Abstract:
Distribution and monetization of classified advertising, classifieds on network-connected media, online classifieds, any advertising on electronic displays such as advertising via electronic bill boards, (collectively “eclassifieds”) using techniques for more timely and wider exposure of time-sensitive content on online networks. Such techniques include using XML feeds and are based on the type of search engine involved, the geo-location of the web-surfer, the demographic and psychographic profile of the web surfer, and bandwidth requirements of the web-surfer.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     The present application claims the benefit of pending U.S. Provisional Application No. ______, filed Sep. 3, 2004, by Gary Kremen and is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0002]     The invention relates to the monetization and/or distribution of classified advertising, classifieds on network-connected media, online classifieds, any advertising on electronic displays such as advertising via electronic bill boards, (collectively “eclassifieds”) using techniques for more timely and wider exposure of time-sensitive content on online networks. Such techniques include using XML feeds and are based on the type of search engine involved, the geo-location of the web-surfer, the demographic and psychographic profile of the web surfer, and bandwidth requirements of the web-surfer. The distribution of eclassifieds include methods for converting the taxonomy of eclassifieds into a suitable taxonomy for pushing the eclassifieds as XML feeds, or data dumps or other similar formats into a number of different search engines, directories and the like (collectively “search engines”).  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0003]     The trend in online advertising is the increasing exchange of advertising related information between pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements and the advertising results served up by search engines. Search engines such as Google, AltaVista and Yahoo produce free results from search phrase queries that are displayed prominently for the web surfer, usually in the middle of the results page. Most of the time these free results are preceded by, surrounded by, intermixed with, or even followed by paid text results and/or banner advertisements. These paid results are likely using either CPA (cost per action), CPM (cost per thousand), or PPC (pay per click) financial models. Advertisers, not surfers, pay for the “paid” results. Thus search engines are “free.” 
         [0004]     In the context of online advertising and paid results, how does eclassifieds fit in? Currently, eclassifieds very rarely, if at all, appear in paid results served up by search engines.  
         [0005]     To explain, electronic classifieds (“eclassifieds”) are simply classifieds available online via the Internet or World Wide Web (“web”), or on any network-connected media or electronic displays. In general, eclassifieds are electronic representations of classifieds formatted for newspaper, magazine, or other print publication. Eclassifieds are typically posted on the web via online versions of print publications, such as Rich Media, etc. The typical eclassified advertisement represents a unique offer, wherein the underlying content likely changes frequently.  
         [0006]     As will be appreciated, the underlying classified content may change for a variety of reasons such as a) a sale of the advertised product, b) a decision not to sell, c) a temporary withdrawal from the market as the advertiser negotiates, changes price or other details of the sale, or d) other reasons. Hence, eclassifieds are extremely time sensitive, extremely short-lived and are of little use to anyone unless found by potential web surfers in a very timely fashion.  
         [0007]     Rather than directly accessing eclassifieds via their original source (e.g., online versions of print publication, etc.), the typical web surfer uses one or more search engines to access classifieds. This occurs for several reasons. One reason is that the typical web-surfer uses one or more search engines to access classifieds. First, the web surfer might not know any or all of the electronic addresses (URLs) of publications that might have items of interest. “Items of interest” may include both “sell an item(s)” and “buy an item(s).” 
         [0008]     Second, the market has moved away from local, and regional newspapers online and other online sources of classifieds for news in general to national sources (such as http:/www.cnn.com or http://www.yahoo.com). Thus, web surfers are less familiar with the online local and regional newspapers because the surfers are more likely to read the non-electronic versions of the local and regional newspapers, if at all.  
         [0009]     Third, online classifieds are harder to search because such searches are more structured due to the rigid nomenclature of the classifieds. The rigid nomenclature, while more accurate, is harder to use as each category has its own nomenclature or structured content. Search engines usually do not perform better with structured content.  
         [0010]     Notwithstanding the myriad reasons in favor of having eclassifieds appear in paid results served up by search engines, the problem remains that eclassifieds do not appear in paid results because there are currently no adequate mechanisms for achieving such a goal.  
         [0011]     Further, indexing of eclassifieds is not viable because there are no web pages associated with an eclassified, which can be indexed. Even if indexing is viable, search engines, because of the overwhelming amount of content on the Internet, suffer from the well-known and persistent problem of long latency between the introduction of new or modified content to the web and the indexing of such content by the search engine. This latency period may extend from days to months (e.g., Google® currently has about a six-week latency period), by which point digital content such as eclassifieds is often irrelevant. At the extreme of irrelevancy, the eclassified may no longer exist on the publisher&#39;s or newspaper&#39;s sites. For example, the formatting of the pointers to the eclassifieds, or the link pointing to the digital content may no longer function. In some cases, the results of the indexing (which might be more than three months old) are cached. However such cached content is usually useless because of its age.  
