The Internet has enabled access to a wide variety of content items, e.g., text, graphics, audio and/or video files, web pages for particular subjects, news articles, etc. Such access to these content items has likewise enabled opportunities for targeted advertising. For example, content items of particular interest to a user can be identified by a search engine in response to a user query. The query can include one or more search terms, and the search engine can identify and, optionally, rank the content items based on the search terms in the query and send the content items to the user (e.g., according to the rank). The query can also be an indicator of the type of information of interest to the user. By comparing the user query to a list of keywords specified by an advertiser, it is possible to provide targeted advertisements to the user.
Another form of online advertising is advertisement syndication, which allows advertisers to extend their marketing reach by distributing advertisements to additional partners. For example, third party online publishers can place an advertiser's advertisements on web pages that have content related to the advertisement. As the users are likely interested in the particular content on a publisher's webpage, they are also likely to be interested in the product or service featured in the advertisement. Accordingly, such targeted advertisement placement can help drive online customers to the advertiser's website.
Advertisers also distribute advertisements based on the location of a user. Typically, this involves sending the user advertisements for establishments that are in the current proximity of the user. The user's location can be approximated by using the WiFi Hot Spot serving the user device, the cell phone tower that the user device is accessing, or GPS measurements.
Advertisers often set budgets for their advertising costs, and the same is true for advertising on the web. The web also provides variables as to how often an advertisement may be presented. In some online advertising systems, for example, advertisers pay for their advertisements on a per-action basis, e.g., a cost-per-click (CPC) basis. The CPC of an identified advertisement can be multiplied by a performance metric, e.g., a click-through rate (CTR), for the advertisement to provide a value that is proportional to the cost of advertisement presentation.