Patent Grant
9972018
1. Field
The present disclosure relates to Internet advertisement. In particular, it relates to systems and methods of providing relevant link destinations for advertisement displayed to a user.
2. General Background
Internet advertising has become a prime direct marketing channel for companies offering goods and services. Furthermore, Internet advertising offers the unprecedented opportunity to tailor individualized ads to online users because online users generate behavioral and demographic data that provide insight into their goals and preferences. User behavior can be established by tracking user activities online, storing user preferences, etc. In conventional systems, advertisements are associated with a fixed link destination. That is, a hyperlink is associated with the advertisement and a single landing page is referenced as the link destination.
In one aspect, a user indication of preference for an item is received. A first hyperlink that references a first webpage of an advertiser is associated with an advertisement of the item if the user indication of preference for the item is indicative of a first level of interest in the item. A second hyperlink that references a second webpage of an advertiser is associated with an advertisement of the item if the user indication of preference for the item is indicative of a second level of interest in the item. The advertisement is presented to the user on an advertisement provider webpage.
In another aspect, the user indication of preference for an item is explicitly received from a user. Alternatively, the user indication of preference for an item is implicitly derived from user Internet activity.
In a further aspect, the advertisement is presented to the user on an advertisement provider webpage.
In a further aspect, the first level of interest is a low level of interest and the second level of interest is a high level of interest.
In a further aspect, the advertisement of the item is associated with a third hyperlink that references a third webpage of the advertiser if the user indication of preference for the item is indicative of a third level of interest in the item.
In another aspect, the user is redirected to the first webpage when the user selects the advertisement if the advertisement has been associated with the first hyperlink. The user can be redirected to the second webpage when the user selects the advertisement if the advertisement has been associated with the second hyperlink.
In another aspect, the advertisement provider webpage is a results webpage that includes web search results.
In another aspect, the first level of interest comprises user interest in browsing the item and the second level of interest comprises user interest in purchasing the item.
In another aspect, the advertisement is selected from a plurality of advertisements based on the indication of preference for the item. The user indication of preference is stored in a user profile.
In a further aspect, a selection of the advertisement is received from the user. An advertiser can then be charged a first quantity of money if the advertisement of the item has been associated with the first hyperlink. The advertiser can be charged a second quantity of money if the advertisement of the item has been associated with the second hyperlink, the first quantity of money being greater than the second quantity of money.
In another aspect, the first webpage is a catalog webpage, and the second webpage is a purchasing page. In another example, the first webpage is a job searching webpage and the second webpage is a job applying webpage.
In one aspect, there is a system of providing advertisements to a user. The system comprises a user behavior collection module, a link destination selection module, and an advertisement rendering module. The user behavior collection module receives a user indication of preference for an item. The link destination selection module associates to an advertisement of the item a first hyperlink that references a first webpage of an advertiser if the user indication of preference for the item is indicative of a low level of interest in the item. The link destination selection module can be further configured to associate to the advertisement of the item a second hyperlink that references a second webpage of the advertiser if the user indication of preference for the item is indicative of a high level of interest in the item. The advertisement rendering module presents the advertisement to the user on an advertisement provider webpage.
The features and objects of alternate embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent with reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of various examples wherein like reference numerals denote like elements and in which:
Various methods and systems for advertisement delivery are disclosed. Advertisements and listings online are conventionally associated with a hyperlink. As disclosed herein, a hyperlink that is relevant to the user's preferences and levels of interest is selected and associated with the advertisement or listing. User levels of interest in an item or service are determined based on historical data such a user search requests and accessed web pages. Utilizing the user's levels of interests in an item, an advertisement or listing for such item or listing can be associated with a hyperlink that would direct the user to a relevant link destination if the user followed the hyperlink of the advertisement or listing. Likewise, the user's levels of interests in a service can be used to associate an advertisement or listing to a hyperlink that would direct the user to a relevant link destination if the user followed the hyperlink of the advertisement or listing.
As used herein, a link destination is generally a webpage or another target that a hyperlink references. In one embodiment, a link destination can be a landing page in a website of the advertiser. In one example, the landing page of the advertiser can be a catalog, viewing page, or a purchase page.
Therefore, relevant link destination for an item is provided to users according to the user's interest in the item. The user level of interest on an item is determined based on previous user interactions. The item can be advertised with an advertisement or listing displayed on a webpage or other user interface. The advertisement or listing is dynamically associated with a hyperlink. The hyperlink can have an associated link destination that is displayed when the user selects the hyperlink. The hyperlink can be determined based on the link destination to be presented to the user. Thus, a link destination that is relevant to the user level of interest is presented to the user. The link destination is relevant to the user if the link destination is appropriate to the level of interest of the user. Furthermore, the hyperlink can be a link to a website of the advertisement provider 140, which in turn is mapped to an advertiser link that references the link destination (e.g., landing page).
