Yahoo Gets Patent for Behavioral Ad Targeting

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Search company granted patent for delivering ads based on user profile and behavioral information.

yahoo patent'The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued U.S. Patent 7,680,786 (pdf) to Yahoo! today for “Optimization of targeted advertisements based on user profile information”.

The invention covers using both behavioral and user profile information in combination with traditional keyword and event driven factors to deliver targeted ads. For example, a user might enter a search query for “Madonna tickets” on Yahoo. Traditionally, ads related solely to those keywords would be displayed. The invention adds an additional layer, taking into consideration user information (e.g. user profile data, behavioral data) to determine which ads to show to the user. This targeting isn’t limited to searches; keywords in the domain name or the content of the page being viewed can also be considered when delivering the ads.

Yahoo! filed the patent application on October 30, 2006.

Further Reading:

  1. Yahoo Gets Patent for Domain Parking Optimization
  2. Yahoo Awarded Patent for Human-Enhanced Search Engine
  3. Demand Media Wants to Patent Keyword Profitability Ranking

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1 Comment » - Posted in Policy & Law by

Comments

  1. Furkat
    March 20th, 2010 | 5:02 pm

    what does this mean to us, small adproviders?

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