         [0012]     As described below in greater detail, the lack of cooperation between eclassified providers and search engine providers are primary causes for the failure of search engines to present desired eclassifieds in a meaningful and timely manner to web surfers.  
         [0013]     Search engines such as Google and AlITheWeb use numerous different techniques to locate and prioritize content. As a result, there is no single eclassified content format that is ideal for exposure to all search engines. Thus, inconsistency among search engine algorithms creates a wall between digital classified content providers and their intended audience.  
         [0014]     To further exacerbate the difficulties experienced by the web surfer and the eclassified distributor, providers and/or distributors of eclassifieds often view search engine providers as competitors, and vice versa. This is particularly true in the areas of branding and customer retention. Newspapers and other traditional classifieds providers perceive Google, Yahoo and other portals as competition. This competition detracts from meaningful cooperation between eclassified distributors and search portals, which in turn makes it more difficult for the web surfer to uncover meaningful content.  
         [0015]     Because eclassifieds are more difficult to successfully use through use of search engines, eclassifieds achieve less than their full potential value. As a result, the value of eclassifieds is diminished from their optimum value.  
         [0016]     These and other issues are addressed by the invention as described herein.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]      FIG. 1A  illustrates some high-level aspects of certain embodiments of the invention.  
         [0018]      FIG. 1B  illustrates a network diagram for the communication of digital text by a user to a conversion engine, according to embodiments of the invention.  
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating a third party aggregator method in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart of a method for converting digital content such as an eclassified file into a push format in accordance with another aspect of the invention.  
         [0021]      FIG. 4  is a data structure for use with one push format of the invention.  
         [0022]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart illustrating a method for retrieving pertinent data from an eclassified data record of a non-push format  
         [0023]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart illustrating a method for preparing pertinent data into push format together with supporting data structures.  
         [0024]      FIG. 7  is an example eclassified having a format derived directly from a print classified.  
         [0025]      FIG. 8  illustrates a reformatted version of the eclassified of  FIG. 7  in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0026]      FIG. 1A  illustrates some high-level aspects of certain embodiments of the invention. In  FIG. 1A , a third party aggregator  130  forms partnerships with a plurality of search engine providers  134  (only one of which is shown in  FIG. 1A ) and a plurality of sources  132   a - d  of time-sensitive content (e.g., the eclassified distributors) for purposes of monetizing the time-sensitive content. The plurality of search engine providers are also referred to herein as affiliates. The third party aggregator is also referred to herein as an exchange. The plurality of sources of time sensitive content are also referred to herein as partners. The term “partnership” refers to a business relationship and is not restricted to any particular type of business relationship, and thus may vary from implementation to implementation.  
         [0027]     An affiliate is a site where the web surfer types in his search query. Partners are sources of paid advertisements. While many search engines have their own advertising listings, search engines are in the business of providing their paid listings to other search engines. In such a context, search engines are partner sites. Thus, a search engine may either be an affiliate or a partner site, depending on where the web surfer enters the search query. An exchange is an entity that is an intermediary between affiliates and other partners of the exchange.  
         [0028]     To illustrate by way of example, according to certain embodiments, assume that a web surfer types in a search phrase on an affiliate site. The affiliate site converts the search phrase into a real-time XML query feed  133 . First, the affiliate may query the affiliate&#39;s own internal advertising base or the affiliate&#39;s own partners&#39; sites in an attempt to satisfy the web surfer&#39;s search query. The affiliate site then pushes the search query XML feed  133  to the third party aggregator  130 . The third party aggregator  130  attempts to find content in the third party aggregator&#39;s databases that satisfies the search query. If none of the third party aggregator&#39;s databases contain any content that satisfies the search query, then the third party aggregator will pull content that satisfies the search query from one or more sources  132   a - b  (i.e., partner sites). The content that satisfies the search query is herein referred to as search results. When the third party obtains the search results, either from querying its own databases or by pulling search results from one or more sources  132   a - b , the third party aggregator converts the search results into an XML search results feed  136 . The third party aggregator then pushes the XML search results feed  136  to affiliate  134  to satisfy the web surfer&#39;s search query. It is to be noted that the elapsed time starting when the web surfer enters the search query up to the time when the web surfer sees the results displayed on the affiliate site is a fraction of a second. The complex manner in which the web surfer&#39;s search query is satisfied is performed seamlessly and is completely transparent to the web surfer. Thus, the web surfer is provided a positive surfing experience.  
