Abstract: A method of providing advertising services selects a finite set of topics, and arranges the selected set of topics into a hierarchical structure. The method classifies impression items into the nodes within the hierarchical structure, and allows bidding against the nodes within the hierarchical structure. Some embodiments allow a bidder to request a refinement of the hierarchical structure. These embodiments receive such a request, and compare the request to a set of criteria. If the request meets the set of criteria, the method divides a first node in the hierarchical structure to at least a second and third node. The method allows bidders to bid on each of the first, second, and third nodes. The method optionally measures a performance for the nodes within the hierarchical structure. Based on the measure of performance for the nodes, the method preferably removes an under-performing node from the hierarchical structure.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for enabling relevant search results and advertisement selections to be generated in response to domain queries. A query that is input to a search engine is received. The query is analyzed to determine whether the search query is a domain query. If the query is determined to be a domain query, at least one domain related segment is stripped from the domain query to generate a condensed query, the condensed query is tokenized into at least one token, and the token(s) is/are spell corrected to generate at least one query feature. The query feature(s) may be normalized to generate at least one normalized query feature. The query feature(s) is/are provided to an advertisement selector to be used to select one or more advertisements.

Abstract: A system is described for generating query suggestions using a network of users and advertisers. The system may include a memory, an interface, and a processor. The memory may store a data representing a network comprising query items linked to advertisement items via link items, wherein each link item comprises a weight representing the strength of the relationship between each query item and advertisement item, a search query item, and a relevance value for each query item. The processor may be operatively connected to the memory and the interface and may identify the data representing the network and receive a search query item. The processor may calculate a relevance value for each additional query item in the network based on its relationship to the received search query item. The processor may then suggest the query items with the highest relevance values to the user via the interface.

Abstract: A system is described for generating query suggestions by integrating valuable query suggestions with experimental query suggestions using a network of users and advertisers. The system may include a memory, an interface, and a processor. The memory may store a historical dataset, a plurality of query suggestions, a plurality of query suggestion values, a query exploit set, a query explore set, and a data describing a network. The processor may identify the plurality of query suggestions in the historical dataset and generate data describing the network based on the historical dataset. The processor may calculate the query suggestion value for each query suggestion and may rank the query suggestions based on the query suggestion values. The processor may generate an exploit set comprising the top ranked query suggestions and an explore set comprising the remainder. The processor may suggest the query suggestions in the exploit set and the explore set.

Abstract: In accordance with aspects disclosed herein, impact that a user interface design has on a user's experience is measured. User response to one or more user interface designs is measured. Two or more user interface designs can be compared based on user response to each design. A single user interface design can be evaluated based on one or more measures of user response to the user interface, or two or more user interface designs can be compared using one or more user response measures corresponding to the user interface designs.

Abstract: In accordance with aspects disclosed herein, impact that a user interface design has on a user's experience is measured. User response to one or more user interface designs is measured. Two or more user interface designs can be compared based on user response to each design. A single user interface design can be evaluated based on one or more measures of user response to the user interface, or two or more user interface designs can be compared using one or more user response measures corresponding to the user interface designs.

Abstract: This patent discloses a system to host a multi-stage competition for an online advertisement opportunity in a network of networks. The online advertisement opportunity may be received in a second network from a first network as a result of a process where a first bid from a first software agent representing a guaranteed contract may be compared with a second bid from a second software agent representing one of a nonguaranteed contract and a guaranteed contract. A third bid for the online advertisement opportunity may be received in the second network from a third software agent representing a guaranteed contract. In addition, a fourth bid for that same online advertisement opportunity may be received in the second network from a fourth software agent representing one of a nonguaranteed contract and a guaranteed contract.

Abstract: This patent discloses a system to host a competition for an online advertisement opportunity. Notice of the online advertisement opportunity may be sent to software agents, one of which may represent a guaranteed contract. On receipt of the notice, the software agents may prepare and submit bids. An ad server may receive bids, including a first bid from a first software agent representing a guaranteed contract and a second bid from a second software agent representing a nonguaranteed contract. The ad server may screen out bids and arbitrate the remaining bids to determine a highest bidder for the online advertisement opportunity.

Abstract: A method and system for constructing and delivering sponsored search contracts is provided. In one implementation, the method may include generating a financial instrument with terms, such as a contract, for selling click-throughs. The terms may include a volume of click-throughs, a price, and a core market. The price of the contract may be related to an expected quality of the advertisement. The core market may be described in terms of key words. The contract terms may be communicated to an advertiser. The advertiser may then bind an advertisement to the contract or sell the contract to another advertiser. The contract performance may be tracked and communicated.

Abstract: A search system provides search results to searchers in response to search queries and the search results are ranked. The ranking is determined by an automated ranking process in combination with human editorial input. A search system might comprise a query server for receiving a current query, a corpus of documents to which the current query is applied, ranking data storage for storing information from an editorial session involving a human editor and a reviewed query at least similar to the current query, and a rank adjuster for generating a ranking of documents returned from the corpus responsive to the current query taking into account at least the information from the editorial session.

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for rewriting queries. The queries may be rewritten and evaluated based on an end benefit, such as an optimum advertising benefit. Queries may be associated with advertisements and the benefit of those advertisements may be used in selecting query rewrites for an original user query. Multiple query rewrites from various techniques may be analyzed to generate a subset of query rewrites that are optimized for a particular benefit.

