Advertising systems, advertising methods, and advertising programs

Abstract

We propose appropriate keyword sets to clients who request the placement of search engine advertising. [Solution] The advertising system 1 is configured such that at least one processor executes multiple instructions to obtain a product identifier associated with a product, the product being identified by a client requesting the placement of search-linked advertisements; extracts a keyword set associated with the product identifier; obtains advertising performance data, the advertising performance data including data on advertisements set by other clients different from the client; determines an estimated advertising cost for the keyword set using the advertising performance data, the estimated advertising cost being an estimate of the advertising cost when bidding on search-linked advertisements; and presents a keyword list to the client, the keyword list including a keyword set and an estimated advertising cost for the keyword set.

Description

Technical Field

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[0001] The present disclosure relates to an advertising system, an advertising method, and an advertising program.

Background Art

[0002] As one of the services for posting advertisements on an advertising medium such as a web page, a search-linked advertisement is known. A search-linked advertisement posts an advertisement related to the keyword used in the search in an advertisement frame included in the search result screen.

[0003] On the other hand, a requester who requests the posting of a search-linked advertisement using an advertising service selects a keyword related to the product that is the target of the advertisement. Then, the requester sets an advertisement unit price, which is the bid value, for the selected keyword and conducts an advertisement bid. The advertisement to be posted in the advertisement frame is determined immediately by a method such as RTB (Real Time Bidding) (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, when conducting an advertisement bid for a search-linked advertisement, the requester sometimes has trouble selecting an appropriate keyword that fits their budget.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] This disclosure provides an advertising system that solves the above-mentioned problems. The advertising system comprises a memory for storing a plurality of instructions and at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor executes the plurality of instructions to obtain a product identifier associated with a product that is the target of a search advertisement, the product being specified by a client requesting the placement of the search advertisement; extract a keyword set associated with the product identifier; obtain advertising performance data, the advertising performance data including data relating to the advertisement set by advertisements from other clients different from the client; calculate an estimated ad bid price for the keyword set using the advertising performance data, the estimated ad bid price being an estimate of the ad bid price when bidding on the search advertisement; present a keyword list to the client, the keyword list including the keyword set and the estimated ad bid price for the keyword set; and receive bid data for the search advertisement from the client, the bid data including at least one bid word set selected by the client from the keyword list and the bid ad bid price for the bid word set.

[0007] This disclosure provides an advertising method that solves the above problems. The advertising method includes at least one processor obtaining a product identifier associated with a product that is the target of a search advertisement, wherein the product is identified by a client requesting the placement of the search advertisement; extracting a keyword set associated with the product identifier; obtaining advertising performance data, wherein the advertising performance data includes data relating to the advertisement set by advertisements of other clients different from the client; calculating an estimated ad bid price for the keyword set using the advertising performance data, wherein the estimated ad bid price is an estimate of the ad bid price when bidding on the search advertisement; presenting a keyword list to the client, wherein the keyword list includes the keyword set and the estimated ad bid price for the keyword set; and receiving bid data for the search advertisement from the client, wherein the bid data includes at least one bid word set selected by the client from the keyword list and the bid ad bid price for the bid word set.

[0008] This disclosure provides an advertising program that solves the above problems. The advertising program causes at least one processor to perform the following actions: obtain a product identifier associated with a product that is the target of a search advertisement, the product being identified by a client requesting the placement of the search advertisement; extract a keyword set associated with the product identifier; obtain advertising performance data, the advertising performance data including data on the advertisement set by an advertisement from another client different from the client; calculate an estimated ad bid for the keyword set using the advertising performance data, the estimated ad bid is an estimate of the ad bid when bidding on the search advertisement; present a keyword list to the client, the keyword list including the keyword set and the estimated ad bid for the keyword set; and receive bid data for the search advertisement from the client, the bid data including at least one bid word set selected by the client from the keyword list and the bid ad bid for the bid word set. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to this disclosure, it is possible to propose an appropriate keyword set to clients who request the placement of search-linked advertisements. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] This figure shows a schematic configuration of one embodiment of the advertising system disclosed herein. [Figure 2] This figure shows the hardware configuration of the information processing device of the same embodiment. [Figure 3] This figure shows an example of an advertising table in the same embodiment. [Figure 4] This figure shows an example of an advertising performance table for the same embodiment. [Figure 5] This figure shows an example of a keyword table for the same embodiment. [Figure 6]This figure shows an example of a guideline CPC table for the same embodiment. [Figure 7] This figure shows an example of a product table in the same embodiment. [Figure 8] This is a flowchart illustrating the procedure for proposing a guideline CPC for the same embodiment. [Figure 9] This is a conceptual diagram showing the process for calculating the estimated CPC in the same embodiment. [Figure 10] This figure shows an example of the settings screen for the same embodiment. [Figure 11] This figure shows an example of the search results screen of the same embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] This disclosure describes embodiments of the advertising system, advertising method, and advertising program. This disclosure is not limited to embodiments and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims, as shown in the claims.

[0012] [Overview of the e-commerce system] Figure 1 shows an example of an e-commerce system 1. The e-commerce system 1 provides services related to an online shopping mall with multiple stores. The e-commerce system 1 includes an advertising system 10, a client terminal 11, a user terminal 12, and a search server 13. These are configured to send and receive data from each other via a network 16.

[0013] The e-commerce system 1 provides advertising services to e-commerce businesses operating stores in online shopping malls through the advertising system 10. E-commerce businesses that request advertising placement using this advertising service are referred to as "clients" below. Advertisements successfully bid on through the advertising service are displayed on the online shopping mall's web pages.

[0014] Advertising system 10 provides a search-linked advertising service as one of its advertising services. Search-linked advertising is an advertisement selected according to a search word set or its display method. The search word set is a set of words entered by a user who uses an online shopping mall on a website such as a search site. The search word set includes at least one word (also referred to as a token). The search-linked advertisement is displayed on the search result screen.

[0015] In addition, the performance of the advertisement displayed on the search result screen is recorded as advertisement performance together with an advertisement index value indicating the search word set and advertisement performance. Advertisement performance refers to the results obtained by the advertisement. The advertisement index value is a quantification of the results. For example, the advertisement index value is the click-through rate (CTR: Click Through Rate). The click-through rate is the advertisement selection rate at which a user who views a search-linked advertisement selects the search-linked advertisement. The recorded advertisement performance is used when selecting subsequent search-linked advertisements.