         [0029]     The XML feed in push format may take a variety of forms and may vary from implementation to implementation. According to certain embodiments, the push format may include a title element, a keyword search element, a description element, a support URL element, an IP address, and a monetization URL element. The XML feed may also include information such as the geo-location of the web-surfer, the demographic and psychographic profile of the web surfer, and bandwidth requirements of the web-surfer. Such information can be used to tailor the search results for the web surfer. An example of an XML query is: 
        http://xml.kanoodle.com/xml.php?Terms=“surfing in San Diego”&amp;strict=1&amp;Hits_Per_Page=10&amp;IP=209.81.7.23&amp;affiliate=www.galaxyse arch.com        
 
         [0031]     The XML push format is described in greater detail herein with reference to  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 . According to certain embodiments, data dumps or FTP may used instead of XML.  
         [0032]     When the affiliate site receives the XML search results feed, the affiliate sorts the listings in the search results. The listings in the search results that generate the most profit for the affiliate are displayed most prominently. To illustrate, assume for example, if a surfer types in “Surfing in San Diego” at http://www.Kanoodle.Com, Kanoodle might only have three listings starting at $0.06 and going to $0.04. In this case, Kanoodle will likely query its partners with this search term. Assume that GalaxySearch is one of these partners. Further assume that GalaxySearch only has two of its own paid listings for “Surfing in San Diego”—one at $0.20 and another at $0.06. Assuming a 60% revenue share arrangement with Kanoodle, Kanoodle will list the GalaxySearch listing at $0.12 (60%*$0.20) return first, then its own listing at $0.06, $0.05 and $0.04 in the second, third and fourth positions, and finally a GalaxySearch listing at $0.036 (60% * $0.06). As part of GalaxySearch&#39;s list finding process, GalaxySearch might also query its own set of proprietary partners (other than Kanoodle to prevent loops) looking for “Surfing in San Diego.” If paid listings are found and a “time out” has not occurred, the listings from GalaxySearch&#39;s partners will be sent to GalaxySearch at the revenue share arrangement between GalaxySearch and its partners. Then those results from the partner and GalaxySearch&#39;s own results are sent to Kanoodle. At this point, Kanoodle sorts all the results by the net revenue that Kanoodle would make and displays the results accordingly.  
         [0033]     Further, the third party aggregator is adapted to perform fraud checks on the search results before the results are pushed to the affiliates. Fraud checks include checking the results for accuracy and legality. For example, no child pornography material will be allowed to pass through. As another example, checks are made to ensure that a click is made by a human searcher rather than a robot.  
         [0034]     Thus, the third party aggregator can satisfy, for both affiliates and web surfers, the priorities that include: 1) relevancy of results; and b) speed of results; and c) results displayed correctly on their browser.  
         [0035]     To reiterate, the partnerships allow the third party aggregator to:  
         [0036]     1) gather the time-sensitive content  136   a - b;    
         [0037]     2) process the time-sensitive content to form customized formatted content  138 ; and  
         [0038]     3) feed the customized formatted content directly to the plurality of search engine providers  134   a - c  (affiliates) in the partnership.  
         [0039]     The processing of the time-sensitive content to form customized formatted content is described in greater detain herein with reference to  FIGS. 2-8 . New time-sensitive content and any updates are pulled in real-time from the plurality of partner sites to the third party aggregator site for processing into customized formatted content. The customized formatted content is stored in a database, according to certain embodiments.  
         [0040]     The third party aggregator attracts search engine providers (affiliates) into the partnership by performing one or more of the following:  
         [0041]     1) providing time-sensitive content to the search engine providers (affiliates) that the search engine providers would otherwise not obtain without a great deal of effort;  
         [0042]     2) providing a fruitful experience to web surfers who use the search engines of the search engine providers in the partnership by giving the web surfers rapid and relevant search results in response to queries for time-sensitive content. Thus, the traffic is increased at the search engine providers&#39; sites;  
         [0043]     3) providing clean listings by checking for accuracy and legality;  
         [0044]     4) increasing the value and prices that the affiliates can charge for advertising space because of increased traffic at their sites;  
         [0045]     5) associating with a highly profitable anchor e-business that earns a substantially large market revenue in order to increase traffic for the affiliates;  
         [0046]     6) sharing revenue obtained from monetizing the time-sensitive content with the affiliates;  
         [0047]     7) providing transparency in accounting; and  
         [0048]     8) providing fraud accounting protection.  