Abstract: Apparatuses, methods, and systems directed to the estimation and modeling of market reserve prices for bidded terms in online keyword auctions with advanced match. Some embodiments of the invention estimate advertiser value distributions and advertiser bid distributions for the bidded terms and derive expected overall revenue. An optimization technique may be used to find the optimal market reserve prices for the bidded terms that maximize the expected overall revenue. In some other embodiments, a query is received for which a market reserve price is determined and exact and advanced matched advertisements are reordered for output and display.

Abstract: A method of providing advertising services selects a finite set of topics, and arranges the selected set of topics into a hierarchical structure. The method classifies impression items into the nodes within the hierarchical structure, and allows bidding against the nodes within the hierarchical structure. Some embodiments allow a bidder to request a refinement of the hierarchical structure. These embodiments receive such a request, and compare the request to a set of criteria. If the request meets the set of criteria, then based on the request, the method divides a first node in the hierarchical structure to at least a second and third node. The method allows bidders to bid on each of the first, second, and third nodes. Preferably, the method receives several bids for one or more of the nodes within the hierarchical structure, and calculates an equilibrium price for each node. The bids are for purchasing the right to present content in relation to a node.

Abstract: The present invention is directed towards system and methods for generating a visual representation indicating performance of a system capable of accepting one or more inputs and producing an ordered set of one or more responsive outputs. The method of the present invention comprises selecting one or more benchmark inputs and generating an ordered output set for each of the one or more benchmark inputs, a given output set comprising one or more output items responsive to a given benchmark query. One or pixels representing the one or more output items comprising the one or more outputs sets are generated, a given pixel containing a visual representation indicating a degree to which the output item represented by the pixel is relevant with respect to the benchmark input to which the output item is responsive. The one or more pixels representing the one or more output items comprising the one or more output sets are arranged in a circle in a manner indicative of the performance of the system.

Abstract: A system is described for determining the quality of query suggestion systems using a network of users and advertisers. The system may include a memory and a processor. The memory may store data representing a plurality of query suggestion systems, a historical dataset, a plurality of residual values, and a data representing a network. The network may comprise a plurality of query items representing queries linked to a plurality of advertisement items representing advertisements via a plurality of query-advertisement link items. The processor may retrieve the historical dataset and generate the data representing the network. The processor may calculate the residual values for each query suggestion system in the plurality of query suggestion systems. The residual value may represent a value attributable to the query suggestions generated by a given query suggestion system. The processor may store the residual value of each query suggestion in the memory.

Abstract: An impression graph is generated comprising keywords as nodes on a first side of the impression graph and advertisement listing as nodes on a second side of the impression graph, an impression relationship between a given keyword and a given advertisement listing represented by an impression edge connection. A click graph is also generated comprising keywords as nodes on a first side of the click graph and advertisement listing as nodes on a second side of the click graph, a relationship between a given keyword and a given advertisement listing represented by a click edge connection. A mapping function is applied to calculate one or more weights for a given edge in the impression graph and the click graph and the one or more edge weights, the impression graph and the click graph are transformed into a unified bipartite graph.

Abstract: A system is described for generating query suggestions by integrating valuable query suggestions with experimental query suggestions using a network of users and advertisers. The system may include a memory, an interface, and a processor. The memory may store a historical dataset, a plurality of query suggestions, a plurality of query suggestion values, a query exploit set, a query explore set, and a data describing a network. The processor may identify the plurality of query suggestions in the historical dataset and generate data describing the network based on the historical dataset. The processor may calculate the query suggestion value for each query suggestion and may rank the query suggestions based on the query suggestion values. The processor may generate an exploit set comprising the top ranked query suggestions and an explore set comprising the remainder. The processor may suggest the query suggestions in the exploit set and the explore set.

Abstract: A system is described for optimizing the performance of online advertisements using a network of users and advertisers. The system may include a memory, an interface, and a processor. The memory may store a data representing a network comprised of queries linked to advertisements, a search query, a relevance value for each query, and a predicted weight for each advertisement. The interface may communicate with a plurality of users. The processor may be operatively connected to the memory and interface and may identify the network, and receive a query from a user, wherein the query exists in the network. The processor may calculate relevance values for the queries and use the queries with the highest relevance values to calculate a weight for each advertisement, the weight representing the relevance of the advertisement to the search query. The processor may then serve the advertisements with the highest weights to the user.

Abstract: A system is described for building a data structure representing a network of advertisers and users. The system may include a memory and a processor. The memory may be operatively connected to the processor and may store a historical dataset comprising of a plurality of query items and advertisement items, a plurality of query-advertisement link items, a weight, a data structure and a condition. The processor may identify the historical dataset, and link the query items to the advertisement items to generate query-advertisement link items. The processor may determine the weight of each query-advertisement link item and may store the query-advertisement link items and the weight in the data structure if the query-advertisement link item satisfies the condition.

Abstract: A system is described for determining the quality of query suggestions using a network of users and advertisers. The system may include a memory and a processor. The memory may store a historical dataset, a residual value, a query-advertisement link value, a query suggestion value, and a data representing a network. The network may comprise a plurality of query items linked to a plurality of advertisement items via a plurality of query-advertisement link items. The processor may generate data representing the network and may identify a query-advertisement link item in the network. The processor may calculate the residual value of the query suggestion system represented by the match type of the query-advertisement link item. The processor may calculate the query-advertisement link value. The processor may add the residual value to the query-advertisement link value to determine a query suggestion value and may store the query suggestion value in the memory.