[0016] Advertising system 10 further includes an e-commerce server 14 and an advertising server 15. Hereinafter, e-commerce server 14 is referred to as EC server 14. (EC server) EC server 14 includes a store database 20 and a user database 21. Store database 20 and user database 21 are described as store DB20 and user DB21 hereinafter. For example, store DB20 and user DB21 are composed of a database main body in which data is recorded and a DBMS (Database Management System) that manages the data. The same applies to each database described later.

[0017] The store DB20 stores tables related to the products handled by the store and the sales of the products. For example, the store DB20 stores a store table 45 and a product table 44. In addition, the store DB20 may store a table related to advertisements previously posted by the store operator.

[0018] User DB21 contains a user table 46, a search history table 47, and an activity history table 48. User table 46 stores management data for each user, including at least one of the following: gender, age, date of birth, place of origin, place of residence, name, and occupation. Search history table 47 may also store search history records for each user. Activity history table 48 may also store browsing history records and purchase history records for each user. Search history records include the set of search words used by the user and the search date and time. Browsing history records may include the URLs of the web pages viewed by the user. Purchase history records include identifiers of products purchased by the user from an online shopping mall.

[0019] The EC server 14 performs various processes using the store database 20 and user database 21 based on requests sent from the requester terminal 11, user terminal 12, and advertising server 15. Specifically, the EC server 14 performs processes for managing the user database 21 and store database 20, and other processes related to product management in the online shopping mall. For example, the EC server 14 performs the process of registering products to be sold in the online shopping mall based on a request from the requester terminal 11.

[0020] Furthermore, the EC server 14 sends web data to display various screens in response to requests from the user terminal 12. For example, the web data is written in a markup language such as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). Also, for example, the web data uses CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and JavaScript (registered trademark). Web data that displays advertisements has advertising tags embedded in it. The advertising tags are written in HTML, for example, and are tags used to measure advertising performance. In addition, advertising content selected by the advertising server 15 is displayed in the advertising slots of the web data. The advertising content is either an image or a video. For example, the web data is for displaying the top screen of the online shopping mall, the search screen for searching for products, the search results screen, and the screen displaying information about the user.

[0021] Furthermore, the EC server 14 handles payment processing when a product is purchased. For example, a product is an item to which a manufacturer's product number, such as a JAN code, is assigned. As long as the product can be identified, the product may also be a financial product, an insurance product, or a service such as a mobile phone or other communication service.

[0022] (Ad server) The advertising server 15 includes an advertising database 22. The advertising database 22 will be referred to as advertising DB22 below. Based on requests sent from the client terminal 11, user terminal 12, and EC server 14, the advertising server 15 performs various processes using advertising DB22. Specifically, the advertising server 15 performs processes such as accepting bids for search-linked advertisements, selecting (winning bids for) search-linked advertisements, recording advertising performance, and calculating estimated CPC.

[0023] For example, the advertising server 15 sends web data to the client terminal 11 to display various screens in response to a request from the client terminal 11. The advertising server 15 also buys and sells advertising space to the client. Specifically, the advertising server 15 accepts bids for advertisements based on the bid data sent by the client terminal 11. The bid data includes the bid price per advertisement.

[0024] Furthermore, if the client specifies search advertising, the client terminal 11 includes the bid word set in the bid data. The bid word set is a word set that the client sets when bidding, and is a word set related to the advertisement being bid on. The bid word set contains at least one word.

[0025] The ad server 15 selects one ad from among the bidders for a given ad slot based on the bidding data. The ad server 15 then displays the selected ad on the user terminal 12. The ad server 15 also records the advertising performance.

[0026] If the client has specified search advertising, the ad server 15 proposes an estimated ad price to the client based on advertising performance. In the following, the ad price set by the client will be referred to as the cost per click (CPC), and the estimated ad price will be referred to as the "estimated CPC." CPC is the amount that the client pays to the advertising service provider each time an ad is clicked by a user. The higher the CPC, the higher the amount the client pays for each click. On the other hand, the higher the CPC, the higher the probability that the ad will be displayed on the user's device 12.

[0027] (Search server) The search server 13 includes an index 23 and a crawler 24. The crawler 24 automatically searches for web pages on the internet. The crawler 24 stores newly discovered web pages in the index 23 for the search engine. The index 23 stores data about the web pages collected by the crawler 24 in reverse index format. The index 23 has a data structure that includes keywords for referring to documents in which a word appears, a list of identifiers for documents in which the word appears, and a posting list that stores the location of the word's appearance within the documents.

[0028] The search server 13 analyzes the search query by executing a search program and generates a search word set. The search word set contains at least one word (also called a token). The search server 13 also uses the index 23 to search for web pages that contain keywords related to the search word set entered by the user. The search server 13 ranks the detected web pages and narrows down the search to web pages closely related to the search word set. The search engine then sends the web data, including snippets of the ranked web pages, to the user terminal 12 via the EC server 14, or directly to the user terminal 12.

[0029] (User terminal) User terminal 12 is a device used by users of an online shopping mall. An example of user terminal 12 is a smartphone (multifunction telephone) or a personal computer. Other examples of user terminal 12 include a tablet device, a wearable computer, or any other user terminal. User terminal 12 may be a standalone device or a combination of multiple devices connected to each other in a manner that enables them to send and receive various types of data.

[0030] (Client terminal) The client terminal 11 is a device used by the client requesting the placement of an advertisement. An example of the client terminal 11 is a smartphone or a personal computer. Other examples of the client terminal 11 include a tablet device, a wearable computer, or any other device.

[0031] (Hardware configuration) Referring to Figure 2, the hardware configurations of the client terminal 11, user terminal 12, EC server 14, advertising server 15, and search server 13 will be described. Since these hardware configurations are almost identical, the hardware configuration of the advertising server 15 will be described below.

[0032] The advertising server 15 includes a processor 30, memory 31, and a communication interface 32. The advertising server 15 may also include an input device 33 and an output device 34. The client terminal 11 and user terminal 12 are equipped with the input device 33 and the output device 34, but the EC server 14, advertising server 15, and search server 13 may be configured without these.

[0033] The processor 30 is a processor that performs one or more of the control processes disclosed herein. The processor 30 is at least one processing circuit. For example, the processor 30 is a CPU, GPU, NPU, etc. The processor 30 is not limited to performing software processing for all of the processing it performs. For example, the processor 30 may have dedicated hardware circuits (e.g., application-specific integrated circuits: ASICs) that perform hardware processing for at least a portion of the processing it performs. That is, the processor 30 is a circuit that includes one or more processors that operate according to a computer program (software), one or more dedicated hardware circuits that perform at least a portion of the various processing, or a combination thereof.

