WO2013066755A1 - Système et procédé pour une protection contre la fraude au clic - Google Patents

Système et procédé pour une protection contre la fraude au clic Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2013066755A1
WO2013066755A1 PCT/US2012/062163 US2012062163W WO2013066755A1 WO 2013066755 A1 WO2013066755 A1 WO 2013066755A1 US 2012062163 W US2012062163 W US 2012062163W WO 2013066755 A1 WO2013066755 A1 WO 2013066755A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
accordance
click
user
search
doorman
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2012/062163
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Simon Raab
Timothy S. Rodgers
Original Assignee
Pureclick Llc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US13/551,981 external-priority patent/US20130110648A1/en
Application filed by Pureclick Llc filed Critical Pureclick Llc
Priority to US14/355,318 priority Critical patent/US20140278947A1/en
Publication of WO2013066755A1 publication Critical patent/WO2013066755A1/fr
Priority to US14/082,872 priority patent/US20140172552A1/en
Priority to US14/265,789 priority patent/US20140324573A1/en
Priority to US14/458,748 priority patent/US20150032533A1/en
Priority to US14/458,739 priority patent/US20140358678A1/en
Priority to US14/459,399 priority patent/US20150046254A1/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • G06Q30/0241—Advertisements
    • G06Q30/0248—Avoiding fraud

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to a system and method for protecting against invalid clicks in online advertising relationships.
  • Pay per click (also called Cost Per Click (CPC)) is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the publisher when the ad is clicked, constituting a transaction. Pay Per Click advertisers typically bid on keyword(s) relevant to their target market from Search Companies and other publishers. Publishing sites commonly charge an advertiser a fixed price per click or use a bidding system. PPC "display” or “affiliate” advertisements are shown on web sites with related content that have agreed to show ads. These approaches differ from the "pay per impression” methods traditionally used in television, newspaper advertising and some online advertising by offering a pay for performance model with the click being the measure.
  • affiliate model which provides purchase opportunities at a variety of points of presence on the Internet and its multitude of mediums. It does this by offering financial incentives (in the form of a percentage of revenue derived from the advertiser) to affiliated partner sites.
  • financial incentives in the form of a percentage of revenue derived from the advertiser
  • the publisher provides, directly or indirectly, purchase-point click- through to the advertiser. It is a pay-for-performance model: If a publisher does not generate sales in the form of a click, it represents no cost to the advertiser. Variations include banner exchanges, pay-per-click, cost per action and revenue sharing programs.
  • advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser's keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content.
  • Such advertisements may be called sponsored links or sponsored ads, and generally appear adjacent to, above organic search results on search engine query results pages, or anywhere a web developer chooses to implement them on a content site, even working it within site and multimedia content.
  • Microsoft adCenter are the three largest network operators, and all three utilize a bid-based model.
  • Invalid clicks are generally defined as any paid- for click that originates in a malicious attempt to drain an advertiser's budget.
  • This form of Internet based fraud occurs in pay-per-click online advertising when a person, automated script or computer program imitates a legitimate user behavior, by clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad's link other than to monetize the click transaction.
  • Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud, along with the perpetrator of the crime.
  • Pay per-click advertising or, PPC advertising is an arrangement in which publishers (as operators of Web sites or Networks), display clickable links for advertisers in exchange for a charge per click fee.
  • publishers as operators of Web sites or Networks
  • a number of advertising networks developed, which act as middlemen between these two groups (publishers and advertisers).
  • the advertiser pays the advertising network, which in turn pays the publisher a share of this money.
  • This revenue-sharing system is seen as an incentive for invalid click transactions.
  • the PPC search market is currently dominated by 3 companies comprising over 95% of domestic paid search namely, Google, Yahoo and Bing. Google is by far the largest of the three.
  • the Google PPC philosophies and invalid click protection methodologies are dominant and typical to the industry.
  • Google related PPC activities will be used here in to characterize the PPC search industry mechanics and behavior. Google says that they strive to weed out all kinds of illegitimate traffic.
  • Google uses software to scour Web traffic through its ads for repeated clicks, click through rates, conversion rates, organized click rings, unusual patterns, and visits from anonymous and overseas proxy servers and other non disclosed methods.
  • each click on an ad is examined by the search engine system.
  • the search engine company looks at numerous data points for each click, including the IP address, the time of the click, any duplicate clicks, click origin, conversion rates and various other click patterns.
  • the system analyzes these factors to try to isolate and filter out potentially invalid clicks before they ever reach an advertiser's account reports. They will also retroactively credit the account if the invalid click is detected post event. They do not describe the event or explain the credit.
  • This detection and filtering occurs over a number of levels including the following: real-time systems filter out activity fitting a profile of invalid behavior (such as excessively repetitive clicks); and clicks and impressions from known sources of invalid activity are automatically discarded.
  • an invalid click protection team at Google uses specialized tools and techniques to examine individual instances of invalid clicks. When the system detects potentially invalid clicks, a member of this team examines the affected account to glean important data about the source of the potentially invalid clicks.
  • One of the goals of the Google team is to make invalid activity very difficult and unrewarding for unethical users, thereby decreasing their chance of success. They also rely on the advertisers themselves to bring suspicious behaviors to their attention by requesting reimbursement. However they are very reluctant to give reimbursements for fraudulent behavior and tend to take a "trust us" attitude.
  • Search Disparity is the disparity between the advertisers paid keyword(s) purchased and the keyword(s) searched by the user of the search service.
  • the presentation of the higher paying advertisers' keyword(s) with high disparity between the searched terms and the search results encourages invalid clicks because of the users assumed confidence that the Search Engine is returning valid impressions strongly related to the original query and the targeted intent of the advertiser.
  • the user will click the impression causing a paid click event only to find that the advertiser link is poorly related to the user query at which time the user will typically hit the back button or other available navigation means to return to the original search results.
  • the quality score is largely unrelated to the target URL for the advertisement from the advertiser's perspective but has more to do with the resulting revenue to the search engine company. This is largely the percentage of impressions to clicks ratio that determines the price that an advertiser might have to pay per click.
  • the lower the quality score the higher the bid the advertiser must pay to compete. This accomplishes two things, increases revenue-per-click and puts upward pressure on price-per-click for any given keyword(s). It does not add any value to the advertiser, in fact, it forces the advertiser to create "clicky" or higher conversion ads and to the detriment of the effectiveness of their advertising spend.
  • This use of the keyword(s) in the limited space provided creates in inverse proportion between quality and quantity of clicks. Search engines can and do adjust quality scores to meet their revenue requirements, effectively forcing advertisers to pay more for less.
  • Google does not let the advertiser know how much, on a per transaction basis (click), the user was charged for the click or allow the user to determine the validity of that transaction. In essence, you do not know what you bought, how much each click definitively cost, the disparity of the associated terms and resulting value to your site for each transaction or click.
  • Click fraud protection companies use sophisticated algorithms and intelligence from advertisers to identify the vast majority of invalid or fraudulent clicks and scores. These companies determine invalid clicks by analyzing the attributes of every single click to score click traffic in real-time. The assigned score classifies traffic along a spectrum of click quality from invalid to high conversion rates. Since each click is evaluated individually, scores can be aggregated to provide views of traffic along various sources and destination dimensions, including: click, site, publisher, network, geography and more.
  • the resulting scores and related click data are available via both a web-based reporting interface and a powerful API's.
  • Generally such services allows for integration into an ad networks existing systems, providing insights to assist in real-time decision-making and traffic optimization for maximized profitability.
  • Search Engine Companies such as Google have however resisted acknowledging a majority of the claims or credits of such invalid click protection companies claiming that their click counting and invalidity parameters were inaccurate. However, they do not allow for the auditing of fraud on a per transaction or click basis, but return all reporting in aggregate as to obfuscate data. In fact, refunds are issued for detected fraud without any explanation of which terms were used or rational for it. This prevents the advertiser from safeguarding themselves against the threat. Google does provide very limited tools such as negative keywords and site blocking ability, but this requires a high level of sophistication from the advertiser and does not insure against bad behavior and invalid clicks.