In a further embodiment, monetization for advertisement can be provided. For example, an advertisement provider that displays the advertisements of an advertiser can allot a higher cost-per-click to advertisements that have a more relevant link destination. In one embodiment, advertisers can be provided with the option to select whether to advertise with relevant link destination. If an advertiser chooses to do so, the advertiser can be charged more because the link destination is a more targeted approach to direct potential customers to the right web pages of the advertiser.
In one embodiment, the computer device 102 can be configured with a web browser that allows the user computing device 102 to send data to and receive data from a network server 118. The computing device 102 communicates with the one or more modules of the infrastructure of the service provider 140 to render received web pages as well as transmit user input to the advertisement provider 140. In another embodiment, the user computing device 102 can communicate through the data network 104 via any client-side application configured to communicate in a predetermined protocol with the network server 118.
In another embodiment, the advertisement provider 140 can further be configured with a search engine 108. The search engine 108 can include logic to receive general web searches and populate the most relevant result data. The search engine 108 can be configured to search Internet websites for content that matches or is relevant to the search entered by the user. The search engine 108 can provide a user behavior collection module 112 user search data such as search queries, terms, keywords, etc., used by the user.
As such, the advertisement provider 140 can include a user behavior collection module 112 that allows recording search data. For example, the user behavior collection module 112 can store search criteria such as category of the search criteria, location, terms and keywords. In addition, the user behavior collection module 112 can also track search results such as actual text and hyperlinks in the results page, etc.
The user behavior collection module 112 can be configured to store the click through rate of ads as they relate to a specific user. In a further embodiment, the user behavior collection module 112 can also store the links and/or ads that a user had previously selected in connection with a specific advertisement.
As the user interacts with the advertisement provider 140, the user behavior collection module 112 can also be configured to track user activity and record such user activity in multiple data repositories. For example, the user behavior collection module 112 can record user activity such as web requests, search queries, search results, listings saved, printed, e-mailed, listings used, bid, bought, applied for, viewed, discarded, requested media, uploaded media, etc. User activity can be stored in a user profiles database 114.
In addition to implicit data collected from user behavior online, the user behavior collection module 112 can also collect explicit data provided by the user. For example, the user behavior collection module 112 can record user demographic information entered by the user, such as age, gender, name, date of birth, etc., at a user profiles database 114.
Therefore, user behavior online can be collected and recorded in a user profile, or another storing mechanism such as cookies, in order to establish the interest of the user in one or more items. Furthermore, the level of interest of the user in such items can also be recorded. For example, within the context of Internet shopping, the user may express an interest in simply viewing or browsing a product, while another user may be ready to purchase an item. Therefore, the same advertisement can be provided to both users, with the link destination for the first user being a browsing page and with the link destination for the second user being a purchase page.
In a further embodiment, a link destination selection module 110 can be included as part of the advertisement provider 140 infrastructure. The link destination selection module 110 can be configured with logic to query the level of interest of a user in an item, product or service from a user profile in the user profiles database 114. Once the level of interest is determined, the link destination selection module 110 can provide to the advertisements rendering module 120 a link to be associated with the advertisements presented to the user. The link destination selection module 110 can obtain the appropriate link to be associated with the advertisement from one or more data sources. In one embodiment, the possible links to be associated with the advertisement are stored in the advertisements database 116. In another embodiment, the possible links to be associated with the advertisement are stored in relation to each of the advertiser profile in the advertiser profiles database 118.
As such, the link destination selection module 118 can associate to an advertisement of an item, or product a hyperlink that references a webpage of an advertiser depending on the user indication of preference for the item or product. For example, the link destination selection module 118 can be configured to associate to the advertisement of the item a first hyperlink that references a first webpage of the advertiser if the user indication of preference for the item is indicative of a low level of interest in the item. Likewise, the link destination selection module 118 can be configured to associate to the advertisement of the item a second hyperlink that references a second webpage of the advertiser if the user indication of preference for the item is indicative of a high level of interest in the item. As such depending on the level of interest, or in general the state of the user with respect to obtaining the item, the hyperlink associated with the advertisement can be dynamically assigned.
In one example, in the context of job searching, the user might be browsing, researching, evaluating, narrowing, considering to purchase, or ready to purchase a product. Utilizing the level of interest of the user, the link destination selection module 110 can take the user to different landing pages on the advertiser site. For example, if the user is ready to make a purchase, the link destination selection module 110 can associate the advertisements to the order page of the advertiser. If the user is just researching, then the link destination selection module 110 will associate the advertisement to the product detail page.