[0034] Memory 31 stores various programs. Each program contains at least one instruction. Memory 31 consists of, for example, main memory and auxiliary memory. Examples of memory 31 include ROM, RAM, and hard disks. Memory 31 includes any available recording medium that can be accessed by a general-purpose or dedicated computer. Memory 31 is connected to the processor 30 via bus 36.

[0035] The advertising program is stored in the memory 31 of the advertising server 15. The memory 31 of the user terminal 12 and the memory 31 of the client terminal 11 store programs for hybrid applications that enable a web browser or an in-app browser. For example, the processor 30 retrieves a web page written in a markup language and displays the web page using a web browser.

[0036] The communication interface 32 is an interface that establishes a communication path with other devices via the network 16 and performs data transmission and reception. The communication interface 32 consists of hardware, software, or a combination thereof.

[0037] Network 16 may include the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network). Network 16 may also include a core network and multiple base stations. Network 16 is a third-generation communication system such as W-CDMA or CDMA2000, LTE, a fourth-generation communication system, or a fifth-generation communication system.

[0038] The input device 33 includes a touch panel, keyboard, mouse, and operation buttons provided on the casing. The output device 34 consists of at least one device. An example of the output device 34 is a display device 35. The display device is a device capable of displaying a screen, such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display. The processor 30 is connected to the display device 35 via a display controller. In addition to the display device, the output device 34 may also include a microphone and a speaker.

[0039] [Data structure] Next, we will explain the structure of the data stored by the advertising server 15 and the structure of the data stored by the EC server 14. The advertising database 22 stores the advertising table 40, the advertising performance table 41, the keyword table 42, and the estimated cost per click table 43.

[0040] Figure 3 shows an example of an ad table 40. The ad table 40 contains multiple ad records 40A. An ad record 40A is generated each time a client bids on an ad. Ads based on ad records 40A are continuously bid on over the ad period set by the client or the ad service provider. An ad record 40A includes an ad identifier, client identifier, product identifier, bid word set, cost per click (CPC), and sales value.

[0041] The ad identifier is an identifier generated for each ad bid. The client identifier is the identifier of the client who bid on the ad. The product identifier is the identifier of the product in the ad being bid on. For example, if you bid on the same product in different stores, the same product identifier will be recorded. Products sold in a single store are uniquely identified by a "product management number," which is a combination of the "client identifier" and the "product identifier."

[0042] The bid word set is set when the client specifies search advertising. The ad price is CPC, as mentioned above, and is set by the client. In the following, the CPC set at the time of bidding will be referred to as the bid CPC. The sales value is the sales amount of the product by the client's store within a specified period.

[0043] Sales figures do not need to be included in ad record 40A as long as they are included in the store DB20 record. Ad record 40A may also include data such as the number of units sold and profit margin, either in place of or in addition to sales figures. Furthermore, ad record 40A may include other data, such as the desired advertising period and budget.

[0044] Figure 4 shows an example of an advertising performance table 41. The advertising performance table 41 contains multiple advertising performance records 41A. An advertising performance record 41A is created for each advertisement placed on a web page. Each advertising performance record 41A is linked to an advertising record 40A, and each time an advertisement corresponding to advertising record 40A is placed, the advertising performance record 41A is updated.

[0045] The advertising performance record 41A includes the advertising identifier, client identifier, product identifier, actual ad bid, advertising metrics, and sales value. The advertising metrics include impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and conversion rate (CVR).

[0046] The ad identifier, client identifier, and product identifier correspond to the ad identifier, client identifier, and product identifier of ad record 40A. The actual ad cost is the CPC set for the displayed ad. Hereafter, this CPC will be referred to as the actual CPC. The click-through rate is calculated, for example, by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions. The conversion rate is the percentage of users who achieved the final outcome desired by the client. For example, the conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the number of visits to the website where the ad was displayed. For example, the final outcome may be a product purchase, application, or request for information.

[0047] In addition to the metrics mentioned above, advertising metrics may include at least one of the following: clicks, conversions, and CPA (Cost Per Action / Acquisition). CPA is the cost incurred when a user takes a specific action in response to an advertisement, and may be calculated, for example, by dividing CPC by CVR. Furthermore, advertising performance record 41A may include CPV in place of or in addition to CPC. CPV is the revenue or cost when the video content, which is the advertising content, is viewed.

[0048] Figure 5 shows an example of a keyword table 42. The keyword table 42 is generated using the advertising performance table 41. The keyword table 42 contains a keyword record 42A for each product identifier. Each keyword record 42A contains a candidate word set, actual advertising cost, and client identifier for each product identifier.

[0049] The candidate word sets serve as candidates for the bidding word sets used by the client when placing bids. The candidate word sets are obtained using publicly known methods. For example, the ad server 15 extracts web pages associated with product identifiers and obtains the word sets displayed on the screens of the extracted web pages. This process is performed regardless of whether the web pages belong to the client's store or to other stores. The ad server 15 may also identify word sets that share common characteristics with the obtained word sets and designate those word sets as candidate word sets.

[0050] For example, the ad server 15 may identify words belonging to the same or similar classification as the words included in the word set obtained from the web page, and designate the word set containing those words as a candidate word set. The classification is the classification to which the product belongs, and can also be rephrased as a category or type.

[0051] Alternatively, the ad server 15 may identify words that are highly similar to words included in a word set obtained from a web page, and use that word set as a candidate word set. The similarity between words may be determined by converting the words into numerical vectors and using the distance or angle between the vectors.

[0052] The client identifier is the identifier of the client who used the candidate word set as their bid word set.

[0053] Figure 6 shows an example of the estimated unit price table 43. The estimated unit price table 43 stores an estimated unit price record 43A for each combination of client identifier and product identifier. The estimated unit price record 43A includes the candidate word set and the estimated CPC, which is the estimated advertising cost. Since the estimated CPC is set according to the client, the estimated CPC may differ even with the same candidate word set if the client identifier is different. The advertising server 15 may update the past estimated unit price record 43A with the latest estimated unit price record 43A each time it receives a bid request from the client terminal 11.