  • Invalid clicks are a dizzying collection of scams and deceptions that inflate advertising bills for all companies of all sizes.
  • Click Fraud is a perpetual nuisance for online advertisers, is usually hard to detect in the moment, but clearly evident after the fact. That's because, unlike real clicks, sham clicks performed by automatic click software or human driven elements pump up an advertiser's pay-per-click (PPC) fees, but never generate sales or real conversion opportunities.
  • PPC pay-per-click
  • Other clicks are non-malicious, but nonetheless invalid, such as accidental clicks or repetitive clicks by the same user on the same advertisement.
  • a pay-per-click advertising system can be abused in several ways.
  • click fraud an advertiser will click a competitor's ad with the intention of "maxing out” their competitor's allocated budget. Once their competitor's budget has been exhausted, their ads may exclusively be shown to legitimate users. Such an attack ends up wasting the
  • the invalid or fraudulent clicks can come from a number of sources.
  • a first source may be individuals deploying automated clicking programs or software applications (called bots) specifically designed to click on ads, and mask origin. Further, individuals might employ low-cost workers or incentivize others to click on the advertising links.
  • Other sources include publishers manually clicking on the ads on their pages, publishers manipulating web pages in such a way that user interactions with the web site result in inadvertent clicks, or publishers subscribing to paid traffic websites that artificially bring extra traffic to the site, including extra clicking on the ads and the purchase of redirected back traffic. Also, as mentioned above, advertisers may manually click on the ads of their competitors.
  • Other sources include publishers being sabotaged by their competitors or other ill- wishers, various types of unintentional clicks, such as double clicks, or customers getting confused and unintentionally clicking on the ad without a malicious intent. Invalid clicks may also stem from technical problems, system implementation errors and coordination activities, resulting in double-counting errors. Additional sources include multiple accounts of AdSense publishers, wherein some AdSense publishers illegally open "new" accounts under different names and using false identities. [0032] All the clicks originated from these illegal accounts are considered invalid. Use of rolling-IP distributed attacks from multiple countries. In addition, organized human click- fraud campaigns using low-cost third-world labor.
  • impression fraud is another equally problematic form of click fraud. Impression fraud occurs when criminals manipulate the number of page impressions for a given search term.
  • CTR relative click-through rate
  • his or her search term can be suspended because of low CTR performance or quality score. This creates a window of opportunity for other advertisers. By committing impression fraud, they are able to obtain higher search rankings at lower costs due to the crippled competition.
  • Domain Parking referring clicks from web pages that were automatically generated by the Search Engine Companies that included paid ads, as well as links to other related domain name pages with still more ads. These referring web pages created directly by the publishers or by companies owned by the affiliates.
  • the above described problems and disadvantages in the art are overcome or alleviated by the present system and method for invalid and fraudulent click detection and prevention, including: monitoring user interaction with a click validation web page that includes advertising with at least one clickable link; determining whether a user click-through of said clickable link is legitimate or whether said click-through represents an imitation of a legitimate user click-through by measuring and extracting user data from click transactions, interaction with an interstitial and optionally, where appropriate, behavior on the target URL and subsequent pages, amounting to plural disparate sources and comparing said user data to determine the validity of the click-through.
  • Exemplary systems and methods for preventing click fraud and/or determining invalid clicks are provided to measure click related data, decide according to target URL defined conditions whether to present an Intelligent interstitial, decide according to target URL defined conditions how to populate the interstitial and then measure Search user interaction with the interstitial.
  • Other exemplary embodiments use target URL defined conditions of interstitial interaction to determine click validity and in the event of a valid click continuing to the target URL and optionally measuring on-site behavior.
  • Further exemplary embodiments measure data from an original click, observe interstitial behavior and optionally merge target URL website measured behavior into a database providing user data for each individual click.
  • Other exemplary embodiments generate reports specific to seeking credits for payments on invalid clicks and other website intelligence.
  • the present invention advantageously avoids prior problems with preventing click fraud.
  • such system uses compiled data to determine and or identify multiple click transactions from a single user as potential click fraud, which data may be compared against other data from the compilation of the two disparate sources and clicks in aggregate.
  • exemplary embodiments of the present invention facilitate assignment of a disparity score of a purchased keyword versus search keyword(s) phrases and associations made, including synonyms.
  • Other exemplary embodiments provide for the use of the collected information to establish affiliate relationships between two parties, where the click is the transaction event and the event payment is determined by the actions of the delivery of the click, and the behavior on site determines and qualifies the amount to be paid for the transaction.
  • exemplary embodiments provide for the use of recorded behavioral actions on a site from an original keyword searched to determine algorithmically the relevancy of the search term to the landing page and subsequent ranking of the site for future search results.
  • exemplary embodiments also provide for the use of a browser based code, e.g., JavaScript, etc., to report back page views and time on site, allowing correlating of that data back to a singular keyword/click of origin. This data is reported back to the database prior to the user closing the browser, utilizing browser navigation or other native available actions.
  • exemplary embodiments provide for use of data collected to tie back that information to determine the quality of the referring site e.g. display network, affiliate, and search syndicated partner, to the landing site from origin source.
  • a paid keyword is compared against associated search keywords or words to determine a relevancy for the determination of validity and value of a search based click transaction.
  • the time on site attributed to an individual user on a landing page and subsequent pages are tracked and tied back to a singular click transaction.
  • Further exemplary embodiments provide for activation of a doorman interstitial, which is populated with search disparity information and activated by conditions set by the destination URL vendor, which provides a final defense against Search Engine Company caused disparity- fraud, robotic clicking and other nefarious activity.
  • Embodiments of the present invention also provide the ability to track time on a doorman/interstitial prior to action by a user or bot and to correlate that action and time to the choice presented and linking that information to continued destination URL activity and transaction record.
  • Other exemplary embodiments provide the ability to repopulate the original search term for monetization after the traffic has been paid for once the doorman has been displayed.
  • Exemplary embodiments also provide for the display of interstitial activated by a Mouse-over event on the original search page. For example, a doorman display and validity of a PPC ad could be displayed with or without clicking. This could be presented as a search engine results page improved feature to obviate an exemplary interstitial provider click-to- interstitial model.
  • Further exemplary embodiments also provide for the determination of disparity between the search terms and the PPC ad keywords using a Match Quality Score (hereinafter referred to as "MQS") formula based calculation, based on a variety of word, grammar and context related factors.
  • MQS Match Quality Score
  • the MQS may be used in combination with continuation rates from User behavior to demonstrate poor quality impressions by the search engine company and justifying refunds.
  • the accuracy of the Match Quality Score may be enhanced through correlation to the doorman continuation rates such that the MQS is linearly related to the actual continuation rates.
  • Additional exemplary embodiments also provide for the Match Quality Score to be improved by using all the keywords in use by the advertiser together rather than individually to improve the relationship between very broad search terms and the detailed advertiser product line. Broad search terms allow the inaccurate presentation and increased costly impressions of the PPC ads unless further comparisons to known company keywords are made.
  • Exemplary embodiments also provide for the optimizing of affiliate relationships by determining affiliates providing impressions of the advertiser PPC ads which results in high MQS and high continuation rates and providing a process for direct advertising relationships between effective affiliates and the advertisers which exclude the search engines with an attendant significant reduction in advertising costs.
  • Further exemplary embodiments provide for the repopulation of the search term and search results rejected by the user at the doorman.
  • the intelligent interstitial provider may then populate a new affiliate search result page with improved MQS and thereby generate advertising revenue for the doorman provider and better continuation rates for the advertiser.
  • a doorman may operate as a greeter, rather than, or in addition to operating in a defensive role.
  • An exemplary doorman greeter may provide additional information and provide directions to locations in a website through a soft landing on a more relevant site location as a function of, e.g., user interests.
  • Exemplary embodiments also provide for improved doorman information in the form of multi-media information, coupons etc. as a function of the search terms, which enhance the user knowledge and ensure higher continuation rates and better on site behavior subsequent to the doorman.
  • the doorman can direct the search user to the most relevant location within the target URL instead of simple landing on the home page.
