Patent ID: 8392256

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for selecting one or more targeted advertisements to be displayed along with a set of search results, wherein a computer system for implementing the method is programmed with an ad targeting module including a build campaign match sub-module, a choose best campaign sub-module and a choose advertisement sub-module, and includes a database storage system storing one or more campaigns each campaign being associated with a set of documents and at least one advertisement, the method comprising: (i) analyzing the search result set, using the build campaign match sub-module of the ad targeting module by determining, for each of the identified campaigns, a campaign intersection size score representing a percentage of a number of documents within the search results set corresponding with documents within each of the identified campaigns; and determining, for each of the identified campaigns, a results intersection size score representing a percentage of a number of documents within each of the campaigns corresponding with documents within the search results set to calculate at least one intersection score between the search result set and at least one of the one or more campaigns wherein the one or more campaigns comprise a listing of documents that represent the likely results for a search in an advertiser's area of interest; (ii) selecting a matching campaign from the one or more campaigns, using the choose best campaign sub-module, based on the at least one intersection score, and (iii) selecting at least one advertisement from the matching campaign, using the choose advertisement sub-module; and (iv) causing the at least one advertisement selected from the matching campaign to be displayed with the search result set.