[0054] Figure 7 shows the product table 44. The product table 44 is stored in the store DB 20 of the EC server 14. The product table 44 stores product records 44A for each store and product. Each product record 44A includes the client identifier, product identifier, unit price, number of units sold, product name, and sales value. The unit price is the price at which the store sold the product. The number of units sold is the number of units the store sold within a specified period. The product name is the name the store used when selling the product. The sales value indicates the sales amount the store made from selling the product within a specified period. The sales value is linked to the sales value in the advertising record 40A and the sales value in the advertising performance record 41A. When the sales value in the product table 44 is updated, the advertising record 40A and the advertising performance record 41A are also updated. Note that the numerical values ​​listed in the tables in Figures 3 to 7 are merely examples and do not limit this disclosure.

[0055] [Procedure for proposing estimated advertising rates] This section describes the procedure by which the ad server 15 proposes combinations of candidate word sets and estimated ad costs to the client. (Selection of search engine advertising) First, let's explain the procedure for selecting search engine advertising, which is a prerequisite.

[0056] For example, an online shopping mall webpage has a search box (see Figure 11). User terminal 12 sends the search word set entered by the user into the search box to the search server 13. User terminal 12 also sends an advertisement request and the search word set to the advertisement server 15.

[0057] The ad server 15 receives the ad request and the search word set. The user terminal 12 may also send the ad request and the search word set to the search server 13. The search server 13 may send the results of its analysis of the search word set to the ad server 15.

[0058] The ad server 15 extracts at least one ad record 40A from the ad database 22 that partially or completely matches the search word set. The ad server 15 then determines whether the CPC included in each ad record 40A exceeds the floor price (base price) set for the ad medium. Furthermore, the ad server 15 selects an ad record 40A from among the ad records 40A that exceed the floor price according to predetermined criteria. The ad server 15 then sends data containing the ad content corresponding to the ad record 40A to the user terminal 12. The user terminal 12 displays the ad content on the search results screen, which is a web page.

[0059] The criteria for selecting advertisements are explained below. The advertisement server 15 extracts the corresponding advertisement performance record 41A for each advertisement record 40A. The advertisement server 15 also obtains the advertisement metric values ​​and sales values ​​contained in the extracted advertisement performance records 41A. If the advertisement performance record 41A includes a coefficient such as profit margin, the value obtained by multiplying the sales value by the coefficient may be used.

[0060] The ad server 15 then selects ads with the highest selection values, which reflect the ad revenue component calculated as "(bid CPC) × (ad metric value)" and the sales component based on sales value. Selecting ads with the highest selection values ​​means that, for the client, ads appropriate to the bid amount are being selected. For the ad service provider providing the ad service, it means that ads that maximize profits are selected, generating revenue from both ad fees and e-commerce product sales. For example, the selection value is the sum of the ad revenue component and the sales component. One example of a selection value is the sum of "(bid CPC) × (click-through rate) × α" and "(sales value) × β". For example, "β" is the profit margin. "α" is a coefficient used to match the number of digits in the ad revenue component to that of the sales component. A "high" selection value does not necessarily mean the highest selection value. The ad server 15 may select the ad with the highest selection value, or it may select the ad with the second highest selection value.

[0061] (Proposed procedure) Referring to Figure 8, the procedure by which the advertising server 15 calculates the target CPC and proposes it to the client will be explained.

[0062] The client terminal 11 logs in to the advertising server 15 using the client identifier. The advertising server 15 sends web data to the client terminal 11 to display the bidding screen, in response to the client terminal 11's request. The client terminal 11 displays the bidding screen on the display device 35 using the web data.

[0063] The ad server 15 obtains the product identifier of the product to be advertised (step S1). Specifically, the client enters the product identifier into the bidding screen. The client terminal 11 sends the entered product identifier to the ad server 15.

[0064] The ad server 15 obtains a candidate word set (step S2). Specifically, the ad server 15 searches the keyword table 42 and extracts at least one keyword record 42A associated with the same identifier as the obtained product identifier. Then, the ad server 15 obtains a candidate word set from the extracted keyword record 42A. Note that the generation of the keyword record 42A described above may occur when the product identifier is entered in step S1, or when the product record 44A is generated; the timing is not specified.

[0065] The ad server 15 also selects a set of candidate words based on the conditions (step S3). For example, the condition is that the click-through rate (CTR), which is the action rate of users who viewed the search ads, is above a certain threshold during a predetermined period. Alternatively, the condition may be that the number of actions, such as clicks or purchases, is above a certain threshold.

[0066] The ad server 15 calculates an estimated CPC for each candidate word set selected in step S3 (step S4). The method for calculating the estimated CPC will be described later. The ad server 15 extracts candidate word sets whose target CPC is below a predetermined value (step S5). In other words, it extracts candidate word sets whose target CPC is not too high. The ad server 15 stores the extracted word sets in the ad DB 22 as keyword table 42.

[0067] The ad server 15 sorts the candidate word sets according to predetermined criteria (step S6). For example, the ad server 15 sorts the candidate word sets in descending order of the number of user searches. Alternatively, the ad server 15 may sort the keyword sets in descending order of the target CPC (cost per click).

[0068] The advertising server 15 sends web data containing a sorted list of candidate words to the client terminal 11 (step S7). The client terminal 11 displays a settings screen based on the received web data on the display device 35, presenting the candidate word set and estimated CPC to the client.

[0069] The client selects one or more combinations of candidate word sets and estimated CPCs displayed on the settings screen as the bidding word set and CPC for bidding. Here, the client can either use the displayed estimated CPC as the bidding CPC, or directly input a CPC they have set themselves. When the client terminal 11 receives an operation to set a combination of bidding word set and bidding CPC on the settings screen, it sends the accepted bidding word set and bidding CPC as bidding data to the advertising server 15 along with the product identifier and client identifier.

[0070] When the ad server 15 receives bid data, it generates an ad record 40A. At this time, the ad server 15 retrieves the sales value of the corresponding product from the store DB 20 based on the product identifier and client identifier received along with the bid data. The ad record 40A is stored in the ad DB 22. Then, as described above, the ad server 15 uses the ad record 40A to select the advertisements to be displayed on the web page at a predetermined time.

[0071] [Procedure for calculating the estimated CPC] Referring to Figure 9, the procedure for calculating the guideline CPC in this disclosure will be explained. The advertising server 15 obtains advertising performance P1 and sales performance SL1 (step S20). Figure 9 shows an example where the advertising server 15 bids on an advertisement targeting product 100, with the client operating store A.

[0072] Specifically, the ad server 15 retrieves an ad performance record 41A from the ad DB 22, which includes the client identifier for "Store A" and the product identifier for product 100. The ad server 15 then uses the ad performance metrics and sales values ​​included in the ad performance record 41A as ad performance P1 and sales performance SL1, respectively. For example, the ad performance metrics are click-through rates. Sales performance SL1 may include, in place of or in addition to the sales value, at least one of the number of units sold and the unit price of the product.