  • Additional exemplary embodiments also provide for accumulating information on the behavior of users which allows improved presentation of advertisements as a function of behavior versus search terms and PPC ad keywords. This information results in an improved search engine functionality, which generates higher continuation rates by allowing the users to transparently qualify the search results.
  • Additional exemplary embodiments provide for the avoidance of inadvertent clicks on mobile devices due to inaccurate finger placement.
  • the doorman can provide a simple option to avoid unnecessarily transitioning to an advertiser web page.
  • FIG. 1 Further exemplary embodiments provide for the tracking of times on site after continuing from the doorman to the target URL without on site server side software.
  • the doorman captures the time the doorman is left to the time the user returns to the doorman through the common use of the "back" button to exit the advertiser's site.
  • FIGURE 1 is an exemplary workflow for click validity, including exemplary data collection and storage;
  • FIGURE 2 is a flowchart showing doorman interstitial activation flow, including exemplary doorman auto-configuration, presentation and search user interrogation flow;
  • FIGURE 3 is a screenshot showing a doorman interstitial
  • FIGURE 4 is a flowchart showing a classical PPC business model
  • FIGURE 5 is a flowchart showing an exemplary II/provider relationship setup
  • FIGURE 6 is a flowchart showing an exemplary improved PPC business model
  • FIGURE 7 is a screenshot showing exemplary doorman elements
  • FIGURE 8 is a screenshot showing an exemplary doorman that is on a greyed out target homepage
  • FIGURE 9 is a screenshot showing exemplary doorman known keywords
  • FIGURE 10 is a screenshot showing exemplary doorman unknown keywords
  • FIGURE 1 1 is a screenshot showing an exemplary interface for a doorman repeat user
  • FIGURE 12 is a screenshot showing an exemplary doorman with an affiliate link
  • FIGURE 13 is a flowchart showing exemplary doorman behavior and data flow
  • FIGURE 14 is a flowchart showing an exemplary doorman utilizing mouse over on a publisher site
  • FIGURE 15 is a flowchart showing an exemplary doorman hosted on a target URL
  • FIGURE 16 is an exemplary doorman with a promotional greeting and match options
  • FIGURE 17 is an exemplary doorman with site search input fields
  • FIGURE 18 is an exemplary doorman with invisible clickbot decoys
  • FIGURE 19 is an exemplary doorman with a search engine migration button
  • FIGURE 20 is an exemplary illustration of an improved PPC ad placement using doorman data; and [0077] FIGURE 21 is an exemplary doorman utilized with an improved renumeration model.
  • first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various steps or calculations, these steps or calculations should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one step or calculation from another. For example, a first calculation could be termed a second calculation, and, similarly, a second step could be termed a first step, without departing from the scope of this disclosure. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
  • the present disclosure provides a system and method for protecting against invalid and fraudulent clicks as well as validating clicks using the same processes.
  • the system and method utilizes code to measure and extract Internet user data from two or more disparate sources in a click path and reports it back to an aggregating database to accurately determine the validity of measured traffic, the time and user action taken on the Interstitial, the number of page views and time on site in whole or in aggregate in paid or unpaid in click relationships.
  • This information may be used to: audit existing click traffic; validate and invalidate clicks based on user behavior, establish contractual relationships where behavior determines value of traffic and clicks can be treated as a singular and/or serial events where value can be determined from the measurement of data and applied retroactively to the occurrence; determine quality and relevancy of search from user behavior; fraud detection; configure and activate a "doorman” as preventive measure to defend against click fraud, validating clicks, assigning proportional value and remuneration to click transactions based on user behavior other click parameters and provide "greeter" functionality to improve continuation behavior.
  • FIGURE 1 shows a click validity methodology and workflow generally at 10.
  • the workflow represents the accurate combining of the two disparate sets of data to create a browser based transaction record for individual clicks to allow for the auditing of individual clicks.
  • This combining of data can be used to activate a final vendor and a user driven/vendor-site-entrance doorman.
  • the doorman is an interstitial, which is interposed between the vendor site and the navigating user, and provides an unassailable final determinant of the quality of the click as well as full defense against most known forms of click fraud and validating the click intention.
  • the interstitial is served up in the linear click path and is not a PopUp or PopUnder, but is, if served, an integral part of the click path and a necessary component to continue to the target URL.
  • the exemplary basic workflow begins with tracking of user keywords or URL clicks, 12 via a tracking service 14.
  • the process 10 includes analysis of the advertiser site and Exemplary Javascript code 16, and a review of JavaScript records, including Time on Site (TOS) and Time on Page (TOP) data 18.
  • TOS Time on Site
  • TOP Time on Page
  • JavaScript may also record from the interstitial 22 user action and time to action 23.
  • the tracking service may also utilize information on click fields in assigning tracking values 20.
  • the process also includes one or more interstitials 22 between the vendor site and the user whose content is based on click characteristics, serial relationships, keywords, origin URL, business relationships and other known behaviors and content.
  • the workflow represents a three step process by which the data from two different sources are tracked and collected for the purpose of optionally aggregating two disparate sets of data to determine behaviors and actions of a single user click event, where first user packet information is recorded and stored on a server and where subsequent user behaviors of time on interstitial, action on interstitial, time on site, inclusive of landing page, back button use and time and individual page views are recorded in a Browser based JavaScript (see fields 16 and 18 in FIGURE 1) and transmitted and attributed back to the original event.
  • the result is the compilation of data to accurately reflect click behavior by looking at singular
  • the PureClick Server Tracking URL contains link specific information and redirects the URL to land on a targeted page with JavaScript enabled.
  • the information collected via JavaScript is then used to activate and populate an interstitial 22 known as the doorman as a final determinant of click validity along with other methods.
  • the doorman presents information on disparity in the form of the Match Quality Score or simply by providing the user's search terms and the paid keywords of the advertiser's ad and requires an actual search user's response so as to provide a defense against automated click fraud and measures click validity prior to redirecting to the target URL.
  • the first step includes initial collection of available raw data to accurately determine a single user click.
  • This data is collected intermediately on the PureClick Server as the user passes from one site to another and is recorded in a database.
  • Exemplary data includes the establishment of a transaction ID, the time or date stamp of the click, the IP address, the user agent, a cookie, the referring URL, such as a primary referring URL or an originating URL, and keywords.
  • the doorman may thus be configured as a welcome box, which appears under certain predetermined conditions. These conditions are set by the advertiser or target URL as instructions to the doorman as shown in FIGURE 2.
  • various exemplary triggers for the interstitial include random triggers for the interstitial, user-based triggers, time of day based triggers, business relationship triggers, location based triggers, triggers activated for repeat visits, IP based triggers, search engine disparity based triggers, dollar value per click based triggers and bot protection based triggers (with manual input or random positioning).
  • Such trigger when activated at pursuant to proper trigger conditions generates the interstitial 22. If the trigger is not activated, the interstitial 22 is not activated, and the user is directed to the customer site.
  • Such trigger may be determined after an ID is assigned relative to search results or user interaction (such as forward or backward navigation or bookmarking).
  • FIGURE 2 illustrates a Keyword Tracking URL on Advertisement 26 passing to a doorman (PureClick) server 28.
  • Various triggers provide for an interstitial 22 (which as will be discussed in further detail below, may be static or dynamic in arrangement), such as Xx% of the time 30, Match Quality Score for disparity 32 (though depending on the disparity value, an interstitial 22 may not be triggered 34, dependent upon the disparity value relative to an advertiser site 36), repeat visit 38, specific domain visit 40, relationship (“Always") 42, and other $PPC values 44, such as time of day, any of the above, etc.
  • data may be collected from JavaScript on the doorman 46, landing page and other pages on site that collects and transmits data before any additional requests from server and transmits the data back to the PureClick Server. This transmission occurs regardless of user action (see box 48 in FIGURE 2) inclusive of the use of the back button, closing of the browser or any navigational action by the user.
  • Exemplary information collected for any and all pages where JavaScript is enabled includes: action on doorman inclusive of time on interstitial before user action and correlated to user action; URL/Page visited and time on that landing page, other pages, site inclusive; order of page clicks; all pages in aggregate; all time on site in aggregate.
