Suggesting and/or providing targeting criteria for advertisements

Abstract

Keyword suggestions that are category-aware (and field-proven) may be used to help advertisers better target the serving of their ads, and may reduce unused ad spot inventory. The advertiser can enter ad information, such as a creative, a landing Webpage, other keywords, etc. for example. A keyword facility may use this entered ad information as seed information to infer one or more categories. It may then request that the advertiser confirm or deny some basic feedback information (e.g., categories, Webpage information, etc.). For example, an advertiser may be provided with candidate categories and may be asked to confirm (e.g., using checkboxes) which of the categories are relevant to their ad. Keywords may be determined using at least the categories. The determined keywords may be provided to the advertiser as suggested keywords, or may automatically populate ad serving constraint information as targeting keywords. The ad server system can run a trial on the determined keywords to qualify or disqualify them as targeting keyword.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for determining one or more ad targeting keywords, the computer-implemented method comprising:
 a) storing, with a computer system including a plurality of networked computers, an index data structure including a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries including (1) a category provided as a lookup key, and (2) one or more keywords associated with the category by virtue of them being in the same entry of the index;   b) receiving, with the computer system, a category input;   c) finding, using the computer system, an entry in the previously stored index data structure having a lookup key matching the category input;   d) reading out, using the computer system, the one or more keywords included in the matching entry found in the previously stored index data structure;   e) storing, using the computer system, at least some of the one or more keywords read out as one or more ad targeting keywords of an advertisement; and   f) controlling, with the computer system, a serving of the advertisement using the stored one or more ad targeting keywords, wherein when the advertisement is served with the computer system, presentation of the advertisement to a user is induced,   wherein each of the acts of (c) finding an entry in the previously stored index data structure having a lookup key matching the category input, (d) reading out the one or more keywords included in the matching entry found in the previously stored index data structure, and (e) storing at least some of the one or more keywords read out as one or more ad targeting keywords of an advertisement,   
       occur after the act of (a) storing an index data structure including a plurality of entries. 
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  wherein at least one of the one or more ad targeting keywords is a negative keyword for the advertisement, which negative keyword is used to make the advertisement ineligible to be served for requests including the negative keyword. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 performing, with the computer system, qualification testing of the one or more keywords read out; and 
 determining, with the computer system, if a keyword is qualified or unqualified for use as a targeting keyword of the advertisement, 
 wherein each of the at least some of the keywords stored as one or more ad targeting keywords of the advertisement are qualified keywords. 
 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving, with the computer system, ad information; and 
 determining, with the computer system, the category input using the accepted ad information. 
 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 4  wherein the advertisement includes ad creative information for rendering the advertisement and an address of a landing Webpage linked from the advertisement, and
 wherein the act of determining the category input uses the creative information of the advertisement as the received ad information. 
 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 4  wherein the advertisement includes ad creative information for rendering the advertisement and an address of a landing Webpage linked from the advertisement, and
 wherein the act of determining the category input uses information from the landing Webpage as the received ad information. 
 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving, with the computer system, ad information; 
 determining, with the computer system, one or more categories using the accepted ad information; 
 transmitting, with the computer system, at least one of the one or more categories determined to induce presentation of the at least one of the one or more categories to an advertiser; and 
 receiving, with the computer system, advertiser feedback with respect to the presented one or more categories. 
 
     
     
         8 . A computer-implemented method for determining one or more ad targeting keywords, the computer-implemented method comprising:
 a) storing, with a computer system including a plurality of networked computers, an index data structure including a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries including (1) a category provided as a lookup key, and (2) one or more keywords associated with the category by virtue of them being in the same entry of the index;   b) receiving, with the computer system, a category input;   c) finding, using the computer system, an entry in the previously stored index data structure having a lookup key matching the category input;   d) reading out, using the computer system, the one or more keywords included in the matching entry found in the previously stored index data structure;   e) transmitting, with the computer system, the one or more keywords read out as suggested targeting keywords to induce presentation of the one or more keywords read out to an advertiser;   f) receiving, with the computer system, advertiser input in response to the suggested targeting keywords; and   g) determining whether or not to store at least some of the one or more keywords as targeting keywords for an advertisement of the advertiser using the received advertiser input,   wherein each of the acts of (c) finding an entry in the previously stored index data structure having a lookup key matching the category input, (d) reading out the one or more keywords included in the matching entry found in the previously stored index data structure, (e) transmitting the one or more keywords read out as suggested targeting keywords to induce presentation of the one or more keywords read out to an advertiser, (f) receiving advertiser input in response to the suggested targeting keywords, and (g) determining whether or not to store at least some of the one or more keywords as targeting keywords for an advertisement of the advertiser using the received advertiser input, occur after the act of (a) storing an index data structure including a plurality of entries.   
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8  wherein at least one of the one or more ad targeting keywords is a negative keyword for the advertisement, which negative keyword is used to make the advertisement ineligible to be served for requests including the negative keyword. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8  further comprising:
 performing, with the computer system, qualification testing of the one or more keywords read out; and 
 determining, with the computer system, if a keyword is qualified or unqualified for use as a targeting keyword of the advertisement, 
 wherein each of the at least some of the keywords stored as one or more ad targeting keywords of the advertisement are qualified keywords. 
 
