1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computing systems and, more particularly, to online advertisement placement based on user navigational path information.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the reach and accessibility of computer networks such as the Internet increase, the amount of information accessible via such networks has grown exponentially. For example, as commercial enterprises increasingly embrace electronic commerce techniques, numerous web sites offering information and purchasing opportunities for various products and services have appeared. Major media outlets commonly provide web-based versions of content previously available only through print or broadcast channels, and in some instances generate considerable volumes of content exclusively for web-based distribution. The reduction of cost, complexity and other barriers to entry into web-based content publishing has also facilitated the generation and dissemination of content by individual creators.
As the amount of online content increases, the difficulty of locating content that is of general or specific interest also increases. Unlike libraries, which may employ standardized systems of content classification such as the Library of Congress System or the Dewey Decimal System, no standard for organizing and representing web-based content exists. Numerous search engines have evolved to attempt to index web pages according to the page contents (e.g., as given by the textual content actually displayed by the page when loaded into a browser or client, or by concealed metadata such as tags associated with, or embedded within, the page). Such search engines have further attempted to qualify the relevance of a given indexed page using other features of the page, such as its age and/or the number of links to the given indexed page from other indexed pages. For example, for a given keyword search, a page that satisfies the search criteria and is linked to from many sources may be considered a more relevant search result than a page having fewer external references.
In order to successfully draw Internet users to their web sites, publishers or advertisers frequently associate their content with particular keywords so that search engines display a particular web site or URL as part of the result of a user search including those keywords. Search engine frequently allow advertisers to bid on keywords and display the web page for an advertiser that placed a higher bid higher up on the display list. Thus, advertisers that are willing to pay more money to be associated with a particular keyword may receive more prominent display among the results of a user's search. Thus, the selection of relevant and accurate keywords by advertisers is increasingly important.
Similarly, the decision of where to place online advertisements, such as on what web pages, is also increasingly complicated due to the high demand for advertising on popular web sites. Additionally, advertisers must typically pay more to advertise on more popular web pages. In other words, an advertiser may have to pay more to advertise on a web site that receives a lot of Internet traffic.