  • an exemplary third step information is recorded & analyzed on a per click/per transaction basis and compared with doorman presentation conditions set by the vendor.
  • the doorman is presented based on Vendor conditions (triggers). Then, the doorman is populated with vendor paid keywords and/or user searched keywords.
  • Exemplary recorded actions and time are listed at 48 in FIGURE 2, including close of browser/new URL; back button; continue; return to URL of origin; bookmark; preview mouse on; multi-media use; and other.
  • This provides a user driven defense against the disparity fraud, which can be used by Search Engine Companies in presenting high PPC keywords with poorly correlated sites. Also, in exemplary embodiments, the user makes the final determinant decision as to whether they will enter the site. If the user decides to enter the site, a valid click is documented. If they choose not to other actions are documented as well.
  • the intelligent interstitial is a dynamically and/or statically generated text and graphics search- user interrogation filter for search and paid advertising directed Internet traffic.
  • the doorman is presented on a website before entry to the target URL when a user is directed from a search or PPC advertising.
  • the doorman is dynamically and statically formatted and populated with information to allow easy interrogation of an incoming search user to a target URL to determine the legitimacy of the originating click and the related PPC charge.
  • further exemplary alternate embodiments, described later provide a doorman that can be used directly by a search engine company in a mouse-over form to provide enhanced search assistance or by the target site for the same purposes as the interstitial delivery.
  • This exemplary system and method may be used to measure click related data, decide according to target URL defined conditions whether to present an Intelligent Interstitial (doorman). The system then can decide according to target URL defined conditions how to populate the interstitial and then measure search user interaction with the interstitial. The system then can use target URL defined conditions of interstitial interaction to determine click validity and in the event of a valid click continuing to the target URL, optionally measuring on-site behavior.
  • This exemplary intelligent interstitial system uses measured data from the original click, interstitial behavior, and optionally target URL website measured behavior, which may be merged into a database providing user data for each individual click transactions. This permits generating of reports specific to seeking credits for payments on invalid clicks and other website intelligence and optimization.
  • a website interface may be provided by an intelligent interstitial provider (which may be the publisher, a third party or an advertiser) for implementation by an Advertiser of the doorman interstitial.
  • an intelligent interstitial provider which may be the publisher, a third party or an advertiser
  • a simple interface may be provided to select the conditions, display and behavior of the doorman interstitial.
  • the intelligent interstitial provider website returns a character string to the target URL user which is used as the referring URL for ads generated with certain keywords, networks or relationships.
  • the intelligent interstitial (“doorman”) is named as such because it resides on the intelligent interstitial provider servers interstitially or between the search engine company search results page and the target URL website. This means that no code need be loaded into the target URL site minimizing related technical complexity overhead and relieving the target URL administration of installation
  • JavaScript or other program language code may be installed in the interstitial and/or the target URL to collect click content and search user behavior on the interstitial and optionally the target URL.
  • This click data may be collected in a database.
  • the intelligent interstitial provider can provide software to analyze and report on the click data database. The reports can be used to seek credits from search engine companies for charges on invalid clicks, creating performance based relationships based on behaviors, affiliate selection for direct advertising, target URL website and keyword optimization.
  • Exemplary features of this intelligent interstitial or doorman include: dynamic format and content as a function of numerous external variables; requirement of a human decision by the user; provision of a decision based presentation; tracking of all behavior and click stream data for advertising accounting and auditing.
  • the intelligent interstitial doorman code may reside on the intelligent interstitial provider server, thus relieving an advertising URL of unnecessary program changes and bandwidth utilization.
  • An additional feature may also include the use of a mirror page to evaluate TOS (Time on site) and action without the implementation of server side code on target URL site.
  • dynamic configuration may be accomplished after an automated review of the data in the incoming click stream.
  • Analysis of the incoming data stream may include the determination of a Match Quality score for disparity. Analysis may also be relative to a known referring URL singularly or in conjunction with other attributes. Further, the analysis may be relative to other click stream data known to be associated with click fraud and other invalidating behaviors.
  • presentation criteria of the doorman can be set by the target URL from choices made in an online setup phase and include one or more of: the use of information collected and assigned probabilities to determine the likelihood of a repeat user to determine whether an interstitial is delivered; the use of Time on Interstitial and resulting action to further assess the likelihood of a duplicate click transaction at a later date; the use of a random generator to determine whether an interstitial is delivered; time of day; keyword present or not; geography and referring URL.
  • the validity of the click transaction can be determined by the behavior of the Search user in response to the doorman attributes.
  • paid search terms PPC ad keywords and the correlated user search term may be displayed on an interstitial to show the user the relevancy given from paid placement.
  • a relevant image may also be presented on an interstitial to visually represent the purchased keyword.
  • a preview on a mouse over may also be used to display the target URL for continuation to site or other images and thumbnails. Any such presentation may be configured to require a human decision by the user to aid in determining validity of a click transaction.
  • a double bounce, constituting time on page after the doorman on the target URL as well as navigation may be used as a guide to determine integrity of continuation.
  • a click data database can be used to provide a variety of reports beneficial to the search engine company and the advertiser.
  • reports may include, without limitation: a credit report for claiming refunds from the search engine company for fraudulent clicks and invalid clicks; a report on the quality of the certain keyword in terms of their continuation rates at the doorman; a list of the most successful referring URLs to allow the Target PPC advertiser to establish direct advertising relationships and eliminate the search engine company from the process; a report on the quantity and type of bot traffic; a report on keyword quality or Match Quality Score; and a report on referring URL quality scores.
  • Il/provider - The company providing behavioral and click specific on-site tracking tied to the click transaction and said behavior, the Intelligent Interstitial or doorman service, e.g., PureClick.
  • the company may be the publisher, a third party or an advertiser and/or the Target site.
  • SE/corp - The search Engine Company i.e. Google, Yahoo, etc.
  • Target URL - The advertising or target URL and PPC advertiser
  • the conventional PPC business process initiates once an S/user 50 enters a search term into a search engine operated by the SE/corp 52.
  • the SE/Corp then returns the search results 54, which generally includes the organic search results and Pay Per Click (PPC) advertisement information 56. If the S/user decides that any of the PPC ads presented are of interest, the S/user may click the ad. Once the click is made the
  • the doorman or Intelligent Interstitial will record all the information relating to the click and the behavior of the alleged S/user by presenting certain information and inquiries and recording the S/user's respective responses.
  • the S/user is described as "alleged" because until confirmed the Target does not know if the click is fraudulently activated by a robot or some other illegitimate user, or that the S/user inadvertently clicked a PPC ad assuming that the SE/corp had presented choices relevant to the S/users keywords. It is a premise of the present disclosure that the SE/corps are presenting high paying ads with low relevancy to the search or high associated keyword disparity in order to maximize PPC ad revenue
  • the doorman Prior to the activation of the Intelligent Interstitial (hereafter called the doorman) for particular keywords a one-time setup procedure is followed where certain online information is provided by the target URL in response to queries by the Il/provider, in order to correctly structure and present the doorman.
  • the Il/provider generates certain URL data to be included in the PPC ad link by the Target. This URL data will redirect all PPC directed S/users to the Il/provider servers where they may be interrogated by the doorman before entering the target URL or returning to the search results. See FIGURE 5 for an exemplary setup of the Target and Il/provider relationship.
  • a Target company which is a PPC advertiser 60, decides to optimize PPC advertising by introducing a doorman to their site.
  • the Target company contacts a Il/provider 62, such as PureClick, and provides information 64, e.g. online, that will be presented in the doorman, or intelligent interstitial.
  • the Il/provider delivers certain code 66 to be added to the Target's PPC ads.
  • the item management 68 represents the flow of ongoing contact between the Target Company 60 and the Il/provider 62.
  • exemplary aspects of the current invention propose that, instead of the S/user being sent directly to the target URL, that they rather be directed through the servers of the Il/provider.
  • the S/user is redirected by clicking the PPC ad.