[0073] For products whose product identifier is not included in the advertising DB22, advertising record 40A and advertising performance record 41A are not stored. In such cases, it is not necessary to calculate the target CPC. Alternatively, the client performance Ps may be generated using the advertising metric values ​​and sales values ​​for the product from other clients' advertising records 40A and advertising performance record 41A. Alternatively, the advertising records 40A and advertising performance record 41A from multiple other clients may be obtained, the average or median of the advertising metric values ​​and the average or median of the sales values ​​for the product may be calculated, and these average or median values ​​may be used as the client performance Ps.

[0074] The ad server 15 also obtains performance data from other clients, including performance CPC, performance P2, and sales performance SL2 (step S21). Performance CPC is the cost per click when the search ad is displayed. Performance P2 is a value that indicates the performance of the search ad when it is displayed. Sales performance SL2 is data related to the sales of the product for which the search ad was displayed.

[0075] Specifically, the ad server 15 refers to the keyword record 42A extracted in step S2 to obtain the client identifier associated with the candidate word set. Figure 9 shows an example in which the ad server 15 obtains the client identifier of another client that operates "Store B". The ad server 15 may also obtain advertising performance data from clients other than the client bidding on the advertisement.

[0076] Furthermore, the advertising server 15 retrieves advertising performance record 41A from the advertising performance table 41, which contains the client identifier for "Store B" and the product identifier for the same product 100. The advertising server 15 then retrieves the actual CPC contained in the retrieved advertising performance record 41A. The advertising server 15 also retrieves the advertising metric values ​​contained in the retrieved advertising performance record 41A. The advertising server 15 also retrieves the sales values ​​contained in the retrieved advertising performance record 41A.

[0077] Then, the ad server 15 calculates an estimated CPC using the data obtained in steps S20 and S21 (step S23). Specifically, the ad server 15 calculates the ratio Rp(P2 / P1) of the advertising performance P1 and P2, and the ratio Rs(SL2 / SL1) of the sales performance SL1 and SL2. Then, the ad server 15 multiplies the actual CPC by the ratios Rp and Rs to obtain an estimated CPC (estimated CPC = actual CPC × Rp × Rs).

[0078] In other words, the CPC (cost per click) of other clients' ads can serve as a guideline when a client tries to set the same keywords. Also, a higher bid CPC increases the probability of the ad being displayed. However, if a high bid CPC is set, the bids at that CPC will be automatically repeated, which may result in the budget allocated for the advertising period being consumed faster than expected, potentially leading to a lower frequency of bids within the advertising period. Therefore, it is desirable for clients to set a bid CPC that is not too high and does not significantly reduce the frequency of bids.

[0079] Furthermore, as mentioned above, search ads placed in ad slots are selected based on advertising revenue and sales factors. Therefore, even if a client sets a bid CPC (Cost Per Click) equal to the actual CPC, the ad is not guaranteed to be selected. Accordingly, by calculating the target CPC in the same way as when selecting search ads, reflecting advertising revenue and sales factors, clients can set an appropriate bid CPC for their candidate word sets.

[0080] [Screen on the client's device] Referring to Figures 10 and 11, the screens displayed on the client terminal 11 based on web data will be explained.

[0081] Figure 10 shows the settings screen 50. The settings screen 50 is displayed after the client enters the product identifier on the bidding screen. The settings screen 50 includes GUI elements: a keyword input section 51, a CPC input section 52, and a first registration section 53. When a bid word set is entered in the keyword input section 51 and a bid CPC is entered in the CPC input section 52, and the first registration section 53 is operated, the client terminal 11 sends the bid data to the advertising server 15.

[0082] The settings screen 50 includes the bid list 54. The bid list 54 displays combinations of bid word sets (indicated as "keywords" in Figure 10), bid CPC (indicated as "CPC" in Figure 10), and target CPC that the client has already bid on. The target CPC is constantly updated, so the client can change their bid CPC by referring to the target CPC. Alternatively, the client can delete a registered bid word set by selecting the delete selection section 58.

[0083] The settings screen 50 includes a candidate list 55 as a keyword list. The candidate list 55 includes multiple combinations of candidate word sets (labeled "keywords" in Figure 10), CPC, and target CPC. Figure 10 shows the state where no CPC bid amount has been set. In addition, the bid CPC can be entered directly by selecting the CPC column in the list. The client terminal 11 sends the directly entered bid CPC to the advertising server 15.

[0084] Furthermore, the candidate list 55 is accompanied by a second registration unit 56. By operating the second registration unit 56, it is possible to bid on all candidate word sets displayed in the candidate list 55 and selected by checkboxes at the displayed estimated CPC. When the client terminal 11 receives an operation from the second registration unit 56, it sends the combination of candidate word sets and estimated CPCs to the advertising server 15, or sends a request to the advertising server 15 to register the candidate word sets in the candidate list 55 at the estimated CPCs.

[0085] Furthermore, the candidate list 55 is accompanied by a GUI element, the filter unit 57. By operating the filter unit 57, a screen (not shown) is displayed for entering the upper limit of CPC. By entering the upper limit of CPC on this screen, candidate word sets that exceed the upper limit are hidden from the candidate list 55, and only candidate word sets below the upper limit are displayed.

[0086] [User terminal screen] Figure 11 shows an example of a search results screen 60 displayed on a user terminal 12. The search results screen 60 is the screen displayed after entering a search word set in the search box 61 and performing a search. The search results screen 60 includes a first display area 63 displaying search-linked advertisements 62 and a second display area 64 displaying search results. The search-linked advertisements 62 are advertising content related to the search word set. The second display area 64 displays advertising content 65 and snippets 66 found using organic search algorithms other than advertising algorithms.

[0087] [Effects of this disclosure] According to this disclosure, the following effects can be achieved. (1) According to the above embodiment, the combination of keyword set and estimated CPC is displayed on the settings screen 50, so that an appropriate keyword set can be suggested to a client who requests the placement of search-linked advertisements.

[0088] (2) According to the above embodiment, the target CPC is calculated by multiplying the ratio of the advertising performance P2 of other clients who placed search ads to the client's advertising performance P1 by the actual CPC. This makes it easier for the client's search ads to be displayed in the ad slots.

