Abstract: A shadow ad can be evaluated by receiving an ad request, identifying at least one shadow ad and at least one actual ad based on the received ad request, generating an ad ranking by analyzing one or more criteria associated with the identified at least one shadow ad and the at least one actual ad, and selecting one or more of the identified at least one shadow ad and the at least one actual ad based on the ad ranking. Further, the at least one shadow ad can be associated with one or more campaign parameters corresponding to a shadow ad campaign. Additionally, the ad request can be received from an online advertising system.

Abstract: Merchants create ecommerce-enabled ad units advertising items offered by the merchants. The ad units contain functionality enabling customers to purchase the items by interacting with the ad units. The ad units have associated bid prices that the merchants agree to pay for sales through the ad units. The merchants provide the ad units to a broker. The broker publishes the ad units on web pages provided by publishers as comparison shop ad units that contain multiple ad units and functionality for navigating among them. A customer receiving a web page interacts with an ad unit to purchase the item. During the interactions, the broker dynamically updates the ad unit to conduct the transaction.

Abstract: Merchants create ecommerce-enabled ad units advertising items offered by the merchants. The ad units contain functionality enabling customers to purchase the items by interacting with the ad units. The ad units have associated bid prices that the merchants agree to pay for sales through the ad units. The merchants provide the ad units to a broker. The broker publishes the ad units on web pages provided by publishers. A customer receiving a web page interacts with the ad unit to purchase the item. During the interactions, the broker dynamically updates the ad unit to carry out the transaction. The broker collects the bid price from the merchant and shares it with the publisher that published the page on which the ad unit appeared.

Abstract: Allocating and monetizing advertising space in offline media through online usage and pricing model. Offline media sources request advertisements for available ad space in their publications. An advertising server that stores advertisement messages associated with online retailers selects one or more advertisements to fill the unallocated ad space. An ad copy is created containing the selected advertisement messages is created and sent to the offline media source for publication. The ad copy contains identification information for online replica content with electronic versions of the selected advertisements. The online replica content may also contain contact information for each of the represented online retailers thereby enabling realization of advertising revenue for the offline published advertisement message when viewers contact the advertisers using this contact information.

Abstract: A system determines a number of times that clients access a group of documents associated with a web site or a group of web sites. At least one document in the group of documents includes at least one advertisement. The system further determines a percentage of client views for an advertiser or an advertising network across the web site or group of web sites based on the determined number of times.

Abstract: The serving of advertisements with (e.g., on) audio documents may be improved in a number of ways. For example, a system may (a) accept information defining at least one ad spot associated with at least one instance of an audio document, (b) accept offers to have advertisements served in the ad spot(s), and (c) arbitrate among competing advertisements, using at least the offers, to determine at least one advertisement to be served in that ad spot(s). As another example, a system may (a) accept relevance information for an advertisement, (b) determine at least one audio document using the accepted relevance information, (c) present information about the audio document(s) to an advertiser associated with the advertisement, and (d) accept, from the advertiser, an offer to have its advertisement served with at least one of the audio document(s) accepted.

Abstract: Processes for advertising on offline properties, such as print publications, may be improved by (a) accepting ad creative information and associating it with an ad identifier, (b) accepting offline property information and associating it with a property identifier, (c) determining at least one ad, each having an associated ad identifier, to be placed in or on an ad spot of an offline property, (d) generating a final ad using the ad creative information associated with the at least one ad identifier associated with the determined at least one ad, and (e) providing the final ad to an entity for placement on or in the offline property.

Abstract: The way in which Websites are reviewed for use in an advertising network may be improved by (a) accepting a collection including one or more documents, (b) determining whether or not the collection complies with policies of an advertising network, and (c) approving the collection if it was determined that the collection complies with the policies. The collection may be added to the advertising network if the collection is approved such that (e.g., content-targeted) advertisements may be served in association with renderings of documents included in the collection. The collection may be a Website including one or more Webpages. The policy may concern (A) content of the one or more documents of the collection, (B) usability of a Website wherein the collection of one or more documents is a Website including one or more Webpages, and/or (C) a possible fraud or deception on the advertising network or participants of the advertising network by the collection.

Abstract: One or more keywords and/or information about one or more properties may be accepted, and a set of one or more taxonomy categories may be determined using at least some of the keyword(s) and/or property information. Each of the taxonomy categories may be a vertical category, and at least one of the set of one or more determined taxonomy categories may be presented to an advertising user as an ad targeting suggestion. Each of the taxonomy categories may have at least one property (e.g., Web document), that participates in an advertising network, associated with it. An advertiser selection of a suggested taxonomy category may be accepted, the serving of an ad of the advertiser may be targeted to each of the at least one property (e.g., Web document) associated with the selected suggested taxonomy category. An offer for association with the selected suggested taxonomy category may be provided by the advertiser. A set of one or more properties (e.g.

Abstract: An advertiser can request to advertise on a property (online or offline) that does not participate in advertising network. The advertiser may specify how much it would be willing to pay to advertise on the property, among other constraints (e.g., time, geotargeting, etc.) An advertising network or an independent entity can contact the non-participating property, and may include information about the interest that advertiser(s) have expressed in advertising on the property. The information may be some value aggregated over a number of advertisers. The form of the contact (e.g., email, telephone call, in person visit, etc.) can be a function of the level of interest expressed.

Abstract: Documents or document sets may be scored to reflect a value of an action, such as a selection for example, when an ad is served with the document (or a document belonging to a document set). A number of ads to be served with a document, and/or a type or level of branding to be provided to such ads, may then be controlled using the score. Document scores used in this way may help the ad serving system maintain and manage the quality of its brand. Further, a number of ads to be served, and/or a type or level of branding to be provided to such ads may be controlled using other factors that may affect end user perceptions of the quality of ads.

Abstract: A system and method for providing preferred types of electronic documents. The system enabling a provider of electronic documents to select at least one preference regarding one or more types of electronic document to be received and published from an advertisement distribution system, receiving a request for at least one electronic document from the provider, the request including one or more content-based criteria, selecting one or more electronic documents based on the at least one preference and the one or more content-based criteria, and enabling the provider to publish the preferred types of electronic documents.

Abstract: A system and method for rating an electronic document such as an advertisement. Rating information is received from one or more evaluators. A signal relevant to a criteria is received and a determination is made whether to deliver the document in response to the signal based on the criteria and the rating information from the one or more evaluators.

Abstract: A system provides advertising links. The system may received a query and provide a number of advertising links in response to the query. The number of advertising links may be dynamically adjusted based at least in part on the commercial-ness of the query. The display format of the advertising links may also be altered based at least in part on the commercial-ness of the query.