) of advertisements obtained using each of the first keyword and the second keyword;

cost-per-click (CPC) of advertisements obtained using each of the first keyword and the second keyword;

ad response percentage (ARP) of advertisements obtained using each of the first keyword and the second keyword;

call response ratio obtained using each of the first keyword and the second keyword;

or

views obtained using each of the first keyword and the second keyword.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein identifying by the optimizing engine the higher ranked of the first keyword and the second keyword to be used to dynamically alter the base request comprises at least one of:

performing by the optimizing engine the identifying of the higher ranked of the first keyword and the second keyword on a periodic or non-periodic basis;

assigning by the optimizing engine a usage weight to the identified higher ranked of the first keyword and the second keyword, the usage weight indicating the percentage of times that the identified higher ranked of the first keyword and the second keyword should be used to dynamically alter the base request;

or

generating by the optimizing engine an optimized profile identifying the first advertisement supplier and the identified higher ranked of the first keyword and the second keyword to be used to dynamically alter the base request.

6. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving by an optimizing engine on one or more servers a request for a file, the request including a base description of one or more potential keywords describing potential content associated with the requested file;

associating by the optimizing engine the one or more potential keywords with a first criteria grouping having a first altering keyword and a second altering keyword and a second criteria grouping of additional altering keywords, wherein in the first criteria grouping, the first and second altering keyword have both previously been used in advertisement requests to a first advertisement supplier in a first context;

ranking by the optimizing engine the first altering keyword and the second altering keyword in the first criteria grouping based on a user response history, wherein the user response history is determined based on a same context as the first context;

assigning by the optimizing engine a first weight to the first criteria grouping and a second weight to the second criteria grouping;

selecting by the optimizing engine one or more altering keywords from each of the first criteria grouping and the second criteria grouping based on the assigned first and second weight; and

replacing by the optimizing engine the one or more potential keywords in the base description to generate an improved description of one or more altering keywords describing potential content associated with the requested file.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

sending by a routing system on one or more servers the improved description to the first advertisement supplier;

receiving by the routing system an advertisement from the first advertisement supplier in response to the improved description;

sending by the routing system the advertisement to the advertisement requester; and

tracking by the routing system user response to the advertisement.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein ranking by the optimizing engine the first altering keyword and the second altering keyword in the first criteria grouping based on a user response history comprising at least one of:

click-through-rate (CTR) of advertisements obtained using each of the first altering keyword and the second altering keyword;

cost-per-click (CPC) of advertisements obtained using each of the first altering keyword and the second altering keyword;

ad response percentage (ARP) of advertisements obtained using each of the first altering keyword and the second altering keyword;

call response ratio obtained using each of the first altering keyword and the second altering keyword;

or

views obtained using each of the first altering keyword and the second altering keyword.