[0089] (3) According to the above embodiment, the advertising performance P2 and sales performance SL2 of the same product 100 sold by other clients are used as the target CPC for the product 100 to be bid on, so that an appropriate target CPC can be calculated according to the characteristics of the product.

[0090] (4) According to the above embodiment, the candidate list 55 includes a set of candidate words that satisfies at least one of the following conditions: the user action rate is above a certain threshold, and the number of actions is above a certain threshold. This makes it possible to propose a set of candidate words that is expected to have high performance.

[0091] (5) According to the above embodiment, the candidate list 55 includes a target CPC that is below the upper limit set by the client, and a set of candidate words to which that CPC is set. Therefore, it is possible to propose a set of candidate words to which a target CPC that is not too high is set.

[0092] (6) According to the above embodiment, the candidate list 55 is sorted by keyword set in order of highest or lowest target CPC. Therefore, it is easy for the client to select a candidate word set.

[0093] (7) According to the above embodiment, the candidate list 55 may be sorted in descending order of the number of searches for the corresponding candidate word set. This makes it easier for the client to select a candidate word set.

[0094] (8) According to the above embodiment, in the candidate list 55, it is possible to accept multiple candidate word sets selected by the client from the candidate list 55 based on the client's specifications, along with the estimated CPC for each of the candidate word sets, all at once. This improves the convenience of bidding on search advertising.

[0095] (9) According to the above embodiment, the advertising performance data of other clients includes values ​​indicating the performance of search advertising and values ​​indicating product sales. In other words, when an advertisement is successfully bid on, data on sales in addition to advertising performance is taken into consideration, and by using these in the calculation of the target CPC, an appropriate target CPC that suits the client can be calculated.

[0096] (10) According to the above embodiment, the value indicating the performance of the search ad includes the click-through rate, which is the ad selection rate at which the search ad was selected. Therefore, an appropriate benchmark CPC can be calculated.

[0097] (11) According to the above embodiment, the ad server 15 obtains the bid word set and the advertising performance of the search ads for which each of the bid word sets is set, and generates an advertising performance record 41A. In other words, the advertising performance of ads bid on with reference to the target CPC is also repeatedly fed back into the advertising performance record 41A, so that the accuracy of the target CPC proposed to the client can be improved.

[0098] [Example of changes] This embodiment can be implemented with the following modifications. This embodiment and the following modifications can be combined with each other to the extent that they do not contradict each other technically.

[0099] <Information Processing System> [Example of change 1] In the above embodiment, the advertising cost was described as CPC. Alternatively, or in addition to this, other metrics such as CPA (Cost Per Action, or Cost Per Acquisition), which is the cost required to acquire one conversion, or CPM (Cost Per Mille), which is the cost per 1,000 ad impressions, may be used as the advertising cost.

[0100] [Example of change 2] In the above embodiment, the advertising server 15 performs processes to calculate a target CPC, accept bids for search-linked advertisements, select (win) search-linked advertisements, and record advertising performance. The e-commerce server 14 performs processes to manage the user DB 21 related to users of the online shopping mall, the store DB 20 related to products, and other processes related to product management in the online shopping mall, as well as executing web server processes to manage the web data of the screen displayed on the user terminal 12. The search server 13 performs search processing using the search word set entered by the user.

[0101] The advertising server 15 only needs to be able to perform the process of calculating the target CPC, and other processes may be performed by other servers. In addition, the advertising server 15 may be configured to perform the processes that the EC server 14 and the search server 13 perform in the above embodiment.

[0102] For example, the search server 13 may perform processes to select search-linked advertisements and record advertising performance. Alternatively, the advertising server 15 may perform search processing using a set of search words.

[0103] Furthermore, the store database 20, user database 21, and advertising database 22 are stored in each server 13-15 according to the processing performed by each server 13-15. For example, the EC server 14 or the search server 13 may have an advertising database 22. Alternatively, the advertising server 15 may have a store database 20 and a user database 21.

[0104] [Example of change 3] In the above embodiment, the advertising system 10 is part of the e-commerce system 1 that provides online shopping mall services. Alternatively, the information processing system including the advertising system 10 may provide services other than online shopping mall services. For example, the information processing system may be a system that provides search services and is not necessarily a system that sells products.

