Link Tracking Service for Advertiser Campaign Monitoring
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing URL tracking techniques are limited as they only allow tracking information to be available to the destination web site, making it cumbersome and error-prone, especially in systems with multiple advertisers and advertising campaigns, and do not effectively direct users to appropriate web sites based on their preferences.
Innovation Solution
A system that dynamically adjusts URLs through directed electronic communications, including tracking information and target URL addresses, to properly direct users to target web sites and track their activity, using a receiver, parser, URL modifier, tracking database, business warehouse, redirection device, and transmitter to generate and redirect URLs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If existing URL tracking techniques are used, then tracking information is available to the destination web site, but the system becomes cumbersome and error-prone in systems with multiple advertisers and advertising campaigns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a link tracking service as an intermediary component that sits between the referring web site and the destination web site. This service automatically extracts tracking information from referring URLs, stores it in a database, and generates modified URLs that include the tracking data. This intermediary approach eliminates the need for complex manual configuration at the destination web site while maintaining comprehensive tracking capabilities across multiple advertisers and campaigns.
Solution Approach 2:
The link tracking service performs preliminary actions by extracting and storing tracking information from referring URLs before the user reaches the destination web site. The tracking data is pre-processed and organized in a database structure that automatically generates the necessary URL modifications. This preliminary action eliminates the need for complex real-time processing at the destination web site, reducing system complexity while maintaining information availability.
2Loss of information
If tracking information is stored on computers associated with the destination web site, then tracking is possible, but customization is limited by the referring web site's encoding rules
Solution Approach 1:
The link tracking service acts as an intermediary that decouples the tracking information extraction from the destination web site's encoding requirements. It extracts tracking data from referring URLs using its own parsing logic, stores the raw tracking information in a database, and then generates destination URLs with appropriate encoding. This allows the destination web site to customize its URL structure without being constrained by the referring web site's encoding rules.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the URL modification process into separate components: extraction of tracking information from the referring URL, storage in a database, and generation of the modified destination URL. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - the extraction component can handle various referring site encoding formats, while the destination URL generation can use the destination site's preferred encoding scheme.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple URLs are used to direct different users to different web sites, then user personalization is improved, but the referring web site must know user preferences which it may not have
Solution Approach 1:
The link tracking service serves as an intermediary that collects user preference information from the referring web site's URL structure and makes this information available to the destination web site without requiring the referring site to actively provide user preference data. The service extracts relevant tracking information from the URL itself, which contains encoded user preference data, and passes this information along to the destination site for personalized routing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary extraction of user preference information from referring URLs before the user interaction with the destination web site. By analyzing the URL structure in advance and storing the extracted preferences in the database, the system enables personalized URL generation for the destination site without requiring real-time communication with the referring site or active user preference declaration.
Data Source
AI summary
Link tracking includes generating an electronic communication with links providing for a destination URL and a target URL. Upon selection of the active link, a destination site is accessed, based on the destination URL. In the destination site, the tracking information associated with the incoming data access request is parsed off. This tracking information may then be stored in a database or business warehouse for monitoring the response from the electronic communication. Also, a target site is determined based on the tracking information. The destination site thereupon redirects the access request to the target site, providing for the access to the target site to be to directed back to the user and not through the destination site. Therefore, the user may access the target web site based on the electronic communication and this activity can be tracked through the destination site.