  • the PureClick Server Tracking URL includes keyword purchased information and referring URL information and a redirect URL to land on targeted page with JavaScript enabled.
  • the information collected is then used to activate and populate an interstitial known as the doorman as a final determinant of click validity.
  • the doorman presents information on disparity and provides a simple set of choices that will discover most prevalent forms of click fraud.
  • the Il/provider captures all the information relative to the newly arrived S/user and the information which comprised the search and then may present an interstitial or doorman.
  • the interstitial is so named because it interposes itself between the Search Engine redirect from the PPC ad and the target URL.
  • Exemplary embodiments of the interstitial are described as Intelligent since a number of decision processes are executed which determine the format and content of the doorman's appearance and interrogation.
  • the information recorded by the Il/provider may be formatted into numerous reports which provide the Target sufficient information to optimize keyword selection, seek credits from the SE/corp for fraudulent and invalid clicks and identify possible direct affiliate relationships. In general, this may be implemented to increase the effectiveness of PPC ads and minimize costs.
  • the Il/provider may also be compensated for the services of their doorman by a PPC model. See FIGURE 4 for an exemplary classic PPC business process and see FIGURE 6 for an illustration of an exemplary improved PPC Business Process.
  • a search user (S/user) 50 enters a search term into a search engine.
  • the search engine corporation 52 returns search organic results 54 and PPC ads.
  • the search user 50 clicks on an paid ad that appears relevant and is directed to the Il/provider customized doorman 70.
  • the search user's behavior is recorded 72 and the search user is redirected accordingly.
  • the Target 58 pays a PPC fee 56 to the search engine corporation, as well as a fee 74 to the Il/provider.
  • the Il/provider provides PPC optimization reports 76.
  • the Target PPC advertiser demands credits 78 from the search engine corporation for fraudulent and invalid clicks.
  • the interstitial doorman is designed with numerous features that are activated and presented according to a fixed or automated analysis system, which analyses the nature of the income click from a PPC ad. By collecting the following information a decision is made as to the content and format of the doorman.
  • the doorman configuration flow is illustrated in Figure 2.
  • the following data may be collected intermediately on the PureClick Server as the user passes from one site to another and recorded in a database; establishment of a transaction ID; time date stamp of click; IP address; user agent; cookie; referring URL; primary referring URL; origin URL; and keywords, among others.
  • Doorman Elements may be collected intermediately on the PureClick Server as the user passes from one site to another and recorded in a database; establishment of a transaction ID; time date stamp of click; IP address; user agent; cookie; referring URL; primary referring URL; origin URL; and keywords, among others.
  • the doorman may be constructed of several elements which can be activated and modified according to certain click data or target URL vendor requirements. These elements can be activated and modified according to certain click data or target URL vendor requirements. Exemplary door man elements are shown in FIGURE 7 and include one or more of: the company Logo 80, loaded in the setup stage; the company Name 82, loaded in the setup stage; a product relevant picture 84, loaded in the setup stage; a welcome message 86, loaded in the setup stage; originating Keyword search term 88, determined from the incoming click data stream; purchased Keyword term 90, determined from the set up stage; description of the site 92, loaded in the setup stage; a button for continuation to the site 94; a button for return to the original search results 96; a button for the repeat visitor bookmark creation 98; and a rollover button 100 to provide a view of the a product relevant image 102 all presented over a greyed-out image of the selected target URL landing page which is also loaded in the setup stage and additional features such as multimedia
  • the doorman 24 may be presented (as in FIGURE 8) on a lightly greyed out image of the target URL landing page, or any other page the page established during set up, 104 to give the appearance that the S/user has arrived at the site and that the doorman is part of the site and not on the Il/provider server.
  • the behavior of the S/user may also be recorded by the collection of data from JavaScript or other code on the doorman, landing page and other pages on site that collects and transmits data before additional requests from the server and transmits the data back to the Il/provider server. This transmission occurs regardless of user action inclusive of the use of the back button, closing of the browser or any navigational action by the user, including the use of the company/client in the top level domain/URL.
  • the information may be recorded & analyzed on a per click basis and compared with doorman presentation conditions set by the vendor.
  • the doorman may be presented based on Vendor conditions. Then the doorman may be populated with vendor site summary keywords and Search user keywords, which provides a user driven defense against the disparity fraud that is used by SE/corp in presenting high PPC poorly correlated sites. Also, the user may make the final determinant decision as to whether they will enter the site, at which time a valid click is documented.
  • FIGURES 9-12 Numerous versions of the doorman may also be presented, depending on various conditions. Examples of different conditions and possible doorman designs are: known keywords 106; unknown keywords 108; repeat User 110; and affiliate User/ aka direct and Display Network 112. Examples of such possible doorman configurations are shown in FIGURES 9-12.
  • Analysis of the click stream data and user behavior may also be made using an embedded program code in order for data to be collected and amalgamated for reporting.
  • An example of such an embedded program may take the form of JavaScript that resides on the Interstitial and/or the Advertiser site, as in FIGURE 1.
  • the Interstitial may collect the click stream data as shown in FIGURE 13.
  • the S/user behavior data may also be collected on the interstitial and can include (among others) one or more of: the use of the back button for navigation; the closing of the browser; the continuation of the User to target URL; the typing of a new target URL in browser; the return the originating URL; other associated actions to the click transaction; and the time to action for any of the preceding and others.
  • FIGURE 13 shows an exemplary PureClick advertising link 114 with the ability for a mouse-over 100 giving rise to summary data of a target URL and/or Target site 102.
  • the FIGURE also illustrates servers 14 performing data collection 18, e.g., at 1 16: ID (Transaction ID); IP address; IP details; User agent; Rand id; Campaigned; User id; Reuser; referring URL; User rand id; Time on site; JS enabled; Cookie enabled;
  • Exemplary behavior analysis at 118 includes: On/off; Keyword Disparity Value; Re- user Probability Value; Display Percentage Value; Referring URL Continuation Percentage; Referring IP Continuation Percentage; User Continuation Percentage; and Transaction Continuation Percentage, among others.
  • a decision 120 is made whether to proceed with doorman code at 122 (e.g., using JavaScript to collect records at 124, such as: Transaction id; doorman id; Served Yes/No; Action Taken; Time to/on Action; and target URL in out time (back button), among others).
  • exemplary site records may be recorded (as at 128), such as: Transaction id; Site Record id; Pages; Time on Pages; Time on Site; and Page views, back button navigation among others.
  • FIGURE 1 The collection flow and server organization for this exemplary data collection and storage is shown in FIGURE 1.
  • detailed onsite behavior can also be captured for any and all pages where JavaScript (or other appropriate program) is enabled.
  • Exemplary types of collected information include, but are not limited to: action on doorman inclusive of time on Interstitial before user action and correlated action; URL/Page visited and time on that particular page, site inclusive; order of page clicks; use of back button for navigation; all pages in aggregate; and all time on site in aggregate.
  • a variety of reports analyzing the click database can be used by the Target PPC advertiser. These reports may include, among others: a credit report for claiming refunds from the SE/corp for fraudulent clicks; the quality of the certain keyword in terms of their continuation rates at the doorman; a list of the most successful referring URLs to allow the Target PPC advertiser to establish direct advertising relationships and eliminate the SE/corp from the process; the quantity and type of bot traffic; Keyword quality; and most prevalent forms of abandonment for Keywords.
  • An exemplary mouse-over embodiment of the interstitial doorman may also be provided for use by an SE/Corp, rather than as a service by an independent II/provider. Such may be provided as a search engine attribute and a convenience to the search user as well as a defense against invalid clicks for the PPC advertiser (target URL).
  • FIGURE 14 illustrates an exemplary mouse-over flow diagram.
  • a server advertising link publisher 130 provides mouse-over link capability 100 that provides a preview or summary 102 of a target or related page.
  • the SE/Corp may also choose to serve Interstitial locally before or after logging the click transaction on their Site prior to the target URL
  • a record may also be made of the mouse-over selection at 132.
  • a content delivery decision 134 may be made to present static summary data 136 in the interstitial content or dynamic summary data 138 in the interstitial content. Regardless, information such as time and action 23 can be recorded relative to the Target site 36.