[0105] The embodiments and modifications described above are listed below. [A1] Memory for storing multiple instructions, Equipped with at least one processor, The at least one processor executes the plurality of instructions, Obtaining a product identifier associated with a product that is the target of search advertising, wherein the product is identified by the client requesting the placement of the search advertising. Extracting a set of candidate words associated with the aforementioned product identifier, The acquisition of advertising performance data, wherein the advertising performance data includes data relating to the advertisement set by an advertisement of a different client than the said client. The estimated ad price for the aforementioned candidate word set is calculated using the aforementioned advertising performance data, and the estimated ad price is a guideline for the ad price when bidding on the aforementioned search advertising. Presenting a list of candidates to the client, wherein the list of candidates includes the candidate word set and the estimated advertising cost for the candidate word set. An advertising system configured to receive bid data for search-linked advertisements from the aforementioned client, wherein the bid data includes at least one set of bid words selected by the client from the candidate list, and the bid price for the bid word set. [A2] Calculating the above-mentioned estimated advertising unit price is The aforementioned advertising performance data includes obtaining actual advertising unit price, reference advertising performance, and reference sales performance, wherein the actual advertising unit price is the advertising unit price when the search-linked advertisement was placed at the request of the other client, the reference advertising performance is a value indicating the performance of the search-linked advertisement when it was placed at the request of the other client, and the reference sales performance is the sales performance of the other client for which the advertisement was placed. To obtain the advertising and sales performance of the aforementioned client, The advertising system according to [A1], which includes calculating the estimated advertising unit price by multiplying the aforementioned actual advertising unit price by the ratio of the aforementioned reference advertising performance to the aforementioned advertising performance and the ratio of the aforementioned reference sales performance to the aforementioned sales performance. [A3] The products that the client requests to be placed in the search-linked advertisement can be identified as products handled by the client based on the product identifier and the client identifier assigned to the client, The advertising system described in [A2], wherein the aforementioned actual advertising unit price, the aforementioned reference advertising performance, and the aforementioned reference sales performance are data relating to the advertising or data relating to the product for which the product identifier is the same. [A4] The aforementioned set of candidate words presented to the client is a set of words selected based on the conditions, The aforementioned conditions are, An advertising system according to any one of items [A1] to [A3], which includes at least one of the following: the action rate of users who viewed the search ads associated with the candidate word set is above a certain threshold, and the number of actions taken by users who viewed the search ads associated with the candidate word set is above a certain threshold. [A5] The advertising system described in any one of [A1] to [A4], wherein the candidate list includes the guideline advertising unit price which is less than or equal to the upper limit set by the client, and the candidate word set for which the guideline advertising unit price is set. [A6] The advertising system described in any one of [A1] to [A5], wherein the candidate list is sorted in descending order of the estimated advertising cost, either from highest to lowest or from lowest to highest. [A7] The advertising system described in any one of [A1] to [A6], wherein the candidate list is sorted in descending order of the number of searches for the corresponding candidate word set. [A8] The advertising system described in any one of [A1] to [A7], wherein accepting the bid data means accepting, in a lump sum, multiple candidate word sets selected by the client from the candidate list based on the client's specifications, and the estimated advertising unit price for each of the candidate word sets. [A9] The aforementioned reference advertising performance includes the advertising system described in [A2], which includes the ad selection rate of users who viewed the search ads and selected those search ads. [A10] The memory mentioned above stores a keyword database, The aforementioned at least one processor further, Obtain the advertising performance values ​​of the search ads for which each of the aforementioned bid word sets has been set, The process involves generating multiple records to be added to the keyword database, wherein each record includes one acquired bid word set, a product identifier corresponding to the one bid keyword set, and the advertising performance value of the advertisement for which the one bid keyword set is set. An advertising system described in any one of items [A1] to [A9], configured to perform the following: [A11] The memory mentioned above stores a keyword database, The aforementioned at least one processor further, Obtaining the aforementioned candidate word set associated with the aforementioned product identifier from the e-commerce server, The process involves generating multiple records to be added to the keyword database, wherein each record includes the acquired candidate word set 1 and the product identifier corresponding to the candidate keyword 1. An advertising system described in any one of items [A1] to [A10], configured to perform the following: [A12] The aforementioned client is an e-commerce business operator that has registered the aforementioned products it handles on an e-commerce server, The aforementioned search-linked advertisement is an advertising system described in any one of items [A1] to [A11] that is displayed on the screen provided by the e-commerce server. [A13] The at least one processor further, Obtaining the set of search terms entered by the user into the search site, Based on the aforementioned search word set and the aforementioned bidding data, select advertisements to be placed on the advertising media, Displaying the selected advertisement as a search-linked advertisement on the advertising medium, An advertising system described in any one of [A1] to [A12], configured to perform the following: [Explanation of Symbols]

[0106] 1… Information processing system 10… Advertising System 15…Ad server

Claims

1. Memory that stores multiple instructions, It comprises at least one processor, The at least one processor executes the plurality of instructions, Obtaining a product identifier associated with a product that is the target of a search advertisement, wherein the product is identified by the client requesting the placement of the search advertisement. Extracting a set of candidate words associated with the aforementioned product identifier, The acquisition of advertising performance data, wherein the advertising performance data includes data relating to advertisements of other clients different from the aforementioned client, but for the same product as the aforementioned product identifier. The estimated cost per unit of advertising for the aforementioned candidate word set is calculated using the aforementioned advertising performance data, and the estimated cost per unit of advertising is a guideline for the cost per unit of advertising when bidding on the aforementioned search advertising. Presenting a list of candidates to the client, wherein the list of candidates includes the candidate word set and the estimated advertising cost for the candidate word set. An advertising system configured to receive bid data for search-linked advertisements from the aforementioned client, wherein the bid data includes at least one set of bid words selected by the client from the candidate list, and the bid price for the bid set.

2. A memory for storing multiple instructions, It comprises at least one processor, The at least one processor executes the plurality of instructions, Obtaining a product identifier associated with a product that is the target of a search advertisement, wherein the product is identified by the client requesting the placement of the search advertisement. Extracting a set of candidate words associated with the aforementioned product identifier, The acquisition of advertising performance data, wherein the advertising performance data includes data relating to advertisements set by other clients different from the aforementioned client. The estimated cost per unit of advertising for the aforementioned candidate word set is calculated using the aforementioned advertising performance data, and the estimated cost per unit of advertising is a guideline for the cost per unit of advertising when bidding on the aforementioned search advertising. Presenting a list of candidates to the client, wherein the list of candidates includes the candidate word set and the estimated advertising cost for the candidate word set. The system is configured to receive bid data for the search-linked advertisement from the client, wherein the bid data includes at least one set of bid words selected by the client from the candidate list, and the bid price for the bid word set. Calculating the aforementioned estimated advertising unit price is The aforementioned advertising performance data includes obtaining actual advertising unit price, reference advertising performance, and reference sales performance, wherein the actual advertising unit price is the advertising unit price when the search-linked advertisement was placed at the request of the other client, the reference advertising performance is a value indicating the performance of the search-linked advertisement when the search-linked advertisement was placed at the request of the other client, and the reference sales performance is the sales performance of the other client for which the advertisement was placed. To obtain the advertising and sales performance of the aforementioned client, An advertising system that includes calculating the estimated advertising unit price by reflecting the advertising performance, reference advertising performance, sales performance, and reference sales performance in the aforementioned actual advertising unit price.

3. The products that the aforementioned client requests to be placed in the search-linked advertisements can be identified as products handled by the aforementioned client based on the product identifier and the client identifier assigned to the aforementioned client. The advertising system according to claim 2, wherein the aforementioned actual advertising unit price, the aforementioned reference advertising performance, and the aforementioned reference sales performance are data relating to the advertising or data relating to the product for which the product identifier is the same.

4. The aforementioned set of candidate words presented to the client is a set of words selected based on the conditions, The aforementioned conditions are, The advertising system according to claim 1 or 2, comprising at least one of the following: the action rate of users who viewed the search advertisement associated with the candidate word set is above a certain threshold; and the number of actions taken by users who viewed the search advertisement associated with the candidate word set is above a certain threshold.

5. The advertising system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the candidate list includes the target advertising unit price which is less than or equal to the upper limit set by the client, and the candidate word set for which the target advertising unit price is set.

6. The advertising system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the candidate list is sorted in descending order of the estimated advertising cost, or in descending order of the candidate word set.

7. The advertising system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the candidate list is sorted by the number of searches for the corresponding candidate word set, in descending order of search volume.

8. The advertising system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein receiving the aforementioned bid data means receiving, in a lump sum, a plurality of candidate word sets selected by the client from the candidate list based on the client's specifications, and the estimated advertising unit price for each of the candidate word sets.