         [0049]     The third party aggregator attracts providers of time-sensitive content (partner sites) into the partnership by performing one or more of the following:  
         [0050]     1) providing a one-stop service for feeding the partner&#39;s time-sensitive content to some or all of the affiliates;  
         [0051]     2) providing an upsell to the originator (e.g., advertiser of the e-classified) of the time-sensitive content when the originator submits his e-classified to partner sites;  
         [0052]     3) providing branding for the partner sites by a) linking the web-surfer directly to the partner&#39;s landing site, b) including the partner&#39;s logo as part of the search results listing or at premium advertising spaces at affiliate sites;  
         [0053]     4) providing a conduit for pushing the time-sensitive content to international affiliates;  
         [0054]     5) increasing high quality traffic for the partner sites;  
         [0055]     6) increasing the prices that the partners can charge for advertising space because of the increased high quality traffic;  
         [0056]     7) providing transparency in accounting; and  
         [0057]     8) providing fraud accounting protection.  
         [0058]     Payment to the third party aggregator may come from the originator of the time-sensitive content, or the partners. The third party aggregator may then share the revenue with the affiliates. The search engine providers may share in the revenue based on at least one payment method selected from a group comprising: 1) cost per thousand impressions (CPM); 2) pay-per-click (PPC); and 3) fixed fee.  
         [0059]     Further, certain embodiments teach a variety of mechanisms for generating and reformatting time-sensitive digital content for maximum exposure on the connected networked media, such as the Internet. Such mechanisms include those by which digital content is properly formatted and pushed out to the and thus displayed substantially immediately by search engines as paid results (PPC, for example). Other aspects include mechanisms for ensuring digital content is featured prominently on web sites of search engine providers. For example, in certain embodiments, there are mechanisms by which a search for eclassifieds results in relevant text listings, banners, pop up windows, pop up under exit consoles, etc.  
         [0060]     As an illustrative, non-limiting example, the time-sensitive content may take the form of an eclassified. The original content may be submitted by a user via legacy newspaper storage systems, converted to an eclassified, or electronic forms and/or via a web interface, and this text may subsequently be reformatted by applications, local processes, or other software. Such software may be configured to reformat the content into a form suitable for direct feeding to search sites in response to a search query.  
         [0061]     As will be appreciated, embodiments of the invention can be responsive to digital content in any available format. Typical formats used for digital content in this context include plain text, such as ASCII, encoded markup languages such as HTML, and specialized encoding languages such as those used by eclassified providers and newspaper production systems. In some embodiments, the content may be customized for particular search engines, such that the content is featured prominently by such search engines when certain search terms are presented to the search engine. These and other embodiments are described in greater detail infra.  
         [0062]     The invention includes embodiments particularly suited for timely digital content, which loses relevance over time. Given the time-sensitivity of the content, immediate access of such materials by web surfers are imperative to the content holder, and the invention supports automated techniques for reformatting and distributing such content to address these requirements.  
         [0063]     An exemplar of such time-sensitive content is presented by eclassified advertisements. Typically, Internet-based eclassifieds are posted to sites supporting such ads, and these type of advertisements are rarely indexed by search engines, if at all, in a timely fashion. Moreover, such advertisements are often lost in a myriad of search results offered by typical search sites. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, eclassifieds are but one example of such time-sensitive content, any many other examples shall be readily apparent to one skilled in the relevant arts.  
         [0064]      FIG. 1B  schematically illustrates a network architecture  100  that may be used by embodiments of the invention. The network architecture  100  includes time-sensitive digital content  102 , a web surfer computer  104 , a format engine  106 , a push engine  108 , a monetization engine  110 , search engines  112  and  114 , and an eclassified website  116 , and an online newspaper website  118 , all coupled bi-directionally through a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet  120 .  
         [0065]     A advertiser through a variety of mechanisms may submit the time-sensitive digital content  100 , such as an eclassified. These input mechanisms include a form presented via a web interface, legacy eclassified advertisement production systems, and third party eclassified brokers. These input mechanisms are made available to the advertiser through the advertiser computer  104 . The data is then stored as digital content in any suitable format, and then made available over the web through a source such as the eclassified website  116  or the online newspaper website  118 . Typical formats for storing digital content in this context include plain text format as entered by the advertiser, such as ASCII, encoded markup languages such as HTML, and specialized encoding languages such as those used by eclassified providers and newspaper production systems.  