  • the mouse-over on the actual search results page may initiate the display of the interstitial for the purposes of pre-qualifying the click transaction.
  • the interstitial is displayed.
  • This is in contrast to the presentation of a preview screen of an actual site, which has been offered by SE/corps.
  • the small preview screens are too small to read and do not effectively summarize data for or interrogate the S/user.
  • the mouse over interstitial doorman summarizes the related PPC ad target URL in terms of simplified comparison of search and target URL keywords.
  • the search user is provided easy to understand guidance to quickly and effectively decide whether they should click through to the site.
  • the search engine organization provides the presently described service as part of its search results, thus aiding the search user and protecting the PPC advertiser/target URL from invalid clicks or fraudulent behaviors.
  • the preview may be static content that is exemplary of the target URL and represents what is delivered on the doorman page.
  • the preview may also be dynamic based on click data, previously recorded behaviors on the advertiser site or across the network of sites.
  • the delivery of the mouse over an advertisement may be recorded as an impression, mouse over may be recorded as a delivery, and click may be recorded and tied to presently described system records of the Interstitial and or website. In exemplary embodiments, whenever possible this may be tied to a downstream record based on click through of the mouse over, for example through a session ID when that is available.
  • code for the interstitial may be presented via any convenient participant, e.g., by a third party, by a search engine company, by a Target site, etc.
  • a target URL provides server-side doorman capability at 140, giving rise to an exemplary doorman 102.
  • a database can be built of target URLs (referring URLs), which attempts to create a quality score for each target URL.
  • Certain target URLs will have better or worse S/user behavior associated with it based on the historical records of past transactions and notably paid and searched keywords.
  • the Quality scoring can be used by SE/corps and affiliates to sort search engine results pages according to target URL quality scores, and to present the most useful and successful target URLs to S/users for a particular search keyword combination.
  • Algorithms may be provided that create a quality score for the referring URL, for example based on one or more of the following, among others: traffic behavior; interstitial behavior; website behavior; intended keyword; and Mouse Over behavior.
  • the match quality score (MQS), or disparity, relates to paid search terms (PPC ad Keywords) versus a user-searched term.
  • PPC ad Keywords paid search terms
  • disparity may be used to quantify user behavior and/or to govern the display of a doorman when a threshold is met by the user.
  • such disparity may take in to account one or more of :
  • nm number of words in search keywords that match (partial or exact) a paid keyword
  • npk number of paid keywords optionally inclusive of other advertiser paid & unpaid keywords
  • nsk number of search keywords
  • noo number of out of order keywords. Order is defined only relative to other paid keywords
  • npsk number of partially matching search keywords
  • apuk number of disparate keyword(s) from other associated paid and unpaid lists
  • the above algorithm effectively "expects" that the fewer paid keywords there are, the more important it is to match all or most of them in order for a search to be good. That is, e.g., matching 1/2 of paid keywords is not seen as being as good as matching 3/4.
  • the second term of the pk ratio moderates that effect, so that 1/2 is (by default) worth about 67 points rather than being worth 50. In essence, this means that the highest possible score for a search that matches (at least partially) 1/2 of the keywords is 67. However, matching 1/2 of the paid keywords with a 4 word search string is worth less than 67; and it is also worth less than 67 if the one match is partial.
  • the terms of the QS are arranged such that the weights are in an order that corresponds to the ordering of the list of qualitative criteria given, i.e., how many paid keywords are matched has the highest weight, and the penalty for partial matches on words has the least weight. Variations on this include the additional use of Associated paid and unpaid keyword(s) in the associated calculation between the paid pk and sk for modification of the sk as an independent adjustment prior to or post calculation.
  • PPC ads for certain affiliates of the SE/corp are presented in typical search results. These affiliates usually focus on an area of specialization, but can also be what is known as display networks. The economics of this affiliate relationship result in a sharing of the PPC revenue between the SE/corp and the affiliate in the event that a target URL ad is clicked. The target URL company therefore pays advertising costs to both parties, the SE/corp and the affiliate. Certain affiliates are more successful at providing valid clicks than others and quality varies significantly. The target URL company can examine data collected using the technology of this invention and determine the most effective referring affiliates.
  • the target URL company can then proceed to establish dedicated lower cost relationship directly with the affiliate, thereby eliminating the SE/corp as an intermediary.
  • the Il/provider may thus provide reports from the click data that assists in this process.
  • the original search terms from the paid transaction as defined by the Advertiser would be submitted in a form as an affiliate or as the target URL to the search company for re-monetization. This would be done independent of the Advertiser, but for their benefit in order to mitigate the costs resulting from the "invalid” or "fraudulent” clicks.
  • the doorman may also act as a filter, both to set expectations and to increase the tendency towards a quality experience on a target URL.
  • the search user has an extremely limited view into, and understanding of, the target of the advertising link that they click on.
  • Web sites vary incredibly in user interfaces, navigational schemas, graphics, colors and even the intent of the site to the
  • the doorman provides a guided experience and the opportunity for the user to experience a soft landing on the targeted site by giving them the choices described above, as well as the ability for the advertiser to give a general summary of the site and possible potential areas of interest to the user. In essence, this gives the user a preview of the intended experience as well as giving the advertiser the opportunity to set expectations, rather than leaving it to the user to determine these on their own accord upon hitting the landing page on the site and having to figure out all of the aforementioned issues.
  • the system provides the ability to describe specific targets within a site from the doorman by one or more of: the use of a description to describe the intended user experience; the use of a description to denote something unique to the site including sales, coupons or other incentives; the use of information gathered from previous doorman experiences to serve up a smart user experience, including dynamic formatting of the user experience based upon other actions from the user on doorman served on other sites (other sites including preferred navigational methods); the use of a description based on the originating site and/or a target URL to set expectations on the next user choice; the use of a description based on the target site and offering, with links; providing linked lists within the description; and providing lists within the description.
  • Certain exemplary processes of search described herein may be described as static in the sense that certain search formulas are used in an effort to provide the pertinent search results and ads. In embodiments wherein no user inputs exist, the process may lack the ability to sample the search users' satisfaction with the information presented.
  • the doorman's ability to extract information on user satisfaction can provide essential information when optimizing the search results, providing subsequently higher relevancy and higher cost per click for certain search term combinations.
  • the paid keywords from the input on the doorman are known when the campaign is created. Further, the system may know whether the referring URL and content was relevant or not to the keywords. Accordingly, the system can profile visitors' behavior and acceptance of relevant content on the origin and target. In such exemplary circumstances, a search no longer need be based on content, but may instead be based on aggregated click behavior.
  • the doorman may thus provide information for an optimized and search engine algorithm, namely a behavioral one. This may be generated by an interview of a user and/or whether a keyword and the target URL correspond to desirable content. Further, this may be based on the point of origin as well as the click patterns. Including the use of the back button with time in/out of target URL. Exemplary embodiments provide a search that learns as it is used more and more. Such embodiments may take into account both good and bad behaviors, and may be fundamentally based on the values tracked on the doorman and time to action.
  • the doorman can also perform welcoming and defending services.
  • the doorman background and content can further be customized as a function of the nature of the search terms used and a specified PPC advertisement.
  • the doorman may be served up in front of a preview of a target URL by utilizing cURL, or other methods, or caching a screen shot of the target URL or Website on the servers.
  • An exemplary cURL requests a page, while the latter option captures a screen shot and serves it from the local servers.
  • This image may be served up on the PureClick Server(s) and rendered to give a visitor a preview of the site that they will land on when they click on the "continue to site" button on the doorman.
  • exemplary embodiments provide the ability to format any preview page desired by entering a separate value than the target URL when the content of the doorman is set up. This allows for a highly relevant background image that may differ from, e.g., a generic screen shot of the homepage.
  • exemplary systems allow for serving a background preview screen under a doorman of any URL desired, as opposed to simply rendering a target URL. This may be accomplished when entering a URL to be rendered under the doorman by any URL as opposed to utilizing the target URL, which may include tracking URLs that impede the rendering of the background image.