In another example, in the context of an online job listing service, the link destination selection module 110 can determine in what stage of the job seeking cycle the jobseeker is. For example, if the jobseeker has not applied to a job yet and has selected the company profile page, then the jobseeker is probably just browsing and researching about the company. Thus, the link destination selection module 110 can associate the job seeker to the corporate career page. In another example, when the jobseeker is ready to apply for a job, the link destination selection module 110 can associate the advertisement with a link destination that references a landing page where the jobseeker can apply for the job.
The system 100 can also include an advertisement rendering module 120 that permits the network server 118 to communicate with a computing device 102. For example, the advertisement rendering module 120 can be a web server. As it is known in the art, a web server can be configured to submit Internet pages to be rendered at a web browser on the user computing device 102.
The advertisement rendering module 120 can be configured to request advertisements from the advertisements database 116. In addition, the advertisement rendering module 120 can be configured to present the advertisements to the user computing device 102 according to user preferences, history data, and online behavior in general of the user. For example, a discount/coupon can be displayed in the advertisement if the user is deemed to be ready to purchase an item. In a further embodiment, the advertisement rendering module 120 can use one or more algorithms to perform the selection of the most relevant ads that are to be presented to the user.
While various databases have described herein, one skilled in the art will recognize that each of the aforementioned databases can be combined into one or more data repositories, and be located either locally or remotely. In addition, each of the aforementioned databases can be any type of data repository configured to store data and can be implemented using any methods of storage now known or to become known. Likewise, while various modules have described herein, one skilled in the art will recognize that each of the aforementioned modules can be combined into one or more modules, and be located either locally or remotely. Each of these modules can exist as a component of a computer program or process, or be standalone computer programs or processes recorded in a data repository.
The computing device 200 can be any general or special purpose computer now known or to become known capable of performing the steps and/or performing the functions described herein, either in software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof.
The computing device 200 includes an inter-connect 208 (e.g., bus and system core logic), which interconnects a microprocessor(s) 204 and memory 206. The inter-connect 208 interconnects the microprocessor(s) 204 and the memory 206 together. Furthermore, the interconnect 208 interconnects the microprocessor 204 and the memory 206 to peripheral devices such input ports 212 and output ports 210. Input ports 212 and output ports 210 can communicate with I/O devices such as mice, keyboards, modems, network interfaces, printers, scanners, video cameras and other devices. In addition, the output port 210 can further communicate with the display 104.
Furthermore, the interconnect 208 may include one or more buses connected to one another through various bridges, controllers and/or adapters. In one embodiment, input ports 212 and output ports 210 can include a USB (Universal Serial Bus) adapter for controlling USB peripherals, and/or an IEEE-1394 bus adapter for controlling IEEE-1394 peripherals. The inter-connect 208 can also include a network connection 214.
The memory 206 may include ROM (Read Only Memory), and volatile RAM (Random Access Memory) and non-volatile memory, such as hard drive, flash memory, etc. Volatile RAM is typically implemented as dynamic RAM (DRAM), which requires power continually in order to refresh or maintain the data in the memory. Non-volatile memory is typically a magnetic hard drive, flash memory, a magnetic optical drive, or an optical drive (e.g., a DVD RAM), or other type of memory system which maintains data even after power is removed from the system. The non-volatile memory may also be a random access memory.
The memory 206 can be a local device coupled directly to the rest of the components in the data processing system. A non-volatile memory that is remote from the system, such as a network storage device coupled to the data processing system through a network interface such as a modem or Ethernet interface, can also be used. The instructions to control the arrangement of a file structure may be stored in memory 206 or obtained through input ports 212 and output ports 210.
In general, routines executed to implement one or more embodiments may be implemented as part of an operating system 218 or a specific application, component, program, object, module or sequence of instructions referred to as application software 216. The application software 216 typically can comprises one or more instruction sets that can be executed by the microprocessor 204 to perform operations necessary to execute elements involving the various aspects of the methods and systems as described herein. For example, the application software 216 can include video decoding, rendering and manipulation logic.
Examples of computer-readable media include but are not limited to recordable and non-recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory devices, floppy and other removable disks, magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media (e.g., Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks, (DVDs), etc.), among others. The instructions may be embodied in digital and analog communication links for electrical, optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.