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8  further comprising:
 receiving, with the computer system, ad information; and 
 determining, with the computer system, the category input using the accepted ad information. 
 
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11  wherein the advertisement includes ad creative information for rendering the advertisement and an address of a landing Webpage linked from the advertisement, and
 wherein the act of determining the category input uses the creative information of the advertisement as the received ad information. 
 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11  wherein the advertisement includes ad creative information for rendering the advertisement and an address of a landing Webpage linked from the advertisement, and
 wherein the act of determining the category input uses information from the landing Webpage as the received ad information. 
 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8  further comprising:
 receiving, with the computer system, ad information; 
 determining, with the computer system, one or more categories using the accepted ad information; 
 transmitting, with the computer system, at least one of the one or more categories determined to induce presentation of the at least one of the one or more categories to an advertiser; and 
 receiving, with the computer system, advertiser feedback with respect to the presented one or more categories. 
 
     
     
         15 . Apparatus for generating one or more keywords as candidates for use as ad targeting keywords, the apparatus comprising:
 a) an input for accepting ad information;   b) one or more processors; and   c) at least one storage device storing executable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method including
 1) storing an index data structure including a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries including (i) a category provided as a lookup key, and (ii) one or more keywords associated with the category by virtue of them being in the same entry of the index, 
 2) receiving a category input, 
 3) finding an entry in the previously stored index data structure having a lookup key matching the category input, 
 4) reading out the one or more keywords included in the matching entry found in the previously stored index data structure, 
 5) storing at least some of the one or more keywords read out as one or more ad targeting keywords of an advertisement, and 
 6) controlling a serving of the advertisement using the stored one or more ad targeting keywords, wherein when the advertisement is served with the computer system, presentation of the advertisement to a user is induced, 
   wherein each of the acts of (3) finding an entry in the previously stored index data structure having a lookup key matching the category input, (4) reading out the one or more keywords included in the matching entry found in the previously stored index data structure, and (5) storing at least some of the one or more keywords read out as one or more ad targeting keywords of an advertisement,   
       occur after the act of (1) storing an index data structure including a plurality of entries. 
     
     
         16 . Apparatus for generating one or more keywords as candidates for use as ad targeting keywords, the apparatus comprising:
 a) an input for accepting ad information;   b) one or more processors; and   c) at least one storage device storing executable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method including
 1) storing an index data structure including a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries including (i) a category provided as a lookup key, and (ii) one or more keywords associated with the category by virtue of them being in the same entry of the index, 
 2) receiving a category input, 
 3) finding an entry in the previously stored index data structure having a lookup key matching the category input, 
 4) reading out the one or more keywords included in the matching entry found in the previously stored index data structure, 
 5) transmitting the one or more keywords read out as suggested targeting keywords to induce presentation of the one or more keywords read out to an advertiser, 
 6) receiving advertiser input in response to the suggested targeting keywords, and 
 7) determining whether or not to store at least some of the one or more keywords as targeting keywords for an advertisement of the advertiser using the received advertiser input, 
   wherein each of the acts of (3) finding an entry in the previously stored index data structure having a lookup key matching the category input, (4) reading out the one or more keywords included in the matching entry found in the previously stored index data structure, (5) transmitting the one or more keywords read out as suggested targeting keywords to induce presentation of the one or more keywords read out to an advertiser, (6) receiving advertiser input in response to the suggested targeting keywords, and (7) determining whether or not to store at least some of the one or more keywords as targeting keywords for an advertisement of the advertiser using the received advertiser input, occur after the act of (1) storing an index data structure including a plurality of entries.