9. The advertising system according to claim 2, wherein the aforementioned reference advertising performance includes the ad selection rate, which is the rate at which users who viewed the search-linked advertisement selected the search-linked advertisement.

10. The aforementioned memory stores a keyword database. The aforementioned at least one processor further, Obtain the advertising performance values ​​of the search ads for which each of the aforementioned bid word sets has been set, The process involves generating multiple records to be added to the keyword database, wherein each record includes the acquired 1 bid word set, the product identifier corresponding to the 1 bid keyword set, and the advertising performance value of the advertisement for which the 1 bid keyword set is set. The advertising system according to claim 1 or 2, configured to perform the following:

11. The aforementioned memory stores a keyword database. The aforementioned at least one processor further, Obtaining the candidate word set associated with the aforementioned product identifier from the e-commerce server, The process involves generating multiple records to be added to the keyword database, wherein each record includes a single acquired candidate word set and a product identifier corresponding to the single candidate keyword. The advertising system according to claim 1 or 2, configured to perform the following:

12. The aforementioned client is an e-commerce business that has registered the aforementioned products it handles on an e-commerce server. The advertising system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the search-linked advertisement is displayed on a screen provided by the e-commerce server.

13. The aforementioned at least one processor further, Obtaining the set of search terms entered by the user into the search site, Based on the aforementioned search word set and the aforementioned bidding data, select advertisements to be placed on the advertising media, The advertising system according to claim 1 or 2, configured to display the selected advertisement as the search-linked advertisement on the advertising medium.

14. The advertising system according to claim 2, wherein the calculation of the guideline advertising unit price is performed by multiplying the actual advertising unit price by the ratio of the reference advertising performance to the actual advertising performance and the ratio of the reference sales performance to the actual sales performance.

15. At least one processor, Obtaining a product identifier associated with a product that is the target of a search advertisement, wherein the product is identified by the client requesting the placement of the search advertisement. Extracting a set of candidate words associated with the aforementioned product identifier, The acquisition of advertising performance data, wherein the advertising performance data includes data relating to advertisements of other clients different from the aforementioned client, but for the same product as the aforementioned product identifier. The estimated cost per unit of advertising for the aforementioned candidate word set is calculated using the aforementioned advertising performance data, and the estimated cost per unit of advertising is a guideline for the cost per unit of advertising when bidding on the aforementioned search advertising. Presenting a list of candidates to the client, wherein the list of candidates includes the candidate word set and the estimated advertising cost for the candidate word set. An advertising method comprising receiving bid data for the search-linked advertisement from the client, wherein the bid data includes at least one set of bid words selected by the client from the candidate list, and the bid price for the bid set of bid words.

16. At least one processor, Obtaining a product identifier associated with a product that is the target of a search advertisement, wherein the product is identified by the client requesting the placement of the search advertisement. Extracting a set of candidate words associated with the aforementioned product identifier, The acquisition of advertising performance data, wherein the advertising performance data includes data relating to advertisements set by other clients different from the aforementioned client. The estimated cost per unit of advertising for the aforementioned candidate word set is calculated using the aforementioned advertising performance data, and the estimated cost per unit of advertising is a guideline for the cost per unit of advertising when bidding on the aforementioned search advertising. Presenting a list of candidates to the client, wherein the list of candidates includes the candidate word set and the estimated advertising cost for the candidate word set. The process involves receiving bid data for the search advertising from the client, wherein the bid data includes at least one set of bid words selected by the client from the candidate list, and the bid price for the bid word set. Calculating the aforementioned estimated advertising unit price is The aforementioned advertising performance data includes obtaining actual advertising unit price, reference advertising performance, and reference sales performance, wherein the actual advertising unit price is the advertising unit price when the search-linked advertisement was placed at the request of the other client, the reference advertising performance is a value indicating the performance of the search-linked advertisement when the search-linked advertisement was placed at the request of the other client, and the reference sales performance is the sales performance of the other client for which the advertisement was placed. To obtain the advertising and sales performance of the aforementioned client, An advertising method comprising calculating the estimated advertising unit price by reflecting the advertising performance, reference advertising performance, sales performance, and reference sales performance in the aforementioned actual advertising unit price.

17. At least one processor, Obtaining a product identifier associated with a product targeted by search advertising, wherein the product is identified by the client requesting the placement of the search advertising. Extracting a set of candidate words associated with the aforementioned product identifier, The acquisition of advertising performance data, wherein the advertising performance data includes data relating to advertisements of other clients different from the aforementioned client, but for the same product as the aforementioned product identifier. The estimated cost per unit of advertising for the aforementioned candidate word set is calculated using the aforementioned advertising performance data, and the estimated cost per unit of advertising is a guideline for the cost per unit of advertising when bidding on the aforementioned search advertising. Presenting a list of candidates to the client, wherein the list of candidates includes the candidate word set and the estimated advertising cost for the candidate word set. An advertising program that receives bid data for the search advertising from the aforementioned client, wherein the bid data includes at least one set of bid words selected by the client from the candidate list, and the bid price for the bid set.

18. At least one processor, Obtaining a product identifier associated with a product targeted by search advertising, wherein the product is identified by the client requesting the placement of the search advertising. Extracting a set of candidate words associated with the aforementioned product identifier, The acquisition of advertising performance data, wherein the advertising performance data includes data relating to advertisements set by other clients different from the aforementioned client. The estimated cost per unit of advertising for the aforementioned candidate word set is calculated using the aforementioned advertising performance data, and the estimated cost per unit of advertising is a guideline for the cost per unit of advertising when bidding on the aforementioned search advertising. Presenting a list of candidates to the client, wherein the list of candidates includes the candidate word set and the estimated advertising cost for the candidate word set. The process involves receiving bid data for the search advertising from the aforementioned client, wherein the bid data includes at least one bid word set selected by the client from the candidate list, and the bid price for the bid word set. Calculating the aforementioned estimated advertising unit price is The aforementioned advertising performance data includes obtaining actual advertising unit price, reference advertising performance, and reference sales performance, wherein the actual advertising unit price is the advertising unit price when the search-linked advertisement was placed at the request of the other client, the reference advertising performance is a value indicating the performance of the search-linked advertisement when the search-linked advertisement was placed at the request of the other client, and the reference sales performance is the sales performance of the other client for which the advertisement was placed. To obtain the advertising and sales performance of the aforementioned client, An advertising program that includes calculating the estimated advertising unit price by reflecting the advertising performance, reference advertising performance, sales performance, and reference sales performance in the aforementioned actual advertising unit price.

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