In yet another example, the user indication of preference can be an explicit indication entered by the user such as configuring the preferences of the user to indicate that the user likes or is interested in purchasing an item, accessing, registering, subscribing to a service, applying for a posted job, bidding for an item, etc. Furthermore, the item can be a product that has been offered for sale online, a service, a listing such as a job listing, or any other item in which a user can express an interest. Process 300 continues at process block 304.
At process block 304, a first hyperlink is associated with an advertisement of the item. The first hyperlink can reference the first web page of an advertiser of the item if the user indication of preference for the item indicates a low level of interest in the item. As such, if the user has expressed low interest in the item, a page that allows the user to browse different items or for different models of the same item would be more appropriate for that user. The first hyperlink associated with the advertisement can therefore be a hyperlink to a first web page which is a landing page to a user interface that allows the user to browse and view catalogued items, etc. Process 300 continues at process block 306.
At process block 306 a second hyperlink that references a second web page of the advertiser is associated with the advertisement of the item. The second hyperlink is associated if the user indication of preference for the item is indicative of a high level of interest. In one example, the hyperlink is referenced to a second web page that is more appropriate to a user that is highly interested in the item. For example, a user that is ready to purchase an item can be presented with a landing page that is utilized to order the item and make payment for the item. In another example, once the user is ready to apply for a job, the second web page can be a web form wherein the jobseeker can enter the appropriate jobseeker information and apply for the job. As such, if the jobseeker has expressed a high level of interest in a particular job listing the jobseeker can be deemed to have enough interest to be directed to a landing page for applying for a job.
Therefore, multiple levels of interest can be expressed by a user. In one example, within the context of online retail sales, an interest structure can be created that is reflective of various levels of interest during the cycle of purchasing a product. Therefore, indicators of the state of the user with respect to purchasing the product can be stored in association to the user. Indicators such as browsing, researching, evaluating, narrowing, considering to purchase, and ready to purchase can be different user levels of the cycle of purchasing a specific product. Based the user level or state, the user can be presented with an appropriate landing page. This can save time to the user and also provide a more appropriate web page of the advertiser. Process 300 continues at process block 306. At process block 306 the advertisement is presented to the user on an advertisement provider webpage. As previously discussed, the advertisement can be linked to a relevant destination such as a landing page in the advertiser's website.
For example, an item of interest attribute 504 as well as a value 502 can be stored as part of the user profile. The user profile 500 can have an associated value 502 that indicates that the user is interested in a vehicle. In addition, a state attribute 506 is indicative of the state of interest of the user in the item. Therefore, the state value 508 is indicative that the user's state of interest in the item is browsing. As such, the user profile 500 illustrates that the user is interested in vehicles but is in the browsing state. Utilizing this indication, the link destination selection module 110 can select the most relevant link destination such that once a user having the user profile 500 clicks on an advertisement the user will be presented with a browsing landing page to browse different vehicles.
In one embodiment, the link destination selection module 110 can access the user profile 700 at the user profile database 114 to determine the level of interest in a vehicle of the user associated with user profile 700. The link destination selection module 110 can associate the advertisement 402 to a hyperlink that is associated with a landing page corresponding to a purchasing or ordering web page.
As such, the user interface 800 can be a landing page associated with a hyperlink that was deemed appropriate and relevant to the user who is ready to purchase a vehicle.
In addition, the advertisement for an item can be in any format now known or to become known. For example, the advertisements can a graphic, text, flash, video, or any other Internet media based format or protocol.
Other examples of presenting links relevant to the user include dynamically linking an advertisement to different advertisers. For example, if an item is co-branded by a first and a second advertiser, the advertisement can be hyperlinked to a webpage of the first advertiser if the first advertiser's website is more relevant to the profile of the user. Likewise, the advertisement can be hyperlinked to a webpage of the second advertiser if the webpage of the second advertiser is more relevant to profile of the user the website of the first advertiser.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the methods and systems of the present disclosure may be implemented in many manners and as such are not to be limited by the foregoing exemplary embodiments and examples. In other words, functional elements being performed by a single or multiple components, in various combinations of hardware and software or firmware, and individual functions, can be distributed among software applications at either the client or server level or both. In this regard, any number of the features of the different embodiments described herein may be combined into single or multiple embodiments, and alternate embodiments having fewer than or more than all of the features herein described are possible.
Functionality may also be, in whole or in part, distributed among multiple components, in manners now known or to become known. Thus, myriad software/hardware/firmware combinations are possible in achieving the functions, features, interfaces and preferences described herein. Moreover, the scope of the present disclosures covers conventionally known manners for carrying out the described features and functions and interfaces, and those variations and modifications that may be made to the hardware or software or firmware components described herein as would be understood by those skilled in the art now and hereafter.
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