         [0066]     The format engine  106  is operable to convert the digital content, as input by the advertiser or as formatted by the eclassified provider/distributor, into a specified “push” format well suited for direct feeding, by XML feed for example, to search engines such as search engines  112  and  114 , in response to a search query by a web surfer.  
         [0067]     The push engine  108  operates on the push formatted digital content so that such content can be directly fed to search engines, such as search engines  106   108 , in response to search queries submitted on the search engine sites. The push engine  108  may be further operable to present the digital content to the search engines such that the digital content is featured prominently when certain search terms are presented to the search engine.  
         [0068]     The monetization engine  110  attends to any necessary accounting associated with the format and push processes. As will be appreciated, the service of formatting and pushing digital content into search engine indexes for prominent display can readily be monetized by any third party aggregator providing these services. Payment for these services may come directly from the advertiser. More likely, eclassified distributors (partner sites) will pay the third party for distribution of large blocks of eclassifieds, the cost of this being passed onto the advertiser indirectly either hidden in the basic advertising cost or as an extra feature. Third party aggregators will be described below in more detail with reference to  FIG. 6 .  
         [0069]     According to certain embodiments, a third party aggregator acts as an independent service provider implementing certain aspects of some embodiments on a global scale. One method for implementing a third party aggregator is described in more detail below with reference to  FIG. 6 . A third party aggregator would receive the eclassified data in any format used by the eclassified provider, attend to reformatting into a push format, push the digital content into the search engines, and attend to monetization of the transaction. With reference to  FIG. 1B , this includes the functionality of the format engine  106 , the push engine  108 , and the monetization engine  110 . In some embodiments, these three engines will be found on a single third party aggregator server  122  indicated by the hashed lines. Alternatively, these services could be distributed across the Internet  120 .  
         [0070]      FIG. 2  illustrates a flow chart of a method  200  for a third party aggregator to perform a push and format operation on digital content in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The third party aggregator may be implemented as an application instantiated on a server computer coupled to the Internet. Alternatively, portions of the third party aggregator may be distributed across various servers coupled directly or indirectly to the Internet. One possible set of processes for implementing a third party aggregator is described above with reference to  FIG. 1B .  
         [0071]     The method  200  begins in a step  202  where the third party aggregator receives a search query form an affiliate site. According to one embodiment, the search query is in the form of an XML feed. At step  204 , the third party aggregator checks the third party aggregator&#39;s internal database for search results that will satisfy the search query. If the third party aggregator does not find such search results, at step  206 , the third party aggregator then attempts to pull such content from partner sites.  
         [0072]     In a step  208 , the third party aggregator converts the digital content into the requested push format. The push format may take on a variety of forms. For example, certain embodiments contemplate generating title, description, and URL elements. The push format may include other elements such as IP address information element, and key word search element. The data found at the linking URL might provide a web page, a pop up window, or perhaps the URL indirects to the original source of the eclassified or some data. One method for generating push formatted eclassifieds is described below in more detail with reference to  FIG. 3 , and one data structure for use in push formatting is described below with reference to  FIG. 4 .  
         [0073]     In a step  210 , the third party aggregator pushes the formatted search results to the affiliate site that sent the search query to the third party aggregator. At this point the substantive portion of the transaction has been completed. In a step  212 , the third party aggregator monetizes the successfully completed transaction. Monetization may take on a variety of forms. For example, the third party aggregator may perform account management for revenue sharing in the event the web surfer clicks through to the ecclassied (in a PPC model). Alternatively, the third party aggregator may update a database for periodic billing, or update of a database for later accounting.  
         [0074]     After the monetization step  212 , the third party aggregator performs any necessary housekeeping functions. For example, in some embodiments usage statistics are maintained in a third party aggregator database. Additionally, a receipt and other transaction information may be transmitted to affiliates and partners.  
         [0075]     Turning next to  FIG. 3 , an eclassified conversion method  208  in accordance with one embodiment of the invention will now be described. The format conversion method  208  is one suitable embodiment for implementing the step  208  of  FIG. 2  when the digital content intended for push formatting is an eclassified file.  
         [0076]     A step  250  pulls a data file of eclassifieds in a format specified by the third party aggregator client. A step  252  determines the format of the eclassified data file in order to properly parse and format the file. A step  254  retrieves pertinent data from each eclassified present in the eclassified file. This data will include pricing, product or service, source of origin of the eclassified, contact data, etc. One suitable method for implementing step  254  is described below in more detail with reference to  FIG. 5 .  