  • This URL can either be served from any location as exists today, or it may be cached on the PureClick Server(s) to speed up the delivery and allow for a preview screen on the doorman specific to an intent of the doorman (e.g., product, service, overview, taxonomy).
  • content can also be custom generated so as to provide background content that is unrelated to a doorman Target to dissuade predatory clicks or fraudulent behavior.
  • One such example might be rendering a background image of law enforcement, or even data that is specific to the user such as their IP address, referring URL, etc. of data that is collected through the service, to mitigate repetitive malicious attacks.
  • Exemplary rules for determining content on a dynamically generated preview screen may be built in to the logic of the delivery of content on the Preview screen including, e.g., number of clicks by the user, location(s), frequency of transactions, frequency across all actions of PureClick clients, etc.
  • the content of the background image can also be dynamically generated based on a specific keyword(s) combination and optimized to a higher performing searched site with a high continuation rate.
  • FIGURE 16 illustrates such a doorman with a promotional greeting 150, including a listing of top matches 152.
  • Another exemplary embodiment provides for the use of an inquiry on the doorman to change the target URL for the landing page, based on the user selection.
  • the use of one or more user selected fields may determine the most targeted landing page on a website: where the target URL is determined by the selection based on predetermined URL's; where the predetermined URL's are determined from combinations of user selections and appropriate landing pages on the Web site; where a default URL's is put in place when no selection is made; and/or where the user choice may be singular or multiple selections.
  • FIGURE 17 illustrates a doorman with site search input fields 154. Click Bot Doorman Decoys with Tracking
  • FIGURE 18 illustrates an exemplary doorman with invisible
  • Exemplary embodiments further include repopulating an original search term for monetization after traffic has been paid for once the doorman has been displayed and invalidated by the search user.
  • Exemplary methods of repopulation of the term may include one or more of: the use of the user searched term; the use of the advertisers paid search term ; and a combination of one and two along with any other homonyms, synonyms or other variants for the purposes of creating a relevant keyword(s) to the originating user query, Inclusive of other keywords that the advertiser may have used on similar campaigns, groupings and other methods.
  • target of the above terms may include one or more of: the site of the originating user search; another competing search engine company; a website that uses information to create an arbitrage environment for the monetization of the term; and any website that is willing to pay or trade for traffic.
  • remuneration of a click may include: the payment for the traffic based on the bid price for the term; a credit for the search term against any existing or future payments for traffic; and/or payment for the acquisition of the user, including changing search preferences in browser; bookmarking the target; and/or the repeat user experience and monetization of the terms, including session based activity, and future activity for a defined period of time.
  • delivery of a link on the doorman may include; the delivery of an alternate link contingent on one or more of: an MQS score; the type of keyword; the price of the keyword; the originating parsed URL and or IP address; the referring URL; and other known attributes.
  • Other exemplary embodiments provide for the display of the keyword(s) for the benefit the user experience, including for example: showing the relevancy of searched versus paid terms; showing a score of the relative terms; showing the cost to the advertiser of the terms; and creating a record of the specific users activity to the Search that is known by the user and can demonstrate the intent of the user to the search engine company or other sources. This can be known from a singular click or across a network.
  • Figure 19 illustrates an exemplary doorman with a Search Engine Migration Button 156.
  • Another exemplary embodiment provides for the use of the present invention to create a transaction record where the advertiser may reject a click transaction based on the disparity between a paid search term and the user searched term, e.g., where: the user search term is parsed from the referring URL and displayed in conjunction with the paid search term; the advertiser is presented with the disparity as well as the Match Quality score; and/or the advertiser is presented with the user choice when the user is served the doorman.
  • Another exemplary embodiment provides for Improving the placement of PPC ads using aggregated data for specific search terms and doorman data for specific paid keywords, which guides the placement of ads in order to enhance continuation rates.
  • the resulting searched term for every rejection results in a negative value for searched terms where the terms that are rejected are compiled and create a negative list of terms that do not include the paid terms.
  • the resulting searched term for every acceptance results in a positive value for searched terms where the terms that are accepted are compiled and create a positive list of term that do not include the paid terms.
  • the lists generated are used in an algorithmic formula for the purposes of generating a keyword profile for the advertiser to optimize future keyword associations with the paid keywords and advertisements in a PPC relationship.
  • Figure 20 illustrates an Improved PPC ad placement using doorman data, shown generally at 160, including: identifying a paid term by an advertiser 162; displaying an advertisement based on terms 164; monitoring a user click base on searched term(s) and/or content presented 166; creating a click transaction record 168; presenting a doorman 170; adding recorded behavior to said transaction record 172; monitoring acceptance or rejection of said click transaction record by an advertiser 174; accepting 176 or rejecting 178 said searched keyword(s); communication to a database 180; and creating a profile of searched terms to optimize or reject future served advertisements based on known behaviors and associated keywords and phrases 182.
  • Other exemplary embodiments provide a method of migrating a search user from one search engine company to another and remunerating the pay per click transaction, e.g., where: the user searched term is parsed from the originating search; a link is created that parses and passes the user search term onto another site; an advertiser's paid searched term may be used when no parsed term is available; a link may be used to return a user to the originating search company with a new search instance or an alternate search company for remuneration; the return link can present the user with a target URL image; the user is presented with one or more alternative search companies as an offer; a browser instance is created as a pop up, pop in or pop under when a user hits the doorman; a request is made to the user to change the preferred search engine in a browser based on the selected alternative search engine request; remuneration occurs whenever a term is passed to the originating search company or alternative search company including, pay per click, pay per acquisition or any pay per action attribu
  • Examples such are the greeters at various stores that welcome a shopper and direct that shopper efficiently to their area of interest.
  • the home page of many websites are daunting barriers to entry, much like superstores without such greeters, where efficiently finding what is needed is a difficult or difficult task.
  • the doorman may immediately be aware of incoming search keywords that resulted in the click.
  • an exemplary doorman can present a company description and product picture most appropriate to the customer's interest, and in further exemplary embodiments provide a landing page other than the home page. Such exemplary embodiments place the visitor immediately on the site location of interest.
  • Exemplary embodiments of the doorman can also be enhanced with a video, flash, other formats or animated welcome, and can ask additional questions or provide an introduction to guide a visitor to a correct page with more specificity.
  • Various exemplary modes of pre- website interaction can significantly enhance the continuation and conversion rates by providing information, direction and user survey information, and can effectively give a user a soft landing to a page that provides an alignment of expectations specific to their needs.
  • Exemplary embodiments also provide the ability to provide pass through tracking links from Ad > Doorman > Site, as an ability to parse any and all tracking code attached to a URL string that originates from any advertisement and to re-attach it for the continuation of that tracking after a behavioral set of data has been served and captured (by a doorman). This allows tracking to be fully functional after the doorman behavior has been captured and allows follow-on tracking to resume by any means, as originally intended had the doorman been presented or not presented through the service.
  • any such parameters that are part of the campaign target URL in Google are passed through as part of the target URL from the doorman.
  • Another exemplary embodiment uses JavaScript code to track the time from when a user leaves a doorman by continuation to a Target and/or parsed tracking code and returns to the doorman by navigational means including the use of the back button.
  • This exemplary functionality extends to repeat traffic through the advertising link as well to permit determination of double clicks and determination of the time delta and correlation of that data to behaviors on the doorman.
  • an exemplary embodiment provides a time stamp attributed to the clicking of the continue button. This may generate a unique cookie that is tied to the click record and a time stamp of that action.
  • the software Upon detection of the browser navigation of the back button as the user clicks from the target URL associated with the doorman and returns to the doorman, the software recognizes the user and creates a record in the database that calculates the delta between to the event and records it as time on site and or linked pages.
  • the use of small touch screens makes mouse pointer accuracy incredibly difficult. It is not uncommon for users to accidentally click an advertisement due to the size restrictions of the touch screen and relative lack of control over closing functionality. Thus users may or may not set off a navigational event according to intent.
  • the present doorman functionality can extend to mobile devices and mobile applications and their advertisements, as well as embedded content such as the advertisements that are presented overlaying content on YouTube and other sites.