         [0077]     Continuing with  FIG. 3 , a next step  256  places the retrieved pertinent data into the specified push format together with any supporting data structures, for each retrieved classified. One suitable push format is a data structure  260  as shown in  FIG. 4 , and described immediately below. One suitable method for implementing step  256  is described below in more detail with reference to  FIG. 6 . After step  256 , the method  208  is complete.  
         [0078]      FIG. 4  illustrates one suitable push format data structure  260 . The push format data structure  260  includes a title element  262 , a keyword element  263 , a description element  264 , a support URL element  266 , and a monetization URL element  268 . The title element  262  is for storing an eclassified title that would be meaningful to the web surfer. The keyword element  263  is for storing keywords stripped and/or generated from the eclassified. The description element  264  is for storing a narrative of the eclassified aimed at the web surfer. The support URL element  266  is for storing an indirection to a supporting data structure such as a pop up window or web page providing additional information regarding the eclassified, or may indirect directly to the eclassified web site provider. The monetization URL element  268  is for storing an indirection used for billing of an end search engine and potential intermediate search engines. As will be appreciated, data structures according to other embodiments may be arranged differently and have additional or fewer elements.  
         [0079]      FIG. 5  illustrates a flow chart of a method  254  for retrieving pertinent data from an eclassified file not yet placed into a push format. A step  268  retrieves a data record for a single eclassified add found in the eclassified file. A step  270  expands all keywords found in the data record. For example, many phrases in the eclassified context are typically represented through established acronyms such as OBO for “or best offer.” Expanding of these words renders the text more meaningful for later formatting. A next step  272  removes stop words (“a,” “the,” “if” etc.). A step  274  performs lexical expansion in a manner that will provide a more meaningful search later. For example, the term “car” may be expanded into the set “car, cars, auto, autos, automobile, automobiles” etc. A final step  276  retrieves pricing information. As will be appreciated, other information may be relevant depending upon the format and requirements of specific search engines. The data retrieval steps of  FIG. 5  simply provide one example from which the skilled artisan may readily extrapolate.  
         [0080]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart illustrating a method  256  for formatting the retrieved data into a push format in accordance with certain embodiments. A step  300  prepares a text title from the retrieved eclassified data. A step  302  prepares a text description from the retrieved eclassified data. A step  304  creates a supporting data structure for use with an eclassified data record made from the formatted and retrieved data. Possible data structures include a related pop up window and a web page. A step  306  then creates a data record  260  as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , with a URL  266  pointing to the supporting data structure.  
         [0081]     With reference to  FIGS. 7-8 , one particular example will now be provided.  FIG. 7  illustrates data found in an eclassified derived from a classified for a 1973 Pontiac originally found in a newspaper. Following the techniques described above, the keywords and data from  FIG. 7  are expanded into a data structure such as shown in  FIG. 8 .  FIG. 8  provides a wide variety of expressions for the underlying content of  FIG. 7 . As will be appreciated, this format allows for increasing the likelihood of this eclassified being present in a relevant way in a related search.  
         [0082]     In embodiments of the invention, the conversion engine may be resident on servers  104  remote from the user entering the text of the eclassified ad. In some such embodiments, the conversion engine is in communication with the user via a web browser linked to the servers operating the conversion engine via HTTP, or an equivalent networking protocol. As a non-limiting example, the engine may be triggered by a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) daemon engaged after receipt of user commands at a server remotely linked to the user. In alternative embodiments, the conversion engine may be a process at least partially resident on a terminal  102  employed by the user for entry of the text of the eclassified ad. By way of non-limiting example, the conversion engine may be at least partially contained as an executable on a web browser, such as a plug-in. Alternatively, the conversion engine may operate locally to the user, in the form of a scripting language such as JavaScript® of Sun Microsystems of Palo Alto, Calif.  
         [0083]     Upon conversion, the advertisement is encoded in a markup language in a specialized format. The markup language may include HTML, XML, SGML, or other markup language. The conversion engine may include separate customizations targeted to distinct search engines.  
         [0084]     Note that the algorithms and techniques described above are for illustrative purposes only, and many alternatives shall be apparent to those skilled in the art. In particular, those skilled in the art shall recognize that eclassifieds are but one example of time-sensitive content whose exposure can be maximized by the techniques described herein. The invention is equally applicable to any other sort of time sensitive content, illustrative, non-limiting examples of which include public notices, news articles, and myriad other examples that shall be apparent to those skilled in the art.