  • the delivery can consist of a simple delivery of the doorman, whereby the user is presented with an explanation that they have clicked on a paid advertisement and asked to verify that they intended to complete navigation or return to the previous screen. Additionally, content can simply request that a user confirm that this was their intent.
  • the present invention advantageously avoids prior problems with preventing click fraud and unintended or invalid clicks from these advertisements.
  • such system uses compiled data to determine identify multiple click transactions from and a single user, which data may be compared against other data from the compilation of the two disparate sources and clicks in aggregate.
  • exemplary embodiments of the present invention facilitate assignment of a disparity score of a purchased keyword versus delivered search keyword(s) phrases and associations made including synonyms.
  • Other exemplary embodiments provide for the use of the collected information to establish affiliate relationships between two parties, where the click is the transaction event and the event payment is determined by the actions of the delivery of the click, and the behavior on site determines and qualifies the amount to be paid for the transaction. This includes a gradient of payment to be made based on the Match Quality Score where percentages determine the total amount to be paid from a baseline number.
  • exemplary embodiments provide for the use of recorded behavioral actions on a site from an original keyword searched to determine algorithmically the relevancy of the search term to the landing page and subsequent ranking of the site for future search results.
  • exemplary embodiments also provide for the use of a browser based JavaScript code to report back page views and time on site, allowing correlating of that data back to a singular keyword/click of origin. This data is reported back to the database prior to the user closing the browser, utilizing browser navigation or other native available actions.
  • exemplary embodiments provide for use of data collected to tie back that information to determine the quality of the referring site to the landing site from origin source.
  • a paid keyword is compared against associated keywords or words to determine a relevancy for the determination of validity and value of a search transaction.
  • the time on site and attribute to an individual of a user on a landing page and subsequent pages are tracked and tied back to a singular click transaction.
  • Further exemplary embodiments provide for activation of a doorman interstitial, which is populated with search disparity information and activated by conditions set by the destination URL vendor, which provides a final defense against Search Engine Company caused disparity- fraud, robotic clicking and other nefarious activity.
  • Embodiments of the present invention also provide the ability to track time on a doorman/interstitial prior to action by a user or bot and to correlate that action and time to the choice presented and linking that information to continued destination URL activity and transaction record.
  • Other exemplary embodiments provide the ability to repopulate the original search term for monetization after the traffic has been paid for once the doorman has been displayed.
  • Exemplary systems and methods provide for tracking that does not calculate the total cost per click until a series of automated and user defined actions take place that accurately represent the fair market value of the click transaction between an advertiser and publisher, e.g., for Internet and mobile devices, among others, by monitoring the clicking on an advertisement where: the click is recorded and attributed to the user and has some initial attributable value and the user is presented with a confirmation that they intended to click: where the confirmation of the click has an attributable value; where the repeated actions by a single user have an attributable value; where the physical location of the user at the time of ad delivery has a attributable value; where the referring URL is considered part of the transaction and has an attributable value; where the disparity between the searched term and paid term have a score and resulting value attributable to that scoring method; where the rejection of the click has an attributable value; where the amount of time that the user makes to make a qualified decision also has an attributable value; where the delivery of content in whole or in part has an attributable value
  • the publisher and advertiser can agree to all or part of the above criteria and value accordingly to determine the total value of the click transaction on a per click basis/per transaction basis, e.g., where the publisher and advertiser are contractually obligated to the criteria for settlement of the transaction.
  • embodiments of the invention may be embodied in the form of computer-implemented processes and apparatuses for practicing those processes. Therefore, according to an exemplary embodiment, the methodologies described hereinbefore may be implemented by a computer system or apparatus. Portions or the entirety of the
  • the computer system includes memory for storage of instructions and information, input device(s) for computer communication, and display device.
  • the present invention may be implemented, in software, for example, as any suitable computer program on a computer system somewhat similar to computer system.
  • a program in accordance with the present invention may be a computer program product causing a computer to execute the exemplary methods described herein.
  • Embodiments can be embodied in the form of computer-implemented processes and apparatuses for practicing those processes on a computer program product.
  • Embodiments include the computer program product as depicted in on a computer usable medium with computer program code logic containing instructions embodied in tangible media as an article of manufacture.
  • Exemplary articles of manufacture for computer usable medium may include floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, universal serial bus (USB) flash drives, or any other computer-readable storage medium, wherein, when the computer program code logic is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention.
  • Embodiments include computer program code logic, for example, whether stored in a storage medium, loaded into and/or executed by a computer, or transmitted over some transmission medium, such as over electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or via electromagnetic radiation, wherein, when the computer program code logic is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention.
  • the computer program code logic segments configure the microprocessor to create specific logic circuits.
  • the computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium.
  • a computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
  • a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
  • a computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro -magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof.
  • a computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
  • Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
  • Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages.
  • the program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.
  • the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
  • LAN local area network
  • WAN wide area network
  • Internet Service Provider for example, AT&T, MCI, Sprint, EarthLink, MSN, GTE, etc.

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Abstract

L'invention concerne un système et un procédé pour éviter la fraude au clic et/ou déterminer les clics invalides, afin de mesurer les données liées au clic, décider selon les conditions définies dans l'URL cible s'il faut présenter un interstitiel intelligent, décider selon les conditions définies dans l'URL cible comment peupler l'interstitiel puis mesurer l'interaction de l'utilisateur de Recherche avec l'interstitiel. D'autres modes de réalisation utilisent des conditions définies dans l'URL cible et relatives à l'interaction de l'interstitiel pour déterminer la validité du clic et la valeur monétaire et, dans le cas d'un clic valide, continuer vers l'URL cible et éventuellement mesurer le comportement sur site. D'autres modes de réalisation mesurent les données provenant d'un clic original, observent le comportement de l'interstitiel et éventuellement fusionnent le comportement mesuré sur le site web URL cible dans une base de données fournissant des données d'utilisateur pour chaque clic individuel. D'autres modes de réalisation génèrent des rapports spécifiques à la recherche de crédits de paiements par clics invalides et d'autres renseignements relatifs au site web. Des exemples de mode de réalisation proposent différentes applications, y compris par exemple les applications par des moteurs de recherche et des services autonomes.
PCT/US2012/062163 2011-10-31 2012-10-26 Système et procédé pour une protection contre la fraude au clic WO2013066755A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US14/355,318 US20140278947A1 (en) 2011-10-31 2012-10-26 System and method for click fraud protection
US14/082,872 US20140172552A1 (en) 2012-07-18 2013-11-18 System and method for click fraud protection
US14/265,789 US20140324573A1 (en) 2011-10-31 2014-04-30 System and method for click fraud protection
US14/458,748 US20150032533A1 (en) 2012-07-18 2014-08-13 System and method for click fraud protection
US14/458,739 US20140358678A1 (en) 2012-07-18 2014-08-13 System and method for click fraud protection
US14/459,399 US20150046254A1 (en) 2012-07-18 2014-08-14 System and method for display relevance watch

Applications Claiming Priority (10)

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US201161553291P 2011-10-31 2011-10-31
US61/553,291 2011-10-31
US201261587353P 2012-01-17 2012-01-17
US61/587,353 2012-01-17
US201261672841P 2012-07-18 2012-07-18
US13/551,981 2012-07-18
US61/672,841 2012-07-18
US13/551,981 US20130110648A1 (en) 2011-10-31 2012-07-18 System and method for click fraud protection
US201261711321P 2012-10-09 2012-10-09
US61/711,321 2012-10-09

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US201213551961A Continuation-In-Part 2012-07-18 2012-07-18
US13/551,981 Continuation-In-Part US20130110648A1 (en) 2011-10-31 2012-07-18 System and method for click fraud protection

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US14/082,872 Continuation-In-Part US20140172552A1 (en) 2012-07-18 2013-11-18 System and method for click fraud protection
US14/265,789 Continuation US20140324573A1 (en) 2011-10-31 2014-04-30 System and method for click fraud protection
US201414355318A Continuation-In-Part 2012-07-18 2014-04-30

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